Northbourne - Bradshaw's Directory 1847

NORTHBOURNE PARISH

NORTHBOURNE, a parish, and considerable but scattered village, 3 miles west from Deal, contains 3628 acres of land, and the boroughs of Norborne, Finglesham, Ashley and Tickness, or Tickenhurst, the soil is principally chalk. In the northern part it is deep and very fertile. In 1841, here were 175 houses, and 855 inhabitants. Population in 1801, 583, in 1831, 869; rateable value £6,286. F.E. Morris, Esq., is lord of the manor, besides whom the Earl of Guildford, Mrs. C. Hannam, Mr. William Nethersole, Mr. Franklin Belsey, Mr. William Jacob, and others are the landowners.

The church, dedicated to St. Augustine, is an ancient cruciform structure, having a small tower or dome in the centre, rising from four lofty arches; the living is a vicarage, valued in the King's books £12 11s. 8d., now £425 united with the curacy of Sholden, Patron and appropriator the Archbishop of Canterbury; Rev. Montague Pennington, incumbent. The vicarage, near the church, is a neat brick mansion, the residence of the officiating curate, the Rev. George Rainier. Over a vault in the south transept, is a most costly and sumptuous monument, having at the back a plain blank tablet: on the tomb is the recumbent effigies of a knight in armour, and his lady in a loose mantle, above the pediment, and in other places several shields of arms, with the coat of Sandys, with quarterings and impalements, second son of Edwin, Archbishop of York. He had a grant of Norborne court from King James I, and died in 1629. This monument was erected by him in his lifetime: he left a numerous family, but the tablet and escutcheons remain blank.

The church of Norborne, with its chapels of Cotmanton and Sholden was anciently appendant to the manor, and was in early times appropriated to the Abbey of St. Augustine. After the dissolution of the abbey, in the 30th year of Henry VIII, it was granted in exchange to the Archbishop, and it remains part of the see of Canterbury. But the advowson of the vicarage was exempt from the above grants, and Edward VI., in his first year, granted it to the Archbishop.

The MANOR OF NORBORNE was given in 618 by Eadbald, King of Kent, to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine; at the Domesday survey "it was taxed at thirty sulings, and was worth seventy-six pounds." In 1371, the great storehouses here belonging to the abbey, full of corn, were burnt down, the damage was estimated at one thousand pounds. After the dissolution of the monastery in the 30th year of Henry VIII, the King in the year following granted it with the rectory to the Archbishop in exchange, but Archbishop Parker, in the 3rd year of Queen Elizabeth, re-conveyed it to the Crown in exchange. Charles I in his 5th year, granted it in fee to William White and others, to hold in free and common socage; and they, that year, sold it to Stephen Alwike, gent., who next year sold it to Edward Boys, gent. His descendant, Edward Gotius Boys, dying in 1706, gave it by will, to his kinsman, Thomas Brett, LLD., and he, in 1713 sold it to Salmon Morrice, Esq., from whom it has descended to F.E. Morris, Esq.

NORTHBOURNE COURT, was the ancient Court Lodge of the manor before they were separated by various grants from the Crown. It is said to have been in the time of the Saxons, the palace of King Eadbald. Queen Elizabeth, in her third year, granted it for life to Edward Saunders, gent., her foster brother. He resided here, and died about the middle of that reign. James I soon after his accession, granted it to Sir Edward [Edwin] Sandys. He rebuilt this mansion, and kept his shrivealty here, in the 14th year of James I, he died in 1629, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Sandys, who, dying without issue, was succeeded by his next brother Col. Edward [Edwin] Sandys, noted under Oliver Cromwell for his sacrilegious depredations and insolent cruelties to the Royalists; he died here of the wound he received at the battle of Worcester, in 1642. His grandson, Sir Richard Sandys, of Norborne, was created a Baronet in 1684, and died in 1726, and left four daughters, his co-heirs. In 1795, all the parties interested in this estate joined in conveying their respective shares to several purchasers, the whole purchase-money amounting to nearly £30,000. The estate contained nearly 1,100 acres, all tithe free except for 40 acres. The mansion was pulled down in 1750, and the materials sold. Near the house was a handsome chapel, used by the abbot and the convent of St. Augustine, when they visited this place.

ASHLEY, a small hamlet, situated over Malmaine Downs. The title of this estate belongs to the Archbishop, demised on lease, which consists of the glebe lands and the titles of the hamlets of Ashley, West Studdal, Minacre, Napchester, and of others in Little Mongeham.

