LXXI. 30 July 1447

Know all present and future that I, Ralph Toke, Esquire, Mayor of the Port of Dover, in the name and with the assent of the whole Commonalty of the said port, have demised, delivered, and, by this my present indented charter, have confirmed to William Hawkswell, clerk, one plot of land lying within the Liberty of the Port of Dover, and in Horspol Ward, as it lies between the King's highway to the north, and the land of Richard Shortstreet south and west, and the messuage of the said William to the east : to have and to hold the said land with its appurtenances, to the aforesaid William, his heirs and assigns ; they doing there for the service of the Lord King according to the custom of the port aforesaid when it shall befall, and other services thence due and by right accustomed : and furthermore, they paying to the said Ralph and his successors, the Mayors of the port aforesaid for the time being in future, an annual rent of 3^., payable every year at the Feast of Easter : and if it happen that the said annual rent be unpaid in arrear at the said feast or afterwards for one month, that then it shall be fully lawful for the aforesaid Ralph and his successors, to re-enter into the aforesaid piece of land with its appur tenances, and to retain that piece of land in its pristine estate, these indentures notwithstanding. 

In witness whereof the said William has set his seal to one part of these indented charters, remaining in the hands of the aforesaid Ralph, the Mayor, and his successors, whilst to the other part, remaining in the hands of the afore said *W^iIliam Hawkswell, the said Ralph, the Mayor, has caused to be affixed the seal of the office of Mayoralty of the aforesaid port. 

Given at Dover aforesaid on the penultimate day of the month of July in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry, the sixth of England after the conquest. 

The seal remains. 

* On the back of this Charter is written : " Rector of the Church of S. lames."