Dame Laura Knight was never resident in Nonington but often visited Arthur Bates, her uncle, and Evangeline “Sissie” Crofts, her older sister, who both lived in Easole Street in Nonington. Dame Laura was an English artist who embraced English Impressionism and became one of the most successful and popular painters in Britain. Laura and her […]
Frogham, a small hamlet in the parish of Nonington
Frogham, sometimes Frogenham, is a small hamlet now consisting of of two old farm houses and a few smaller houses and cottages in the south-eastern corner of the old parish of Nonington. Frogham was once a vill’ in its own right. Most of the houses in Frogham were within the Manor of Fredville, while the […]
The Boys family at Fredville-revised 11.10.2019
The Boys family, also de Bois & de Bosco, claimed descent from R. de Boys, or de Bosco, a companion of William the Conqueror who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 who had been rewarded with gifts of land by the grateful King William. In 1357 John Boys was known to have held […]
Fredville-where was the original manor house located? The Boys family move in!
William Boys and the Fredville purchase. It has been held for several centuries by Thomas Philpott, Edward Hasted, and other historians, that a feet of fines dating from July of 1484 recorded the purchase by John Nethersole, William Boys, Thomas Butte and Robert Gerveis of : “The manors of Fredeuyle and Beauchamp’ and 2 messuages, […]
The Colkyns of Esol in Nonington-the final years.
The following is the last section of a larger article “The Knight’s Fee of Essewelle: Wischards, Hotots, and Colkyns at the Manors of Esol and Freydevill’-revised 14.08.19”, which recently reviewed information and further thought has made it necessary to revise. I have posted these revisions as a self contained post for the benefit of readers. […]
The Esole manor dovecote, Nonington-new discoveries with picture gallery-revised 5.8.19
For centuries domestic pigeons were kept in dovecotes, also dovecots, which were often referred to as a columbaria, pigeonnaire, or pigeon house. Domestic pigeons were easy to breed and provided a meat considered to be a delicacy by the wealthy and their manure was considered to be the best fertilizer available. Pigeon dung has a […]
Esole Manor House:-a diary of the archaeological excavation of “The Ruins” at Beauchamps in Nonington-revised 3.8.19.
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 […]
Esole Manor House:-a diary of the archaeological excavation of “The Ruins” at Beauchamp’s in Nonington.
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 […]
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 […]