Easole, St. Alban’s Court and East Kittington

St. Alban’s Court

Building remains, ‘The Ruins’, Beauchamps.

There is a fragment of collapsed flint rubble walling and part of the footings of a building measuring some 20 metres by 8 metres. No details of any sort survive and the whole is in an overgrown and totally ruinous condition. Stebbing avers that the present condition is due to the stone having been re-used in the more recent buildings at St. Alban’s Court nearby, a practise which probably led to its misidentification with Eswelle manor, the manor house of which is known to be incorporated into St. Alban’s Court. ‘Beauchamp’ names in the vicinity point to an identification with the Beacham or Bedesham estate described at the time of Thomas Hammonds purchase in 1558 as ‘Beacham situated in Nonington with all barnes, houses and edifices. A plan of 1750 shows a building at the site. There is no evidence to support the tradition quoted by Harris and Hasted

Of a nunnery at Beacham; Knowles and Hadcock do not list it.

S.M.R. No. TR25 SE18. Nat. grid ref: TR26325251.

1).St Alban’s Court, formerly Easole (or Eswalle) Manor House 1556 (remains). Chapel ruins.

The manor of Easole or Eswalle, first mentioned in 824 when possessed of Minster Abbey in Thanet, was given to St. Alban’s Abbey, Herts., by Nigel de Albineo c 1100-1121. The grant was confirmed in 1141 and the manor-house was known as St. Alban’s Court. At the dissolution it came into the Hammond family and in 1556 it was re-built by Thomas Hammond. The present remains, incorporated into the buildings of Nonington College, consist of a two storied brick building with mullioned and transomed windows, crow stepped gables and a bell tower at the SE end. A tablet bearing the date 1556 in a wall at TR 26335252 is not in situ (see GPs Ao/64/137/3 & 4). At the end of the 17^th century William Hammond built a new manor house on the higher ground to the east of St. Alban’s Court which in 1716 was referred to as the ‘New Buildings’, and in the 1800’s was pulled down and the present mansion, now Nonington College, erected.

2).St. Alban’s Court, Nonington. Grade II* listed. Dated 1556 and extended c 1876.

3). A short distance south of the house are the ruins of the chapel, built for those who looked after this property of that Abbey which on May 8^th 1538 was sold to Sir Christopher Hales, then being occupied by John Hammond. William de Albini, Earl of Albermark, gave the manor of Eswelle to the Abbey of St. Alban’s in Herts, and from there gained the name of St. Alban’s.

In 1985 K. C. C. closed the teacher training college at St. Alban’s and the estate was broken up and sold on. The extant house consists of a two storied brick-built mansion with mullioned and transomed windows, cow stepped gables and mid-sixteenth century stone fir places. A small crenellated stair tower lies on the north-west side. From the evidence of a re-set date stone, the present building was probably first constructed in 1556 and this has been recorded as such since the 18^th century. The ground plan of the surviving structure ids in the form of a ‘Z’ with the principle axis being NW by SE. The outline of the structural history was possible through archaeological excavation and documentary evidence with almost continual alterations and additions to the original structure until the later 19^th century with major programmes of work in 1665 and 1790. Evidence of an earlier structure was revealed from excavations below the floors. These were of a series of mortared flint foundations, areas of clay and rammed chalk flooring and a stone lined garderobe shaft, all unrelated to the standing house. Precise dating is difficult but it is suggested that the earlier building was no earlier than the late medieval period and established on a virgin site. It is probable that the flint foundations of the early house only ever supported dwarf walls. This building appears to have been aligned NE by SW and faced SE. It most probably consisted of a Wealden Hall type house of the period 1350-1500 AD. At a later date a projected north-west wing had been added at the SW end of the original building creating an ‘L’ shaped structure. This contained the stone-lined garderobe at the far end. A large brick chimney was also added at the same time.

During the 16^th century the timber house was largely re-built in brick, a major new range was added later in the 17^th century to create the new front of the house. Between 1876 and 1878 major alterations occurred. The 17^th century range, with the main living rooms, was demolished and replaced by a grand new mansion built to the north (TR25 SE33) by the Victorian architect George Devey. The early parts of the earlier building were retained to provide a romantic vista from the new house. It seems to have ben relegated to use as servants quarters and a laundry.

Recent excavations have produced significant quantities of post-medieval pottery including three substantially complete imported 16^th century stone-ware mugs found in a brick lined tank just to the east of the early house. Quantities of glass and building material were also fund. Medieval finds were scarce and there is no evidence that the Norman manor house ever stood on this site.

SMR No:TR25 SE33. Nat. grid ref. no: TR26365266.

Country mansion built 1875-8.

St. Alban’s Court, Grade I building.

Architect George Devey, for William Oxenden Hammond.

SMR No:TR25 SE65. Nat. grid ref. no: 26895300.

Ring ditch/ crop mark. Pre-historic/Roman 500,000 BC-409 AD.

Double ring ditch north of Gooseberry Hall Cottage.

SMR No:TR25 SE149. Nat. grid ref. no: TR26295350.

Wind mill mound. Post medieval 1540 AD to 1900 AD. Next to Cherry Garden Lane, boundary of Goodenestone and Nonington parishes. No documentary evidence.

SMR No:

TR25 SE162. Nat. grid ref. no:TR26225268.

Possible Late Bronze Age hut circles and enclosure found during watching brief at St. Alban’s Court, Nonington. Hut circle settlement, enclosure, ditch and hearth all 1000 BC-701 BC, also found and of the same period; pottery vessel and flint pot boiler.

Watching brief producing possible remains of pre-historic hut sites, floors and drip trench and enclosure. There was a lack of datable materials (burn daub and one pre-historic pot sherd) but hut sites reminiscent in form and state of preservation to Late Bronze Age hut circles encountered by excavator at Monkton and Ebbsfleet. Thin general scatter of pot boilers in the area and lack of pottery may indicate a low level of occupation.

SMR No:TR25 SE169. Nat. grid ref. no:TR262526.

Saxon cemetery, Nonington. Finds dated Early Medieval/Dark Age 600 AD-799 AD.

During preparation for planting in October 1875 W. O. Hammond, the then owner, discovered near St. Alban’s Court house fifteen skeletons. The graves were aligned east to west at a shallow depth and a number of finds were recovered. The fines included a blade about 8’’ long and, around the fore-arm of one, a bronze ring, riveted and 3’’ in diameter. The remains were later reburied to the NE of where they were found under a stone pyramid. The location of the grave goods found is unknown.

In 2001 the Dover Archaeology Group, as part of their ongoing research into the history of St. Alban’s Court and the manor of Easole undertook a geophysical survey and excavation in the area where the graves were found. A further five graves were found closely spaced and also aligned roughly east to west. Only three of the graves contained grave-goods. Grave 1 contained a small iron and bronze buckle. Grave 2 had fragments of unworked whale bone. Grave 5 had a rectangular iron buckle and had been enclosed by a discontinuous ring gully with a diameter of 4.5 metres. This suggests that it had originally been covered by a small barrow mound. A later unfurnished burial had been cut into the mound, largely destroying the earlier interment. Grave 2 also appears t be a later insert cut into the northern edge of the barrow.

The location of the cemetery on the slopes of a downland ridge is typical of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. The general lack of grave-goods and the alignment east-west implies that they date from the 7^th-8^th centuries AD.

East Kittington