As time goes on, and further explorations are made, new facts may come to light, but at present, in spite of the many theories advanced, the mystery remains unsolved. Originally a dependency of Dartford, now a thriving manufacturing town, the manor of Chislehurst, the name of which is supposed to signify a wood of pebbles, was given by King John to a Norman noble known as Hugh, Earl of St. Paul, and after many vicissitudes it became the property, in 1584, of the Walsingham family, to whom it was granted on a long lease by Queen Elizabeth. The Walsinghams were already in residence in Chislehurst, and the future minister, Sir Francis, was born in the village in 1536, though exactly where is not known, the so-called manor-house near the church, which is generally spoken of as his birthplace, not having been built until 1584. [Illustration: CHISLEHURST CHURCH AND COMMON] The parish church of Chislehurst, though practically modern, was built on the lines of its sixteenth-century predecessor, and with its lofty spire presents a picturesque appearance. It contains the altar tomb of the Walsingham family and several other noteworthy memorials, including a fifteenth-century brass in memory of Alan Porter, and a monument to William Selwyn, designed by Chantrey. The font is said to be of great antiquity, and may possibly have been in use in Saxon times, and in {128} the churchyard are some interesting old tombs, including that in which rest the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Bonar, who were murdered by their servant in 1813. A well-preserved cock-pit, now fortunately disused, opposite the church, is another Chislehurst link with the past, and in the neighbourhood are some fine old mansions, of which the most noteworthy is Camden Place, named after the antiquarian William Camden, who bought it in 1609, but more celebrated as having been the scene of the cruel fate of Mr. and Mrs. Bonar, and the home later of Napoleon III., who died in it in 1873. The widowed Empress Eugénie lived in it for some time, and built the memorial chapel in connection with the little Roman Catholic chapel in Crown Lane, in which rested the remains of her husband, and later of her son, before their removal to the Mausoleum at Farnborough, near her present home. It was at Camden Place that the Empress received the news of the death in South Africa of the Prince Imperial, to whose memory she erected the fine cross outside the entrance gates.