A silver pass for the New Stand at Barham Downs racecourse issued to Thomas Watkinson Payler Esq. circa 1770, circular, racehorses galloping right tow

A silver pass for the New Stand at Barham Downs racecourse issued to Thomas Watkinson Payler Esq. circa 1770, circular, racehorses galloping right towards winning-post, stand in background, reverse named Thomas Watkinson Payler's country seat was Ileden Manor near Canturbury, Kent. Thomas and his wife Charlotte were both painted by Joshua Reynolds. Racing was staged at Barham Downs, north of the village of the same name and mid-way between Canterbury and Folkestone in Kent, as far back as 1729. The course was described as 'cricket bat-shaped'. It is recorded that the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart spent a day at the races there, having stayed in Canterbury on his return to the continent from London in 1765. The last races at Barham Downs were held in August 1879.