SHOLDEN

THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, 30 MAY. 1902.
OUR VILLAGES

L1V.—SHOLDEN.

Sholden is a parish of the Eastry Union, having a population of 528 and an area of i 1814 acres of land and 94 of water. The village is situate west of Deal, on the high land overlooking the Sandhills and the j Downs. It adjoins Upper Deal on the one side and Northbourne and Great Mongeham on the others.

SHOLDEN IN HISTORY.

The casual observer might rashly conclude that Sholden had no history, for it does not appear to possess any buildings marked with antiquity except the church; and its general history, it might be supposed, would be bound up with the interests of the town of Deal, which it adjoins. But, as a matter of fact, these villages on the higher ground—Sholden, Mongeham, and Northbourne—are older than Deal or Walm^r, which now over-shadow them in social importance. Sholden, however, in its early history, ecclesiastiscal and manorial, is closely associated with Northbourne. The church was esteemed a chapel attached to Northbourne, and the Manor of North-hourne claimed paramountcy over Sholden lands. To that Manor, the Manor of Hall in Sholden was always subordinate, and was part of the large estate which Eadbald gave to the Monastery of St. Augustine’s in the year 618, as an atonement for the discredit he brought on the Church by a marriage with his step-mother, which was afterwards annulled. The Sholden part of this estate, after the Conquest, became the separate Manor of Hull, and Hull Manor House was, and still is, at the western part of the village; while Codmanton, latterly called Cottington, which was at one time esteemed a Manor, is now but a farm house. The Manor or Hull remained the property of the Monastery of St. Augustine until 1539, when, by the suppression of it, this estate came into the King’s hands, and four years later was conveyed to the Archbishop of Canterbury; but many years ago the lease of the Manor and the Rectory appendant passed to private holders. Alongside this ecclesiastical holding there have always heen other estates in private hands. Long Farm, sometimes called Hull Court, is an estate in this parish which was anciently the property of Sir Richard de Retting, of Retting Court, Nonington. He died possessed of it in the year 1350, His widow. Lady Sarah Retting, afterward;? married John de St. Laurence, but she left this estate to her daughter Joan, and it went to her husband, John Spicer. His daughter, Cicely Spicer, married John Isaac, who for a time owned Hull Court, and he sold it in the year 1443 to John Bresland, who disposed of it soon afterwards to one Fineax, of Swingfield. from whom it passed to the Monins family by marriage. John Monins, of Dover, about the year 1400 married a daughter of an ancient family who took their surname from Sholden. One of these "was Lambert de Shoveldon, who possessed lands in this parish as early as the year 1128. It was one of the descendants of this family who married a daughter of the Fineux family, and Hull Court was in the possession of the Monins family for several generations; but, eventually, they sold it, with the appendant rectory, to Sir William Crayford, of Mongeham, from whom it passed by sale to Richard Aldworth, who was in possession in the year 1630. His descendant, Charles Aldworth, in 1707 obtained an Act of Parliament to convey his interest in the lease of the Manor of Hull, and the appendant rectory of Sholden to Daniel Wyborn; and the Wyborns continued in the possession until the nineteenth century. Cottington Court was at one time another sub-Manor of this parish, situate on its western boundary, the house of it dividing the two parishes of Sholden and Northbourne. This estate in early times was held by Simon de Criol from the Abbot of St. Augustine’s, for knight service, ¦in the reign of Henry III. After Cnols came Champnies, 8olamon de Champnies "being its possessor in Edward Ill.’s reign; but at that period it passed to Roger Digge, of Barham. In the reign of Henry VII., John Digge sold it to Thomas Barton, from Lancashire. His descendants in the reign of Henry VIII. sold it to Brown, of London, from whom it passed to Sir Roger Manwood. Then it was sold to the Richardsons, and in James I.’s time it was owned by Sir Thomas Smith, of London, and his son Sir John Smith, inherited it ; but at his d.>ath it was ¦bequeathed to the trustees of Bethlehem Hospital, who are still the owners of it. There was near Coddington Court an an-e'ent Chapel erected for the use of the estate, but it was allowed to go to rum. It appeared to have been a building of some beauty. consisting of a nave and a south aisle, separated bv an arcade resting on a row of elegant pillars supporting pointed arches, and at the east was an apse chancel vaulted with stone. The Chanel disappeared during the Eighteenth Century and the foundations are now levelled and covered. Coddington has long since ceased to be an important residence, and the Wv-borns, who were lessees of the Manor of Hull, s*em to have built for themselves a residence separate from the Manor House, the large house opposite the Church, which has for manv vears been the property of Mr. E. R J. Banks, but which was built bv the Wyborns about the year 1800. All interest in" the Manor seems to have been relin-ouished by the Archbishop, who is now only the patron of the living.

