Estate Map of the Manor of Tremworth

by Tim Tatton-Brown

The estate map of the Manor of Tremworth (or Trimworth) in the parish of Crundale (now KAO U2678) was rescued by the Dartford District Archaeological Group and illustrated in the last Newsletter. In fact, it shows the estate owned by Sir Edward Filmer, Bart. who succeeded in 1720. The map must therefore date from a little after that, pace Kathleen Topping. The area of the manor shown on the map is virtually identical to the area owned by his descendant Sir Edmund Filmer, Bart. and shown on the 1839 tithe map.[1]

This is a typical medieval manor and covers a similar geographical area (and acreage) to the neighboring demesne manor of Godmersham. The medieval timber-framed manor house still survives in part in the northwest corner of the estate (near the river Stour) and was rebuilt in c.1600 by Sir Thomas Kempe, whose arms are still on the very fine porch. Hasted (2nd edition) VII,369 tells us that there was "formerly a domestic chapel belonging to it, some of the walls of which are still standing." Behind the house are also the earthwork remains of perhaps the mill dam. Around the manor house, in the Stour flood plain, is the pasture area belonging to the manor, while further east are a series of arable fields. Beyond this to the east and southeast, the estate owned higher ground (Trimworth Downs) which in places is still densely wooded. On the right top of Trimworth Downs, the Canterbury Archaeological Trust have recently excavated the remains of a late Iron Age and Roman settlement and cemetery. More of this cemetery was excavated in the 18th century[2], and it seems likely that this settlement was the forerunner to the later (and perhaps Late Anglo-Saxon in origin) manorial site to the west. Fieldwork by the Trust is continuing in the area.

1 Kent Archives Office also has another estate map (U442AO) of the manor in 1688 by Robert Spillett. This shows the Tremworth estate as owned by Sir Edward's father, Sir Robert Filmer.

2 See C.Roach Smith (ed) Inventorium Sepulcrale (1856), 177-198.