A Downland Parish - Ash by Wrotham in Former Times
By W. Frank Proudfoot. A manuscript history of Ash, written mostly in the 1970's but never published.
About W. Frank Proudfoot
Frank Proudfoot was born in 1909 and brought up in Sidcup, which he saw transformed from a Kentish village into a London suburb. His loyalty was always to Kent, and a Cambridge double First in History and Law equipped him both for his career as a London solicitor and his hobby in local history.
He moved to Fawkham in 1947, and published Fawkham, the Story of a Kentish Village in 1951, as Fawkham’s contribution to the Festival of Britain. His research continued, particularly after 1961 with the publication of census returns each decade and the accession to the County Record Office of a huge archive from the Selby family, whose possessions in the 18th century had included the Pennis estate.
The overlap of properties and families into adjoining parishes extended his interest from Fawkham, particularly into the parish of Ash. Much of the current work was written, ironically, after he had moved from Fawkham to Ash next Sandwich, in the east of the county.
Frank Proudfoot died in 1999, leaving in unpublished form not only his history of Ash-by-Wrotham but also one of Hartley and another, in nine volumes of typescript, on Fawkham.
Christopher Proudfoot
September 2005
| Chapter | Contents | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preface | ii |
| 2 | Abbreviations | iv |
| 3 | The Parish | 01 |
| 4 | Early and Middle Ages | 07 |
| 5 | The Manor of Scotgrove | 22 |
| 6 | Fruits of the Reformation | 42 |
| 7 | The Ancient Registers | 47 |
| 8 | Gifts, mostly to the Poor | 65 |
| 9 | From Bowes to Lambard | 77 |
| 10 | The Hodsolls in Later Times | 88 |
| 11 | At the Rectory | 99 |
| 12 | The Travellers | 117 |
| 13 | Some Old Ash Families | 120 |
| 14 | The Fulljames Survey of 1792 | 151 |
| 15 | Victorian Epilogue | 170 |
| Index | 204 |