House plots and land holdings in the Vill’ of Essesole as recorded in the 1501 Manor of Essesole rental roll.The Lord of the Manor at this time was the Abbot of St. Alban’s, who also held the adjoining manor recorded as Eswalt in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was around this time that the Abbey’s two […]
Author: admin
Anglo- Saxon Nuns and Nonington by Peter Hobbs
Peter Hobbs is the present owner of the old St. Alban’s Court manor house in Nonington. Peter has published numerous articles concerning the extensive, and still ongoing, archaeological investigations he has undertaken over the past twenty or more years in and around the old St. Alban’s Court manor house and on the nearby site of […]
Captain Francis Hammond of St. Alban’s Court: The Thirty Years War & The Bishops Wars
Francis and Robert Hammond were members of Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition to Guyana [Guiana], now a part of Venezuela, that left England in June of 1617 in search of El Dorado, the fabled South American city of gold. The expedition was a complete failure and Raleigh was arrested on his return to England in mid-1618 […]
Nonington, Kent : a Contribution to its Early History By Dr. Frederick William Hardman, LL.D., F.S.A. with notes by Peter Hobbs of Old St. Alban’s Court, Nonington.
A verbatim copy of the draught manuscript of an unpublished history of Nonington written by Dr. F. W. Hardman in the early 1930’s. The page numbers shown are those of the copy, not the original manuscript. Following the manuscript copy is a personal note by Peter Hobbs of Old St. Alban’s Court on Dr. Hardman’s […]
The founding & development of Nonington College of Physical Education by Stephen Burke-Part 1:
A lady who had sudden and alarming acts of faith or How to found a college with no money By the late 1920s St Alban’s Court was being rented out to Commander Arthur O’Brien and his wife Marjorie. Carrying on the tradition of the Hammonds, the couple immediately took an active role in local life, […]
Nonington College during World War II by Stephen Burke, who has kindly allowed me to publish the following article which was originally published on the Nonington College Facebook Page.
Although the United Kingdom and France both declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, to begin with not a huge amount happened on the western front and the period was dubbed the Phoney War. Gladys and her students must have carried on as normal hopeful that the war would not touch them. To begin […]
The Boys Family of Fredville & Bonnington in the English Civil War of 1642-1651 [revised 03.01.2021]
During the English Civil War of 1642 to 1651 close neighbours, friends and even family members frequently took opposing sides in the conflict between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. These divisions were very obvious in Nonington and the adjoining parish of Goodneston as can be seen in the following article. ~~~~~~ Sir Edward Boys and Major […]
Nonington and Cromwell’s Commission in Kent of 1655-57
A commission was established by Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth to control and punish anti-Cromwell and anti-Parliament land-owners in Kent. One of the commission’s leading members was Major John Boys of Fredville who had served on earlier Parliamentary Committees for Kent from at least 1643, as had his father, Sir Edward Boys of […]