Almost five centuries after the reference to “Crudes silva” in a charter of King Alfred the Great two notable Royal visitors made a brief visit to hunt in what had by then become “the park of Cruddeswode” [parcum de Cruddeswode], a hunting park belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The name evolved further into Curleswood […]
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Crudes Wood, later Curleswood Park & now the village of Aylesham in Kent
The village of Aylesham now covers most of Curleswood or Curlswood Park. Once an old deer park belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, later it constituted a large part of the six hundred acres of farmland acquired in 1924 from Henry FitzWalter Plumptre of Goodnestone by Pearson & Dorman Long for the building of houses […]
The Quakers in Nonington
The Religious Society of Friends, better known as “Quakers”, were founded in the North of England in the mid-17th century by George Fox, their name possibly originates from Fox telling a magistrate he was appearing before “to tremble (or ‘quake’) at the name of God”.During the Commonwealth under the leadership of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and […]
Black Grouse in Nonington
I’ve just been looking through a copy of some estate papers for the old St. Alban’s Court estate at Nonington and I’ve found the following reference to a game bird no longer found in Kent. In May of 1810 William Osmund Hammond of St. Alban’s Court in Nonington recommended that William Oxenden Hammond, his son […]
FULKE ROSE OF HOLT STREET FARM, ALSO NONNINGTON FARM, IN NONINGTON, KENT: THE SLAVE TRADE, CARIBBEAN PIRATES, AND THE FOUNDING OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Revised & updated 31.07.2023
It is now difficult to believe that the pleasant hamlet of Holt Street, more especially the present Holt Street Farm, had connections to the Atlantic Slave Trade between West Africa and the Caribbean. This was one of the darkest periods in British history which, whilst bringing incredible riches to a few European plantation owners, brought […]
ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE OLD PARISH OF NONINGTON
Articles regarding archaeological discoveries within the old parish of Nonington are now accessible from links on one page
FROGGENHAM OR FROGHAM, A SMALL HAMLET IN NONINGTON
Frogham most likely derives from the Old English: “Frocgena ham: the place of the frogs, meaning the place with a lot of frogs” . from Frocga, frog, and ham, which can mean variously enclosure, homestead, village, manor, estate. Some Medieval documents refer to Frogenham, not greatly different to “Frocgena ham”. Another possibility is that the […]