Rose Hill: ‘Hidden History’ Community Dig, 13-21 June 2015

13 - 21 June 2015

In 2014, the Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne (HRGS) was asked by the Mid Kent Downs Countryside Partnership (MKDCP) Lottery-funded ‘Hidden History’ project to research the history of the woodlands at Rose Hill, Bobbing near Sittingbourne, Kent. HRGS knew there was a demolished house at Rose Hill and it had been on the group’s radar since 2006 to undertake an archaeological excavation of the site, so this seemed a great opportunity to also involve the community in the research. John Clancy, local historian, had also been researching the building and its occupants.

The partnership involvement quickly grew to eventually include the MKDCP ‘Hidden History’ project, the HRGS Field Unit, Kent County Council (KCC) Heritage Team, Swale Borough Council – Open Spaces, and John Clancy. Pupils from Grove Park Primary School were invited to join in the project and spent 5 days working with the community archaeologists from KCC, Andrew Mayfield and Richard Taylor. The 9-day dig, directed by Richard Emmett from the HRGS Field Unit, involved an incredible 830 visitors and workers (including those from the school).

ABOVE Rose Hill under investigation

Local people visiting the site not only took part in the excavation but also provided the dig team with special ‘living memory’ insight into the house, its occupants, and the way that the local community viewed the property (see ‘Memories’ below). An immediate connection with the past was provided through a visitor bringing along a photograph of Doris Vanderpeer, who was in service in the house in the 1920’s.

The Mayor of Swale, Anita Walker, together with County, Borough and Bobbing Parish Councillors and other guests, visited the dig, were briefed on the research and given a guided tour. They also visited Grove Park where they were shown pupils’ finds and project work, put together as a result of their week’s involvement. The school had the unique opportunity to work closely with archaeologists for an extended period (see ‘Schools and Young People’).

Memories of Rose Hill

This site was unusual in that archaeological investigation was supplemented with oral history testimony, as visiting members of the public volunteered their memories. Here are just a few that the HRGS team collected, giving a feel for what the site was like prior to its demise.

From John Vujakovic
“There were three floors in total. At the rear of the property was a single-floor kitchen extension with a sloping roof. Outside was a flight of steps leading down into a cellar of about five rooms beneath the main house.” Such was its eeriness that it took the courage of ten of John’s friends to venture into this cellar space.

From Heather Elliott
“I used to deliver newspapers to the house when I was around 15 years old. It is hard for me to recollect where I used to drop the papers off, as everyone knew the house as ‘the witches house,’ and it was a scary place to be. I would cycle up the hill to the house, and leave as quickly as I could.”

From Olive Palmer
“The house was called Rose Mount; that was what we called it when I was a little girl. It was quite imposing, especially to a small child. I was born in Brier Villas, Wises Lane, next to the Long Hop pub (or British Queen as it was then) in the 1930s. I am now 84. At that time there was Admiral Doyne and his wife in the house. My father and mother were friends with their gardener, who lived in the chauffeur’s/gardener’s cottage, and they often took us up to the house. I remember being frightened by the size of the place and having to climb up the steps. It had beautiful gardens with lots of flower beds and shrubs.”

cottage with his wife and son, John. John and I were friends and played in the Grove together. Their surname was Culmer. They later left to live in Rainham when John was 7 or 8 years-old. I didn’t see him again. John Culmer is now buried in Borden churchyard.

When the Doynes moved/died a Mr and Mrs Stocker lived in the house. The gardener’s cottage was empty so my Auntie Elsie lived in the cottage until she died. I think it had only one bedroom, a kitchen and a living room.”

From Peter Harris

Peter remembers Mr and Mrs Stocker as he rented a garage at Rose Hill around 1935/37, when he owned an Austin 7 and a BSA three-wheeler. He recalls an old lady who lived in the side cottage – she spent time in the walled garden and rode a bicycle. He saw extensive gardens and clambered up onto the high wall, walking along the top.

Peter used to fly model aircraft in the meadow behind the house. He recalls that Mr Stocker was a big chap who bred chickens (Rhode Island Reds). Sometimes they would wander out of the Grove and Peter would bring them back, for which he received a penny.

In WWII he saw soldiers billeted in tents on the front lawn. He remembers their field guns and watching them training before deployment. He spoke about the set of heavy iron gates and his sister Pamela being knocked flying whilst standing on the lower rung when it was hit by a military vehicle. Later an officer came round to their home with bars and bars of chocolate – as compensation.

Once he went into the house with Mrs Stocker…and the hallway was “rather dark and dingy”. Peter also remembered that the place was set on fire twice.

From Matt Brown

“All of this was very much derelict in the seventies and the main building was regularly rocked side to side, by its timber frame, by kids from inside the building.”

