1591 Alice Goodin. Alice Deale was baptized 11^th January 1542 at Nonington, and married William Goodin at Nonington on 8^th September 1561. he was buried at Nonington on 30^th January 1591. In these times keeping an alehouse was one of the few opportunities for a women to run her own business, it is quite possible she ran the alehouse whilst her husband did another job, most likely as a tradesman ,possibly as a blacksmith or carpenter or a husbandman (small tenant farmer) and after her death, buried 24^th May 1612 she was possibly succeeded by one of her sons, John, who was baptized on 4^th January 1561 or Sylvester baptized. 24^th September 1563. This would mean the White Horse dates from at least 1590, and possibly well before, as an inn. It is most likely that the premises was a Church alehouse prior to the seizure of Church property by Henry VIII and his successors. Alehouse were a good source of income for the Church, prior to commercial brewing the monasteries were the largest brewers and many inn and alehouse evolved from the Church providing shelter and accommodation for travellers at one of their properties.

Burial 22 June 1607." John Hickmore a bachelor and a mason ript his own bellie lyeing upon a bed at Mother (Widow) Gooddins’ (also spelt Goddin, Goodyn) the alewife by Nonington Church, which acte he did upon the Saturday about five of the clock in the afternoone and he died on the next day at noone. ‘Qualis vita finis ita’ " ( ‘ As his life, so his end’).

The above is the first documented reference of this alehouse I have found so far.

1659. John Deane and Elizabeth Deane, his wife. John Deane and wife probably occupied the premises for some time before 1659 but for how long is not presently known. In 1659 the alehouse, a "parcels-messe or tenement called the White Horse togr. with the barne stable buildings dove houses courtyards gardens orchards and piece of land contg by est 2 acres now in the occ of the sd John Deane (with Thomas Prebble and William Bean, both of the parish, as guarantors) and described as " a common ale-house or victualling house" was sold to John Deane, victualler, of Nonington and Thomas Petit, yeoman, of Knolton by Daniel Pingle, mariner, of St. John the Baptist parish, Thanet, Henry Pingle, butcher, of Nonington, and Thomas Pingle, bricklayer, of Nonington, the sons and heirs in gavelkind (a form of land tenure & inheritance unique to Kent) of Thomas Pingle, deceased, of Nonington.

1674 (and possibly before) Thomas Osbourne recorded as the licencee, he had married his wife, Joan, in 1672.

1700 (and possibly before). William Sharpe was the licencee of The White Horse. Married his wife, Sarah on March 12th. 1697. Thomas Petit, yeoman , of Knolton, William Petit, Gabriel Petit, and John Petit, heirs in gavelkind of Thomas Petit of Knolton ,who died in 1699, sold "in the 12^th. Year of William the Second" (1700) the property described as " all that messuage or tenement with the barns stables smiths forge buildings courtyards gardens and all that part or parcell of arable land enjoining by estimation two acres more or less...called or known by the name of the White Horse" to William Hammond. Thomas Petit senior appears to have obtained sole tenure of the property at some time in the proceeding forty years. The properties location was described as bounded by the lands of Thomas Marsh esq. to the east and north (Thomas. Marsh at that time occupied Old Court and Church Farms), the highway to the south and the churchyard to the west.

1706 (and possibly before) Laurence /Laurance Austen/Austin/Asting. House-holder and Innkeeper, buried 12th November 1716. .

1717.Elenor Austen widow of Laurence.

1720. Elizabeth Austen, daughter of the above.

1726. William Harrison.

1753. The White Horse was sold by Elizabeth Beake of Stourmouth, widow, who had inherited it from William Hammond of St. Ann’s parish, Westminster, to William Hammond of St. Albans, Nonington for £ 130. 10s. 8d. The property, reduced to one acre, was now described as: "that messuage or tenement situated at Nonington in a place there called Church Street and called or known by the name of the White Horse with outhouses buildings orchards gardens about half acre previously occupied by Laurence Austen now occupied by Thomas Prebble" and "the smiths forge" occupying about half an acre consisted of: "stables outhouses yards gardens backsides and lands previously occupied by Christopher Spain now occupied by Henry Spain" but no living accommodation.. At some point in the previous fifty years the alehouse and smithy had divided, possibly Henry Spaine gave up alehouse keeping for blacksmithing.

1790. The alehouse "known by the name or sign of the White Horse" was leased for twenty one years from William Hammond of White Friars, Canterbury by William Baldock, brewer, of Canterbury and John Rigden, brewer, of Faversham, at a rent of forty pounds per annum payable in four parts on: January 5^th, April 5^th. July 5^th and October 10^th, William Hammond retained the rights to timber, free libert, egress, ingress, and regress.

1826. The White Horse became The Hawks Head whilst under the tenancy of William Wood.

The Hawks Head continued as an alehouse until March 1832 when William Wanstall, junior, who had taken over from William Wood in May 1831, ceased trading on these premises. The closure was rather strange as The Royal Oak, Wanstall’s new premises in Old Street (Holt St.) was not licenced at Wingham Petty Sessions until the following September. the deeds to the present church house forbid the sale of alcohol, so it may have been that the Hammond family may have changed their views on the sale of alcohol on their estate ,

From March 1832 Andrew Morgan the blacksmith paid the combined taxes for the old alehouse and the smithy as they now formed one property under his occupancy. Prior to its closure, the alehouse had been the venue for Vestry meetings (the forebear of the modern parish council). These meetings were held every other Thursday and dealt with the administration of the Church and parish as well the Poorhouse. After the closure of the Hawks Head the meetings were moved to the newly opened Royal Oak.