MODERN SHOLDEN.

Hasted thus describes Sholden in his dav (a.d. 1799):—“This parish is situated ad-ioining to Upper Deal, from which the unland part of it forms a kind of peninsula westward, which is surrounded on throe sides bv the wet land and marches. The hieh road from Canterbury to Deal passes through the upland of it. over the open arable down, from Howe-bndge. having: both Cottington and Hull at almost a stones throw on the left hand, thence it goes on through a narrow enclosed lane1to the village called Sholden Street and the Church; the latter being on two sides bounded by the hi eh wavs at not more than a nuarter of a mile’s distance from Upper Deal. The Street of Sholden contains about 20 houses, one of which is a farm house, formerly belonging to the Crayfords. but now to the Rev James Morriee. and the hamlet of Sholden Bank contains about as many. At the west end of the par-sh is the hamlet of Foulmead. The parish corains about 1500 acres, of which about 400 being arable are worth about 20/- ner acre: the residue is marsh land in the Lydden Val ev a great pprt of which is very wet and of little value. Sholden has grown since Hasted s time Now the ponulation comprises about 115 honsnholds. there having been (hat niimVr of occupied houses at the time rf the taking of the census of 1901. and there were nine houses unoccupied and four in the course of erection. On the register of electors now in force for this parish theTe are 103 voters, of whom 9 have property qualifications, hut onlv three of them reside in the parish, that is, at Sholden Lodge, the Vioarage, and
Sholden Street. The occupation voters in the parish are distriuted thus:—At Foulmead 8, at Sholden Street 25, at Church Lane 21, at Sunnyside 4, at Sholden Bank 12, at Cottington Alders 3, at Hacklinge 2, at Sand Hills 2, at Sholden Down 2, and at the following single residences:—Golf Cottage, Middlefield, The Laurels, Hull House, Cottington Court, Kennets Farm, Walnut Tree Farm, Highfield, Paddock Cottage, Hull Farm, Lydden Valley, Leather Bottle, Cheguers Inn, and the Sportsman Inn. i

During the last hundred years the population at each census has stood thus:—1801, 238; 1811, 286; 1821, 285; 1831, 356; 1841,

465; 1851, 430; 1861, 407; 1871, 335; 1881,

386 ; 1891, 370; and 1901, 528. From the

foregoing it will be seen that the population increased steadily until the opening of the railways, and then declined until the last decade, when a big increase was made.

In most of the parishes of Eastry Union there is a predominance of females, but at Sholden there are 265 males and 263 females, i The present day appearance of Sholden is , one of respectability and well-to-doness. | The Church looks neat and well kept, and Sholden Lodge opposite to it is a mansion which may be regarded as a fine sample of the work done by Eighteenth Century build- \ ers. Beyond the Church, westwards, at no ! ; great distance, is the Vicarage—a nice resi- I dence standing in a very pretty pleasaunce. : On the south of the Vicarage are the Schools, ! built in 1877, with accommodation for 70' children. On the north are some new | houses, and there seems a prospect of more i —indeed Sholden will soon be an integral , part of the town of Deal. From this point Sholden has a good view of the Borough of I Deal and the Downs, where ships snugly ! lie “when stormy winds do blow.” .This part! of Sholden has a Nonconformist fchapel, a Post Office, and “Ye Leather Bottel." In I its present aspect Sholden does not show the antiquity which is attached to it.. The face which is seen by the ordinary observer is that of its renewed youth, which looks forward hopeful of further development.

THE CHURCH.