ABOVE North Downs YACs exposing the walled garden

Schools and Young People

In the spring of 2015, Kent County Council (KCC) Heritage Lottery funded Woodland Wildlife Hidden Histories (WWHHH) project to undertake community archaeology work at the site known as Rose Hill House, Sittingbourne (TQ 88572 64419) in conjunction with Grove Park Primary School, Sittingbourne, the North Downs Young Archaeologists Club, the Historic Research Group of Sittingbourne and the Shore Woods Archaeology Group.

Ahead of the excavation week in June, Andrew Mayfield, a community archaeologist from KCC, ran two sessions at Grove Park School for Years 3 and 5. The Year 3 session focussed on Prehistory using finds handling kits developed from previous HLF projects; whilst the Year 5 session gave an introduction to the interpretation of historical maps and researching a potential archaeological site, culminating in a brief walkover of the proposed Rose Hill House area.

As part of the WWHHH project, an initial two archaeological evaluation days were run with the fantastic North Downs Young Archaeologists Club (YACs). The first day examined garden features and identified the walled garden at the house site along with various outbuildings.

The second day involved exploratory excavation work on the substantial outbuilding to the rear of the house, believed to be a stable. By the end of the second day, the YACs were able to ascertain that part of the brick floor remained intact. A small assemblage of finds, including pottery and various metal items, indicated a broad chronology for the site (c1800 to late 20th century).

Grove Park School dig week

From the 15th to the 18th of June 2015, children attending Grove Park Primary assisted KCC community archaeologists,

Andrew Mayfield and Richard Taylor, in further excavating the putative stable building north of the house, first evaluated by the YACs. Each day, separate year classes of approximately thirty children (one group in the morning and one in the afternoon) made the short walk from their school grounds to the excavation site. Each class carefully cleared the surrounding vegetation and topsoil to gradually reveal a surviving brick floor and the exterior brick walls of the stable building. Year 5 were the first class on Monday, followed by Year 6 on Tuesday, Year 3 on Wednesday and Year 4 on Thursday. This project differed from previous community archaeological projects run by KCC as the archaeologists were embedded in the school for the whole week, from dawn to dusk each day. A total of 240 children had the opportunity to excavate on the site and process their finds, and another 60 from Year 2 visited on the Friday. By the end of the week, Richard and Andrew could almost remember everyone’s name!

Excavation

The project process soon took shape - in the morning, one class would excavate at the house site whilst the other remained at school to wash and process the previous days’ finds. After a well-earned lunch break, these roles were reversed. With each day, more of a well-preserved brick herringbone floor was revealed. By the end of the week, the children’s hard work had established a number of phases to the building; from carefully laid brick floor, to concrete skimmed yard area at the end of its life as a garage or storage area.

Finds were numerous bricks, metalwork (including a sash window weight), pottery, bone, shell, tiles (including the mathematical ones that clad the main building) and even burnt wood (from the demolition of the buildings?) and worked flint.

Exhibition

On Friday 19th June, selected children from each year group were tasked to set out an exhibition of the excavation process, the finds and their interpretation. Following a busy morning of creating posters and setting out displays in the main school hall, the children succeeded in organising and presenting a spectacular exhibition of the Rose Hill excavation which was later attended by parents, council officials, representatives from the WWHHH project and the Mayor of Swale.

A Different Approach

Having involved local schools in the Randall Manor (Shorne) project for 10 years, it was interesting to try a different approach to working with a school on a new project. Embedding ourselves in the school for a week forged stronger relationships with the staff, caretaker (!) and pupils. We were able to facilitate the finds processing on site with the school as we went along, so the pupils were engaged in every

stage from research and walkover surveys, to excavation and post-ex. We also ran a post-dig session with Years 3-6 to explain the results of the dig and show them some of the key finds. The success of this model will influence future projects that we develop.

With thanks to the Mid Kent Downs Countryside Partnership, Grove Park School, the North Downs YACs, the Historic Research Group Sittingbourne and the Shorne Woods Archaeology Group.

Schools and Young People by Andrew Mayfield & Richard Taylor

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Continued on page 32

TOP & MIDDLE: Selection of finds from Stable area.

LEFT & RIGHT: Grove Park School archaeology exhibition.

Owners and Occupiers

Rose Hill was a house which stood alone at the south end of Bobbing parish. Its hill looked down upon the Watling Street and the fields and orchards of Borden further south.

The Gores

The house was built on the lands of Bobbing manor about 1770 by the Irish aristocrat cousins Arthur and Booth Gore, as a shooting seat. It was known as Gore Hill in their time. One might wonder why they came out as far as Bobbing to shoot, for the land around the house had long ago been farmed. The attraction must have been the wild ducks and geese of the Medway estuary two miles away. In the 1770s the historian Edward Hasted wrote of the Gores’ shooting seat that “they both pretty constantly reside in it”. Arthur and Booth would ride out at dawn and dusk to shoot when the birds were aloft, but during the day the sportsmen would retire to the house to eat and sleep and avoid the mosquitoes.

