Rolvenden became one of the Kent Marian Martyrs when he was burned at the stake in Canterbury on 12 July 1555 - he is named among the 41 martyrs inscribed on the Martyrs' Memorial, near Wincheap Street, Canterbury and in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett rented Great Maytham Hall, down from the higher land towards Rolvenden Layne, in 1898 and a blocked-up door in the old walled garden inspired her to write the well known children's novel "The Secret Garden". After her departure in 1907 the mansion was rebuilt in 1910 by Edwin Lutyens for the Rt Hon H.J.
Frances Hodgson Burnett stressed the age difference—Townsend was ten years younger than she—and she referred to him as her secretary. Biographer Ann Thwaite doubts he loved her. She claims at that time the 50-year-old Burnett was "stout, rouged and unhealthy". Thwaite believes Townsend needed her to help with his acting career and support him financially. Within months, in a letter to her sister, she admitted the marriage was in trouble. She described Townsend as scarcely sane and hysterical. Thwaite argues Townsend blackmailed her into the marriage: he wanted money from her and he wanted to control her as a husband. Unable to bear