The Church of St. Nicholas at 8holden has always been accounted a chapel belonging to the Church at Northbourne, the tithes of it, great and small, having been assigned in the reign of Henry III to form part of the almonry of 'St. Augustine’s Monastery, which tithes the Chamberlain of that Religious House had, before that period, been accustomed to receive. The present value of the Sholden tithe rent charges is set down in the Diocesan books at £270, which, if correct, must be the result of some re-arrangement between Northbourne and Sholden in modern times. The fabric is built of flint and stone, with doors and windows cased with Caen stone. It is in the Early English style, with modern additions, the entire building consisting of a chancel, nave, north aisle, with north porch (now built up and used as a vestry), and a square western tower containing three bells, the size and inscriptions of which are as follows : (1) 27J inches, “Thomas Barttet made me, 1623. W.H., H.H., Churchwardens.’’ (2) 29 inches. “John Hodson C.H. made me, 1623. William Hilde gave this bell by his will. P.B., W.S.” (3) 30* ins., “Thomas Bartlet made me 1623. William Hilde and Henry Hayward, Churchwardens.” This Church owes its modern aspect to its having been very thoroughly rennovated between the years 1872 and 1880. The whole of the exterior was refaced with flints, and the interior completely restored. In the chancel are several memorials of Eighteenth Century date to the Wybom family, and also for the Hoopers, who, a century ago, were at Cottington Court. The memorial window in fhe chancel is in memory of the Rev. F. W. Darwell, a former Vicar of this parish. There are in the nave memorials t-> the Banks family of Sholden Lodge, and to the Dennes, who were by marriage connected with the Wyborn family. The age of this Church is mainly to be inferred from its style. There appear to have been two Chapels at Sholden about equal in status and age, the one at Cottington Court and this, the former being the more pretentious in structure, but the Manorial proprietors of the Chapel at Cottington having neglected to repair it, the fabric went to ruin, and the present edifice may be regarded as a survival of the fittest. The present Vicar, the Rev. George R. Adam, has held the living since 1877—a tenure of a quarter of a century.

SHOLDEN CHARITIES.

The charities of Sholden are fraught with more antiquarian than financial interest. The earliest on record was that of Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., of Cotmanton Court (since called Cottington), who, by his will in 1625, provided funds to give to six poor men a fourpenny loaf each on a Sunday, 2/- to the Minister, 2/- to the Churchwardens, and 2/-to the Clerk of the Parish, to be paid yearly out of money entrusted to the Skinners Company. The source of the money to supply these annual doles was dried up by i the Great Fire of London in the time of Charles II., and none has been paid since. There was also the Hickman s Chanty, the origin of which is unknown, but in the year 1719 there is an entry of £1 a year coming to it, payable out of a house and malt-kiln at Sholden. In the returns of 1786 this sum is entered as a charity given to the poor, but for a long period had been earned to the Poor Rate account. Mr. Rickman devised a certain house to the poor which m 1786 was vested in William Adams. This house was for many years used for parish purposes, and was afterwards divided into four tenements. Some seem to think that Hickman and Rickman represent the same person, and that the two last mentioned charities had a common origin. Financially, the old Sholden chanties may be written off as nil.

EASTRY

At a meeting of the Eastry Rural District Council held on Tuesday, there were present : Mr. Long (Chairman), Mr. Giles (vice-Chairman), Councillors W. Fagg, J. Gray, L. W. Laslett, M. Inge, H. Capeling,

V. Lister, Rev. Canon Bliss, and the Rev. T. J. Holt.—Amended tender for Ash sewage disposal works was received, and the Common Seal of the Council was ordered to be affixed thereto —Two fresh cases of scarlet fever were reported to have heen admitted to the Sanitorium since the last meeting, and two cases of diptheria were ordered to be admitted.—The Clerk was directed to obtain the necessary books for the purposes of the Factory and Workshops Act, 1901.— A print of the Margate Corporation Water Bill was received as passed by the Lom-mittee of the House of Lords, and contain-ing the clauses agreed to bv this Council.— Letters were read from Mr. T. Bradshaw with reference to his pond at Stourmouth. and it appeared that steps were being taken to abate the nuisance.—A report was received from the Medical Officer of Health under the Housing of the Working Classes Act with reference to several cottages m the District, and notices were ordered to be given to the several owners to put them in a proper state of repair within 28 days.

B. Crump, Coach and Horses, Eastry, has gcod accommodation for Cyclists. Teas and Dinners provided. Good stabling.