Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

There is a fragment of collapsed flint rubble walling and part of the footings of a building measuring some 20.0 m. by 8.0 m. No details of any sort survive and the whole is in an overgrown and completely ruinous condition. Stebbing avers that the present condition is due to the stone having been re-used in the more recent buildings at St. Albans Court nearby..a practice which probably led to its misidentification with Eswelle Manor, the manor house of which is known to be incorporated into St.Albans Court (see TR 25 SW 18). "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.

Monument Types

• BUILDING (BUILDING, Unknown date)

Full description

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[TR 26015241] ESWELLE MANOR [GT] (1)

(Remains of) At TR 26005240 there is a fragment of collapsed flint rubble walling and part of the footings of a building measuring some 20.0 m. by 8.0 m. No details of any sort survive and the whole is in an overgrown and completely ruinous condition. Stebbing avers that the present condition is due to the stone having been re-used in the more recent buildings at St. Albans Court nearby a practice which probably led to its misidentification with Eswelle Manor, the manor house of which is known to be incorporated into St.Albans Court (see TR 25 SW 18). "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. Published 25" revised. (2)

The area is known locally as "The Ruins". Until the 1930's one corner of the building, then crudely thatched and used as a pig stye, stood to a height of over six feet, this included and arch, believed to have been a door, and a considerable amounts of rubble, mainly flint and tile. This is anecdotal evidence from a person who worked on the farm in the 1950's/1960's. He told the author of a time when he had to dig a hole nearby to the ruins to bury a fallen claf he encountered a thick band of tiles in the ground. Also so fifty yards to the west of the ruins, was a brick field which may have produced bricks used on the 17th century additions to St. Albans Court and appears to have provided some of the bricks used in the 1870's Devey mansion. The 1871 cencus lists a local builder and brick maker employing a lot of men in brick making. A large quantity of the brick wall was removed after WW2 tp repair the local church yard wall leaving considerable foundations. There were later ripped out by the then owner in the 1980's(7)

<1> OS 25" 1957 (OS Card Reference). SKE48272.

<2> W.P.D.Stebbing notes, plans, &c. Deal Public Library (OS Card Reference). SKE51264.

<3> History of Kent,1719, 221, (Harris) (OS Card Reference). SKE44152.

<4> History of Kent,1799, 9 (E.Hasted) (OS Card Reference). SKE44153.

<5> F1 ASP 09-MAR-65 (OS Card Reference). SKE42016.

<6> Field report for monument TR 25 SE 3 - March, 1965 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5754.

<7> Webb, C., 2002, Letter From Mr C. Webb to S. Cakebread SMR Officer 6/09/2002 (Unpublished document). SKE8292.

Sources and further reading