Long and careful consideration of information brought to light in recent research and a subsequent re-appraisal of existing documentary evidence led me to conclude that an estate known as Oesewalum was not actually situated in what became the old parish of Nonington in East Kent, but was in fact located near Harrow in the modern county of Middlesex. The direct consequence of this conclusion is that the posts and articles I have written over the last couple of decades placing Oesewalum in the old parish of Nonington now have no relevance and I have therefore removed from this website any references to Oesewalum being in or having a connection to the old parish of Nonington.
The reasoning behind my now believing that Oesewalum was located near Harrow in Middlesex and not in the old parish of Nonington in East Kent is as follows:
The name Oesewalum appears a handful of times in records of meetings between 824 and 827 to settle a dispute between the Mercian ruling family and Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, regarding four aratra of land “aet Oesewalum” [at, near or by Oesewalum].
Oesuualun, an alternative spelling of Oesewalum, appears in the will of Werhard the Priest, Wulfred’s heir, which was drawn up circa 830 or 832, as an estate of ten hides of land. Presumably the four aratra “aet Oesewalum” referred to above adjoined or were close to Oesewalum [Oesuualun] proper.
After the references to “Oesuualun” in the will there are no presently known references to Oesewalum or Oesuualun. In the will Oesewalum was one of several estates Wulfred had instructed Werhard to bequeath to Christ Church Priory in Canterbury. Werhard died in the 840’s and there appears to be no evidence to show that Wulfred’s instructions were not carried out.
Professor J. K. Wallenberg’s in his book “Kentish Place-Names” (1931) and his follow-up study “The Place-names of Kent” (1934), made a definitive identification of Oesewalum as being Easole in the parish of Nonington in East Kent, which has been accepted up until the present day.
Wallenberg, a Swedish academic and etymologist, deduced that the name Oeswalum was a compound of two Old English elements: ōs (or the plural ēs): a deity, god, or semi-divine being, and walu: a bank, ridge, or mound. A literal translation would be the “bank or ridge of the gods”. The “walum” suffix of the name appears to derive from the Latin “walum” , a defensive wall or rampart, so that a more accurate translation would probably be “ramparts of the god[s]”.
Wallenberg then posited that the name Oesewalum had evolved over the centuries to become the present place name of Easole in the parish of Nonington in East Kent. That, as far as I am aware, is the only “evidence” as to the general location of the four aratra of land “aet Oesewalum”. In Werhard’s will, the estate of Oesuualun is recorded as extending to ten hides of land.
To the best of my knowledge there are no references in respect of the old parish of Nonington and the surrounding parishes to Oesewalum or Oesuualun or anything resembling these names in any of the well known county histories by authors such as Hasted or Ireland nor any their predecessors.
The first known reference to Oesewalum, with the second “e” in the name having been identified by Nigel Brooks as being a later edition to the name, is in the original record of the Synod or Council of Clovesho [Cloveshoun] which took place in 824 and concerns a dispute between Wulfred, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cwoenthryth, a scion of the Mercian royal family and abbess of Minster-in-Thanet over the ownership of four aratra of land “aet Oesewalum”. An aratra was the Latin equivalent of a Kentish sulung or plough, which equated to a hide in other parts of England.
Clovesho was the venue for a series of synods attended by Anglo-Saxon kings, senior churchmen and nobles in the 8th and 9th centuries. Its location is still a matter of conjecture, but Clovesho was possibly located in the present county of Northamptonshire.
The Council or Synod of Clofesho of 824 was attended by Beornwulf, the new King of Mercia [823-826] and leading Mercians as well as by Wulfred and other leading churchmen. The outcome was favourable to Wulfred and he was compensated with deeds to one hundred hides of land in four places near his Middlesex homeland; namely at Hearge [Harrow], ” Herefrethinglond”, [at present an unidentified location] and “Wemba lea” [Wembley], and at “Geddincggum” (possibly Yeading in Middlesex). Cwoenthryth also agreed to give him all relevant “books” [deeds of ownership], including the four aratra “aet Oeswalum”, but she did not fulfil her obligations and withheld some “books”, including that of the aforementioned four aratra.
