Gordon Ward
The LIBRARY NOTES in the Winter Newsletter show the breadth and depth of Gordon Ward’s interests. One vignette may exemplify this and the Kentish world he worked in.
A fellow KAS Council member with Gordon Ward at that time was Dr F.W.Hardman, Clerk to Walmier District Council, who was then engaged in rewriting the handbook to Nonington church.1 The Hammond family had a heavy presence in the church from 1525 onwards, as Hasted remarks (Hasted, 251-262). Their seat, St Albans Court, was developed from a manor well established in the 790s, granted to the Abbey of St Albans in 1097 and in the possession of the Hammond family from the 1520s until 1938. In 1935 Mrs Ina Hammond, the widow of the last of the male line, was in residence.
Hardman writes to Ward of living with Mrs Hammond, over tea, at a print of St Albans Court (10 Nov 1936). Elsewhere, (26 July 1935) Hardman thanks Ward for letting him examine his priceless exercise book of Nonington deeds2, cavils over Ward’s translation of a charter and suggests a candidate for the next KAS Council vacancy; they worked closely together.
Gordon Ward himself had identified that Mrs Hammond had the charter, sealed by King Stephen, confirming the grant of St Albans (or the Manor of Easole as the Abbey knew it) to the Abbey in 1097. Mrs Hammond wrote to Ward (4 Oct 1933) that in addition to that document, 'perhaps you might like to come over and look over a cupboard which is full of old documents... and certainly you can have the loan of any document I have'. Could an antiquarian have asked for more? Perhaps; belatedly recognising the attractions of her cupboard, Mrs Hammond wrote later to Ward (18 Jan 1936) saying the state of her memory was such that receipts were mandatory for documents removed.
The Antiquaries Journal of July 1936 contains an item on the King Stephen charter and seal giving credit to Gordon Ward as the source and for his suggestion of a date of November or December 1141. Amongst his papers there is a typed note on the charter proposing specifically 7th December 1141, which displays good detective work and historical knowledge in arriving at that conclusion. The seal and charter were last reported in 1969 and have since disappeared (Crome and Davies, 1969).
As well as Hardman, Dr Ward’s circle of Kent antiquarians who had some involvement in Nonington included Arthur Hussey, W.P.D. Stebbing, Frank Tyler and Boys Richardson. In correspondence and meetings between themselves and also with the British Records Society, they exchanged ideas and views, translating texts and building up collections of material.
In July 1936, Hardman, excited and emboldened by information on Nonington that Ward had provided for him, wrote to him about his new thoughts and completes his letter 'In fact it encourages me to tell a story to the guileless archaeologists who will be over on 9 September which will excite your derision'. This referred to the KAS light excursion on Wednesday, September 9th 1936 to Adisham Church and Nonington.
The Excursion Programme text was certainly something of a wonder. One highlight was St Albans Court, built by George Devey, and identified as the fourth successive house on the site, a dubious view propagated by W.P.D. Stebbing in a (now lost) manuscript quoted by the English Heritage National Records office. It also mentions an (unlocated) Nunnery Farm and draws attention to the 'fine Tudor bell tower' incorporated in the stables, something which would have delighted George Devey who built it in 1869!2
These episodes illustrate the richness and variety of material which Gordon Ward spotted, accumulated and promoted as he pursued his interests in recording sources and documents, the originals of which may now be lost. He and his friends and contacts have left a treasure trove for us; their opinions may not always stand up to modern research but the materials are invaluable. Well done KAS, in enabling our access to this wealth.
Peter Hobbs
Old St Albans Court, Nonington.
Suggestions for further reading:
Jill Allibone, George Devey, Architect. 1820-1886. (British Architectural Library, 1991).
Ian Crome and H.S.A. Davees (eds.), Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154, (Oxford, 1969).
E. Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (2nd 1797-1801), IX.
P. Hobbs, Old St Albans Court, Arch. Cant., (2005), CXX.
1 In practice Hardman added little to the Notes produced in 1912. The pre-sent Church Guide written by Dr Charles Cousin in 2004 sets them several issues.
2 George Devey is celebrated for his work at Penshurst Place and as an important influence on the Arts and Crafts Movement. His hallmarks are the free use of historical medieval building by using stone or brick and by his support for tenant housing, the unwitting progenitor of mock Tudor.