The following series of articles written by Peter Hobbs of Old St. Alban’s Court in Easole, Nonington, record the progress of the continuing archaeological excavation of the site of the old Esol or Esole manor house, situated in pastureland known locally as “The Ruins”, from 2010 onwards. These articles were originally published in the Nonington […]
Author: admin
Bee boles and bee keeping at Old St. Alban’s Court in Nonington by Peter Hobbs, the present owner.
Bee boles, the recesses in stone or brick walls used to house the skeps of coiled straw or wicker in which most bee keepers kept their bees before the arrival of moveable frame hives in 1862, are not particularly numerous in Kent. The Kent Archaeological Society has over time assiduously published all the major information […]
Nonington and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792 to 1814.
Increasing fears of a French invasion caused plans to be made for the defence of England and in August of 1796 “Invasion No. 113”, the first detailed and systematic defence plan, was drawn up in the office of Sir David Dundas, the quarter-master general. One of the assumptions of the plan was that if the […]
Oesewalum and the Vikings-revised 31.05.2019
Oesewalum was held by Earl Aldberht (also: Ealdbeorht, Ealdberht), and his sister, Selethryth (also: Seleðryth ,Seleðryð), Abbess of Minster on Thanet, and Southminster (also Suthminster), now generally accepted as having been at Lyminge). Oesewalum had either been inherited from their father, a Kentish noble and land-owner, or granted to them along with other extensive estates […]
Nonington and the Manor of Wingham
The Manor of Wingham was given to the Abbey of Christ Church in Canterbury in 836 by Athelstan, King of Kent. The manor covered much of the land in the present parishes of Ash, Goodnestone, Nonington, Wingham, and Womenswold. It is recorded as Winganham in 946, and Wingehame in the Domesday Survey of 1086. In […]
Nonington in The Domesday Survey of 1086-revised 02.03.2019
Before the Domesday Survey of 1086. The land in the old parish of Nonington, with the exception of the manors of Eswalt, Essewelle, and Soles, along with a small estate at Mounton, was held from the Manor of Wingham which Athelstan, King of Kent, gave to Christ Church in Canterbury in 836. Mounton, also Monkton, […]
Nonington and The Great War-plans for evacuation in the event of a German invasion
As the outbreak of armed conflict between the British Empire and the German Empire became more certain plans were made to evacuate the civilian population of Kent in the event of invasion. The arrangements for the evacuation of Nonington’s inhabitants have recently come to light, and appear to have made shortly before the outbreak of […]
Sir John de Beauchamp at Esole-revised 10.01.19
In 1349 the Abbot of St. Alban’s was the Lord of the Manor of Esol, and his manorial rent rolls for that year show that Sir John de Beauchamp held at Esole:-‘one messuage [now called Beauchamps-my note] with dovecot, 60a arable, 12a pasture at a total annual manorial rental of 52 s.6d payable to the […]
The Reverend Frederick Chalmers and his orphanage at the Nonington Vicarage
The Reverend Frederick Chalmers, 1860. Captain Frederick Chalmers, an Indian Army officer who had been born in Nova Scotia in what is now Canada, returned to England in 1842 after serving as Superintendent of Mysore in India to take Holy Orders. He was accompanied by his young son whose mother had died when he was […]
The Knight’s Fee of Essewelle: Wischards, Hotots, and Colkyns at the Manors of Esol and Freydevill’
New information and a re-interpretation of information already available has shed new light on the chain of ownership and occupation of Essewelle from around 1215 to the mid-1340’s. This article supersedes the previous one regarding the tenure of the Colkyns at Essewelle. The Wischards at Essewelle In 1166 King Henry II commanded that persons holding knights […]