In 826 and 827 Wulfred and Cwoenthryth, now more penitent and willing to meet her previously obligations in full due to the death of Beornwulf and the subsequent supremacy of Wessex over Mercia, met at “Oslafeshlau” in south-west Mercia and a final settlement was made in Wulfred’s favour. This settlement included the previously mentioned one hundred hides of land in four places as well as the return of previously withheld charters and deeds.
Also included in the settlement, apparently as an additional gesture of goodwill, was Cwoenthryth gift to Wulfred of four hides at Hearge [Harrow] and thirty hides at a place called ” Cumbe,” in Kent. Although there is no specific reference to the four hides at Harrow as being the illegally acquired four aratra “aet Oeswalum”, that is what I in fact believe them to be. Wulfred, who is believed to have been of Mercian ancestry, already held extensive land holdings in the vicinity of Harrow by inheritance and acquisition.
The following are references to Cwoenthryth gifting the four hides of land to Wulfred:
From: The Legend of St. Kenelm by E. Sidney Hartland, F.S.A. Reprinted from the ” Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaological Society” VOL. XXXIX”, published in 1917: “She [Cwoenthryth] would add [from her own property] four hides at Harrow and thirty hides at a place called ” Cumbe,” in Kent, with their deeds, to him and his heirs for ever, so that their reconciliation might be permanent, and her father’s inheritance and his heirs liberated from further claims”.
F. W. Hardman, in his Nonington history manuscript written in the mid to late 1930’s records Cwoenthryth as gifting Wulfred “a small field of four manentes [hides] in consideration of his loving friendship she [Cwoenthryth] would add to the aforenamed land at Hearge [Harrow]: likewise also in the province of Cantia [Kent] thirty manentes [hides] of land at Cumbe with the books [deeds] of the same she would give to him as a recompense in inheritance for ever”.
It is therefore my assertion that these four hides at Harrow, known in the ninth century as Hearge: “heathen temple” or “shrine, high place”, are in fact the four aratra “aet Oesewalum”, and that Oesewalum itself was a larger landholding in the present county of Middlesex to the west of Harrow close to or adjoining a feature worthy of the name, the rampart of the god[s]!
Some three miles or so to the west of Harrow is Grim’s Ditch, sometimes called Grim’s Dyke, an ancient linear earthwork probably dating to either just before or just after the Roman era. It extends for roughly six miles across Harrow Weald, Pinner, and Stanmore in Middlesex.
Remnants of this bank and ditch structure, which once stretched from Cuckoo Hill in Pinner to Pear Wood in Stanmore, can still be found in local woodlands, golf courses, and private gardens. In the eighth and ninth centuries these impressive earthworks would have been a prominent feature in the landscape to local inhabitants and visitors alike.
The Grim’s Ditch earthworks originally consisted of a bank some two or more meters high and a ditch some six to eight meters wide and are believed to have taken their name from Grim or Grimr, an alternative or nickname for the Germanic god Woden [Grimnir, meaning “hooded one”], a key deity of the Anglo-Saxons. Alternatively the name could mean “the devil”. These Middlesex earthworks were recorded as ‘Grimesdich’ in 1289 and ‘Grymesdich’ in 1541.
Such an earth bank that was taller than a man would have truly been worthy of the appellation “Oesuualun” or “Oesewalum”: the rampart of the god[s]!
The ten hides of land referred to as Oesuualun in the will of Werhard the Priest would therefore appear to have been located to the west of Harrow and near to or bounded on its western side by Grim’s Ditch which would also place the four aratra “aet Oesewalum” in this same area.
It should be noted that to the best of my knowledge there are no existing man-made ancient features or visible remnants thereof in the area of Easole in Nonington which could be described as or bear any resemblance to ramparts.