The smithy continued to operate until the middle of the 1900’s when the last full time blacksmith, George Beer, hung up his striking hammer for the last time. The forge, having stood against the Church wall where the post box and car-park are now situated, was demolished in the late 1950’s. Abbots Dairies of Canterbury leased the old alehouse premises for many years, finally buying it in the late 1940’s some years after it had been bought by Mr. Scothorne when the Hammond estate was dispersed in the mid-1930’s.

Charles Igglesden wrote in his 1913 "Perambulations through Kent", "Down by the roadway is a remarkable little structure of Tudor date and here again we find the brick and timber style. It formerly went by the name of ‘the Ale House’ ". my late uncle Frank Webb, born next door in Forge Cottages in 1917 told me he had been told that the building had previously been of timber and brick construction. Present internal features also indicate this.

Church house in the 1920’s. part of the forge can be seen on the left of the picture.

1729. Thomas Wraight.

1736. Thomas White.

1744. Thomas /Gambole/Gambrole/Gambrill/Gamboll /Gambole.

1782. John Gambrell, son of the above.

1788. Widow Gambrele.

1795. John Southe.

1802. Michael Brooks.

1820. John Hopper

1837. William Burville (license transferred on November 1^st 1836).

1840. William Holloway.

1851. Mrs. Anne Holloway.

1855. Edward Allen. The 1861 cencus lists railway construction workers as living in properties in the parish near its route, from Ratling to the Phoenix (Redd Lyon) at Frogham where some dozen or so railway navvies, who came from all

over the country, lodged. On nearby Three Barrows Down was a temporary encampment for navvies and their families.

1862. George Webb.

1870. Mrs. Webb.

1871. Bates.

1872. Edwin Colthrup.

1875. George Colthrup

1883. ceased trading as licensed premises.

After the alehouse closed the building was converted into two cottages, known as Phoenix cottages and continued to be lived in until the late 1950’s when the main building was demolished but the outbuildings were left and still remain. On the1839 parish map the field to the rear of the buildings was called North Lyon field in, by the time of the 1859 parish map this had changed to Phoenix Field. The field opposite is still called Lyon Field.

The Wood family were small-holders who had owned land in

Old Street and farmed other rented land in the parish for many years, Daniel Wood, his father, was a member of the Parish Vestry in the 1760’s. The Vestry was the precursor to the modern parish council and consisted of prominent parishioners. An earlier Daniel Wood had been Parish Clerk in the first decade of the 1700’s. Prior to this other family members had lived and held land in Chillenden and Goodnestone parishes. The Wood family continued to sell beer until 1870 when the cottages and beer-house and the adjacent house, now Park View cottage, built by John the Younger in the 1850’s, came into the possession of the fredville estate. Members of the Wood family continued to live in park view until the 1970’s when Mrs. Edith Rogers, John the Younger’s great grand-daughter, died.

1870. William Jesse Sheaf.

1891. Sarah Ann Sheaf, widow of the above.

1892. George Farrier.. On December 6^th.1894 the last licensee, George Farrier, was convicted at Wingham Petty Sessions of selling beer to be drunk on the highway near his premises. He was fined one shilling with nine shillings costs as the beer license had been for several years been for off sales only. There were two types of beer shop or house, one with a license to sell beer, and in some cases cider and wine, for consumption on the premises and the other for consumption off the premises. More than one pub in nearby villages began life as a beer shop, only obtaining full licenses after the Second World War. The Walnut Tree’s licence may have been for off-sales only as The Royal Oak, a hundred yards or so down the road in the Drove was also owned by the Plumptre family and would therefore been in direct competition if it had been fully licenced.

1894. ceased to be a beer shop.

Various documents, including the memoirs of Richard Jarvis, recorded by F. W. Hardman in 1936, refer to a beer shop known as the "Walnut Tree", now ‘Walnut Cottage’, at the north end of a row of two storey cottages, in Holt Street, as Old Street is now called. Due to structural problems the original four two- storey cottages were converted into three single storey cottages in the 1960’s.

In the background of The picture is the row of cottages before their conversion, with park view to the right. The couple on the motor cycle are mrs. Edie rogers, great grand-daughter of john wood the younger, and her husband, harry.

The first license was issued in September 1832 to William Wanstall junior, who had also been the last licensee of The Hawks Head until its closure. During the 1840’s and 50’s the landlord also served as the local post master. In his memoirs taken down 1936 by Dr. Hardman, a local historian, Richard Jarvis Arnold, born in the parish and resident there in the 1880’s and 1890’s recalls: "The public houses were the Royal Oak (since rebuilt {Dr. Hardmans note}) kept by Woodruff and the Walnut Tree beer house kept by Sheaf". It would therefore appear that the Oak underwent considerable alteration in the early 1900’s. the front exterior of the building does give the impression that it was once two dwellings.

In 1918 a cycle repair and taxi service was opened by W. Sayers, the land lords nephew, in buildings to the rear of the pub. He moved to the present garage premises in Holt Street in 1926 where ran the business until he was succeeded by his nephews, Charles and Arthur Betts on his retirement in 1948. Until the early 1960’s the ‘Oak’ also had a tea garden, serving teas to cricketers and the general public in a building at the end of the garden. The ‘Oak’, present licencees, Nick and Rebecca Hammond, is now the only public house serving food and drink in the present parish of Noninigton.

above, the ‘oak’ in the 1930’s, below, a decade or so later.