Arthur Gore had acquired further land around the house by 1798. Soon after, it was described as “a neat dwelling house consisting of two parlours, a hall and kitchen on the ground floor, six bed chambers on the first floor and two in the atticks - good cellars, a pleasance and kitchen garden, a fishpond, good stabling and every other office and convenience for a small genteel family.” Note the eight bedrooms. The Gores must often have had guests down to shoot. The Gore tenancy ended in 1800.

The Montrésors

A new tenant was found for Gore Hill in 1801. She was the recently widowed Mrs Frances Montrésor. Her husband John had been a British military engineer in America when the War of Independence broke out and he had an adventurous career until his retirement in 1778, when they bought Belmont Place at Throwley. Montrésor was to have years of dispute with the Audit Office over his expenses during his active service and he was eventually committed to Maidstone prison, where he died in 1799. The Montrésor family lived on at Belmont until John’s bankruptcy, when the estate was taken by the Exchequer and sold.

By September 1801, Montrésor’s widow Frances was living at Gore Hill, 8 miles away, probably with her two sons and two daughters.

Recent excavations have shown that the walls of Gore Hill were clad with pale yellow mathematical tiles, which gave the appearance of yellow brick, much like those at Belmont Place. We hope that excavation will show whether this was how the Gore cousins had built it, or whether Frances Montrésor had added the tile cladding when she moved there. Frances began using the alternative name of Rose Hill for the house in 1822 and after her time Rose Hill was the only name used. She died in 1826. William C Fairman had the tenancy from 1827 to 1832 and William Augustus Munn, from 1835.

The Simpsons

Back in 1796 the manor of Bobbing and its lands, including Rose Hill, had been bought by Valentine Simpson, an innkeeper of Sittingbourne. He and his descendants were to own Rose Hill for 130 years. Valentine was living at Bobbing Court at his death in 1832. His son George became vicar of Bobbing in 1818 and he duly inherited Bobbing Court and Rose Hill, but the Simpsons did not occupy Bobbing Court again. By 1839, the Revd George had resigned the living of Bobbing in favour of his son the 26-year-old Revd. George Stringer Simpson though both remained in Sittingbourne. William Munn was then occupier of Rose Hill and was still there in 1841.

The only detailed illustration of Rose Hill appears in a mezzotint by Greenwood of 1838, later copied and coloured in. It shows a remarkable resemblance, on a small scale, to the mansion at Belmont, both having the yellow mathematical tile walls, the shallow bay windows and the hilltop situation. Possibly this was how the house had looked in 1770 when Arthur Gore built it, but Frances Montrésor might have employed a local builder in 1801 to make the shooting seat resemble her old home.

By 1847 Rose Hill was the property and residence of the Revd. George Simpson. He was one of two principal landowners in Bobbing and lord of the manor. Bobbing was a vicarage in his patronage and his son the Revd. George Stringer Simpson was vicar. The elder George Simpson died in April 1854. George S Simpson was still the vicar of Bobbing in the 1861 census and his address was now Rose Hill House. In the 1871 census George was termed vicar and land owner.

The Revd. George S Simpson resigned the living of Bobbing in 1872 and he died in 1888. The house passed to a relative, the Revd William H Simpson, of Frant, Sussex, possibly a nephew. In 1898 Rose Hill House and lands of 4½ acres were transferred from the Revd William Simpson to Sybilla Lucy Hilton of East Farleigh, a widow, who proved to be a younger sister of George Stringer Simpson.

Tenants at Rose Hill

The 1891 census found tenants at Rose Hill, Walter Stagg and his family. The Staggs were still there in 1908, but by the 1911 census they had moved to Tunbridge Wells and one Guy de Mattos and family were at Rose Hill.

Admiral Doyne

Admiral Herbert Doyne, a naval surgeon, had retired in 1919 and probably purchased the freehold from the Simpsons that year. He was certainly there in 1926 and in 1929 he sold some land for a sports ground. He died in 1936.

The Stockers

Mr and Mrs Stocker from Key Street purchased Rose Hill about 1938 though he died soon after the move, leaving his widow to live there alone for another 29 years. She moved to an old people’s home in 1969. After her death her niece inherited Rose Hill and sold it to a developer but his plans to build houses did not happen. In the 1970s local people recall a fierce lady caretaker living at Rose Hill, who died about 1975.

The end of the house

Now the house was coming to its last days. Much of the yellow tiling, which in its earlier life had made it strong and waterproof, had gone. Local children found they could rock the bare timber frame from side to side and only good fortune kept it from falling upon them. Then a child found a shotgun cartridge in the house and sadly injured himself. In 1976 local residents asked Swale Council to demolish it. After some discussion, Rose Hill House was finally demolished that year.