South East Region Industrial Archaeology Conference
...of occupation revealed by excavation on a fairly inhospitable site suggests activity by the 13th century and it is therefore likely to have been based on earlier occupation. It is not improbable to surmise that a small wooden church on the hill was replaced with something more substantial on Christchurch land down below, perhaps explaining why there is a church at Nonington. We know it was extant in the 11th century, which could argue for an earlier Anglo-Saxon presence.
It is clear from the Latin records of the 824 Court disputes that there was something special about Oeswalum. However, the earliest specific reference to the site and a connection with nuns is not until John Harris in 1719, although we have references to the manor in land documentation from the 11th century onward without any such connection being suggested. But what a splendid tale for the romantics amongst us!
On the site itself we have found Neolithic remains, some small fragments of Roman and a great mass of material and building from the 13th to the 16th century. However, we have nothing Anglo-Saxon, ironic when the spur to dig there initially came from the suspicion that a 7th century Anglo-Saxon burial ground on the opposite slope of hillside might have been overlooking an Anglo-Saxon settlement. We have yet to put a spade within the embanked enclosure and a large area is untouched apart from a geophysical survey suggesting the presence of potentially extensive further remains. Anglo-Saxon habitation remains are normally very sparse. Nevertheless, an Anglo-Saxon presence should by now have manifested itself with at least a fragment of pottery; to date, we have none. So Hardman’s story to KAS still remains a “story”, but a tantalizing one.
About the Beauchamps site as a whole, we can say that we now know a great deal more than when we started, both in terms of documentation and uncovered remains. What we are less certain about is exactly what we do have! But at least Hardman’s “story” might explain the ghostly nun whom so many have seen wandering around the vicinity.
- Kingdom of Kent: K. Witney: Phillimore 1982
- The Period of Mercian Rule in Kent: K. Witney: Arch Cant 1987
- Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Nicholas Brooks: Leicester UP 1984
- Church, Land and Local Nobility in early 9th Century Kent: the case of Ealdorman Oswulf: Julian Crick: BIHR October 1987.
- Investigations at Old St. Albans Court at Nonington: Parfitt, Jones and Hobbs: KAR Winter 2001
- Anglo Saxon Cemetery at Nonington: Keith Parfitt : KAR Spring 2002
- Old St Albans Court: Peter Hobbs: Arch Cant 2005
- The History of Kent: John Harris: Midwinter 1719
Fig 2. Dover Archaeological Group working in ruins first noted in 2011
Fig 3. Map of Nonington from the KAS Beauchamps file, 1938, courtesy of the Gordon Ward Archives.
researching the transport industry and infrastructure. He surprised many of the audience with the extent of the industry in Kent, particularly the steam motorcycle which ran on paraffin, petrol being very expensive even then. However, the machine’s Achilles heel was the hard water we all know in NW Kent, which caused the boiler to fur up rapidly!
The Society’s Industrial Archaeology Committee is new. If you have an interest in industrial archaeology and would like to join in its work please contact Mike Clinch 01322 526425 or mike@ mikeclinch.co.uk.
We intend to run a day in the latter part of next year centred on the paper industry, with particular emphasis on Kent. If you have any suggestions or would like to take part please let me know.