FINGLESHAM, a considerable hamlet, about 1 mile from West-Street. The water, called the Gesling, or North stream, takes its course to the Stour, east of this hamlet.

LITTLE BETSHANGER, is an estate in the western part of this parish, and formerly had owners of its own name. In 1791, Viscount Bolingbroke sold this estate to Mr. Thomas Clark. The tithes of this estate, and those of Finglesham, both great and small belong to the Archbishop.

MARLEY, is a small hamlet a short distance south from Finglesham; it formerly belonged to the family of Brett and, in 1794, was purchased by James Jeken.

MINACRE, a hamlet, a little south from Ashley, it is principally the property of the Earl Guildford.

NAPCHESTER, a small hamlet, at the southern verge of the parish belongs principally to Earl Guildford.

TICKENHUST, or Tickness, is a hamlet and borough, mostly in this parish, but at some distance westward from the rest of the parish, several parishes intervening, and is partly in Knotton parish. At Domesday survey, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, held this manor, "it was taxed at one suling, and worth one hundred shillings." Afterwards it was possessed by a family who took their name from it. In Queen Elizabeth's reign, it was sold to Peylon, of Knotton, since which it has continued in the possession of the owners of that manor and estate. In 1074, the Bishop of Baieux gave to St. Augustine's monastery those tithes his tenants had in this part.

WEST COURT, an ancient manor at the western boundary of the Parish; is said to have been held of the monastery of St. Augustine by Knight's service, and was the property of Roger Litchfield, who died in 1513 since which it has had the same owners as Great Betshanger. To the north north-east adjoining to Little Betshanger, are the remains of a camp formed for the forces which lay here, under the command of Capt. Peke, to oppose the landing of the Spaniards at the time of the Armada, in 1588. About a mile south from hence is Stoneheap, a good farm.

WEST STREET, is a hamlet, near the north-west boundary. Sir Cloudsley Shovel was possessed of this estate, and after his unfortunate decease, his two daughters and co-heirs. In 1790, Mr. William Nethersole purchased this estate.

WEST STUDDAL, formerly written Stodwald, near the south extremity of the parish, formerly belonged to a branch of the family of Harvey: afterwards it was sold to Mr. Lawrence Dilnot.

Sir Richard Sandys, Bart., by will, 1726, gave to the churchwardens and overseers £5, to be laid out in buying coals at the cheapest time of the year, and by them to be sold out to the poor at the same price that they cost, to be yearly employed for that purpose.

Those marked 1, reside at Ashley; 2, Betshanger; 3, Coldharbour; 4, Finglesham; 5, Home Wall; 6, Little America; 7, Marley; 8, Miniker; 9, Northbourne Court; 10, Stoneheap; 11, West Studdal; 12 Telegraph; 13, West Street; 14, Tickness.

4. BULLOCK Wm.
4. CLARINGBOLD Abm. parish clerk
HARVEY Thos. corn miller and cooper
9. HANNAM Mrs. Catherine
4. JAGER Capt Thos.
MACKNEY Mrs. Catherine
NETHERSOLE Wm. C. vict. Hare and Hounds
PAGE Josiah, tailor
PITTOCK Eliz. vict. Crown
PRITCHARD Jas. boot and shoemaker
RAINIER Rev. Geo. curate, Vicarage
6. WYBORN Jph. pork butcher

Carpenters

4. SCARLETT Geo.
4. SCARLETT Thos.
WANSTALL Sar.

Farmers

14. BELSEY John Edw.
BELSEY Franklin
12. BIGINTON Wm.
1 CASTLE Stephen
CASTLE Stph. and Wm. H.
8. COCKS John
FRIEND Wm. farm bailiff
4. GOLDER Mary
4. HADFIELD Chas. Brook
4. HARVEY Wm.
8. HERITAGE Henry
13. INGE Wm.
JACOB Wm.
2. JENNINGS Rt. F.
1. LELLO Edw.
MACKNEY Thos.
1. MANSER Eliz.
14. MARSH James
4. MERCER Samuel
13. NETHERSOLE Wm. C.
4. PARKER Edw.
3. RAYNER Henry
10. RAYNER Jas.
7. WILSON Wm.
5. WYBORN Thos.

Grocers, etc

4. CHURCH Wm.
GIBSON Joseph
1. LELLS Edw.
4. PRITCHARD James