Stephen de Pencester

Memorial to Stephen de Pencester (d. 1299) at St John the Baptist, Penshurst

Stephen de Pencester was Warden of the Cinque Ports when the first authoritative list of Cinque Ports Confederation Members was produced in 1293.^[1]

Pencester was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports for 32 years, his tenure finishing in 1299 when the Baron de Burghersh was elected; it is reasonable to assume he began his administration in 1267.

Pencester was married to Margerie (a great granddaughter of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent). When she inherited the parish of Tunstall in Kent. They resided both at Allington and Penshurst.^[2]

When Pencester died in 1303, Margerie then married to Robert de Orreby. After her death, an inquest found that she had inherited the parish of Tunstall and this parish passed to her daughters (of Pencester): Joane, the wife of Henry de Cobham, of Rundale, and Alice, of John de Columbers.^[2]

An effigy of Pencester is on display in Penshurst village's St John the Baptist church, in the Sidney family chapel, and the Pencester-owned Penshurst Place estate before the Baron's Hall was built by the new owner of the estate Sir John de Pulteney in 1341.

References

•  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Pencester, Stephen de". Dictionary of National Biography 44. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

1. Hasted, Edward (1800). "Parishes". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (Institute of Historical Research) 10: 152–216. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
2. Hasted, Edward (1798). "Parishes". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (Institute of Historical Research) 6: 80–98. Retrieved 4 April 2014.