Excerpt from England's Topographer, or a New and Complete History of the County of Kent, From the Earliest Records to the Present Time, Including Every Modern Improvement, Vol. 1: Embellished With a Series of Views From Original Drawings by Geo. Shepherd, H. Gastineau, &C. With Historical, Topographical, Critical, and Biographical Delineations IN Opposition to the Opinions of Somner and others, Mr. Battely has plainly demonstrated that there were archdeacons of Canterbury long prior to the Norman conquest. Concerning the original institution of archdeacons in this see, Hasted states that he found no mention of the same in any history or record whatsoever. This circumstance appeared to him a convincing proof of the high antiquity attached to that institution, and its having been the general practice even prior to the foundation of the archiepiscopal see at Canterbury; while in the eastern and western churches, where Christianity had been embraced, it was customary to appoint archdeacons in all cathedral churches. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.