SHOLDON.
NORTH-EASTWARD from Norborne lies
the parish of Sholdon, next adjoining; being written
in antient records likewise, Soldone and Scholdon.
A borsholder is chosen for the borough of Sholdon,
comprehending the whole parish, at the court leet of
the manor of Norborne.
THIS PARISH is situated adjoining to Upper Deal,
from which the upland part of it forms a kind of
peninsula westward, which is surrounded on three
sides by the wet land and marshes. The high road
from Canterbury to Deal passes through the upland
of it, over the open arable down, from Howe-bridge,
having both Cotmanton and Hull at almost a stone's
throw on the lest hand, thence it goes on through a
narrow inclosed lane to the village, called Sholdonstreet, and the church; the latter being both on two
sides encircled by the highway, at not more than a
quarter of a mile's distance from Upper Deal. The
street of Sholdon contains about twenty houses, one
of which is a farm-house, formerly belonging to the
Crayfords, but now to the Rev. James Morrice,
clerk, and the hamlet of Sholdon Bank contains about
as many. At the west end of the parish is the hamlet of Foulmead. The parish contains about fifteen
hundred acres, of which about four hundred being
arable, are worth about twenty shillings per acre;
the residue is marsh-land in Lydden Valley, great part
of which is very wet, and of little value. There is no
woodland in it.
THE MANOR OF NORBORNE claims paramount
over it; subordinate to which is the MANOR OF HULL,
which appears to have been part of the possessions of
the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, given to it
most probably in 618, by Eadbald, king of Kent, at
part of those thirty plough lands, which made up the
manor of Northborne, as mentioned in his charter of
it, (fn. 1) continued with the monastery, till the suppression
of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. (fn. 2) when it
came, with the rest of the revenues of the abbot and
convent, into the king's hands, whence this manor
was granted, by the name of the manor of Hull and
Sholden, by the king, in his 34th year, in exchange
for other premises, to archbishop Canterbury. Since
which it has continued parcel of the possessions of the
see of Canterbury to the present time, and is now held
on a beneficial lease by Mr. James Wyborn, who resides here, whose father Mr. William Wyborne rebuilt the mansion of this manor. His son James,
the present lessee of this manor, married Rebecca
Bargrave, by whom he has two sons, Bargrave and
James, and three daughters, Frances, married to Mr.
John May, gent. of Deal; Eliza, to Captain Dean,
of the Berkshire militia; and Rebecca. They bear
for their arms, Sable, a fess, or, between three swans,
proper.
There is not any court held for this manor.
HULL COURT, alias LONG FARM, is an estate in
this parish, which was antiently the property of the
family of Retling, of Retling-court, in Nonington.
Sir Richard, son of Thomas de Retling, appears to
have died possessed of it in the 23d year of king Edward III. whose widow, the lady Sarah Retling, afterwards remarried John de St. Laurence.
By her first husband, she left a sole daughter and
heir Joane, who marrying John Spicer, entitled him
to it. After which, by Cicely, a daughter and coheir
of this name, it passed in marriage to John Isaac, of
Bridge, and he alienated it before the 21st of king
Henry VI. to John Bresland, who not long afterwards
sold it to Fineux, of Swingfield, in which name it remained, till it was again passed away to Monins, whose
ancestors had been possessed of lands here for many
generations before.
John Monins, of Dover, who lived at the latter end
of king Richard II.'s reign, appears by the pedigree
of this family to have married the daughter and heir
of Sholdon, descended of a family, who from their residence and possessions in this parish, assumed their
surname from it, and bore for their arms, Argent,on
a bend, gules, three swans, or; one of whom, Lambert de Shoveldon, for so he is written in Thorne's
Chronicle, was possessed of lands here in the year
1128, anno 29 Henry I. (fn. 3)
But to return to the possessors of this estate, which
after it had continued sometime in the name of Monins, was alienated by one of them to Sir William
Crayford, of Mongeham, from whose descendant it
passed by sale to Aldworth; and I find that one of
this name, Richard Aldworth, repaired the chancel
of this church in 1630; in this name it continued,
till Charles Aldworth, esq. of Frogmore, in New
Windsor, Berkshire, having obtained an act, in the
first year of queen Anne, for the purpose, conveyed
this estate, together with his interest in the lease of
the manor of Hull, and the appendant rectory of
Sholdon, to Mr. Daniel Wyborn, whose son, William Wyborn, of Hull, in this parish, leaving four
sons his coheirs, on the division of their inheritance, James Wyborn, the youngest son, became entitled to this estate, of which he is at this time the
possessor.
COTMANTON-COURT, formerly accounted a manor,
and now usually called Cottington, is situated in the
western part of this parish, the house of it dividing
the two parishes of Sholdon and Norborne; though
great part of the demesnes of it are within the adjoining parishes of Northborne and Walmer. It was in
early times, part of those possessions in this county,
which enriched the eminent family of Criol. Simon
de Criol held it of the abbot of St. Augustine, by
Knight's service, in the reign of king Henry III. (fn. 4) After
this family was become extinct, I find it in the possession of Salamon Champneis, and again soon after
the middle of king Edward the IIId.'s reign, in that
of Roger Digge, of Barham; in whose descendants it
remained till king Henry VII.'s reign, when John
Digge, esq. of Barham, in the 4th year of it, conveyed it to trustees, who sold it to Thomas Barton,
descended from the antient family of this name in
Lancashire, and he died possessed of it in the 24th
year of that reign, holding it as above-mentioned;
but his descendant, at the latter end of Henry VIII.'s
reign, alienated it to Brown, of London, from which
name it passed to Sir Roger Manwood, chief baron of
the exchequer. (fn. 5) After which ii became the property
of Richardson, from which name, about the middle
of king James I.'s reign, it passed by sale to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, whose son, Sir John Smith,
succeeded him in the possession of it; after whose
death his heirs conveyed it to the governors of the hospital for the cure of lunatics, commonly called Bethlem hospital, in Moorfields, in London, in trust, for
the use of that noble charity, and they are at this time
possessed of the fee of it. Mr. George Hooper is the
present lessee of it.
Almost adjoining to the mansion of Cotmanton eastward, was a chapel, erected for the use of the owners
of it and their families, which, like many others of the
same sort, by the increase of expence and other alterations of the times, becoming a burthen to the owners,
was suffered to run to ruin, and they chose rather to
relinquish the privilege of having it, than continue at
the expence of repairs and other contingencies arising
from it.
The ruins of this chapel remained till within these
few years. By the stone walls, which were entire, it
appeared to have been a building of some beauty and
symmetry of architecture, consisting of a nave and south
isle, separated by a row of elegant slight pillars, supporting pointed arches; beyond them was a chancel,
circular at the east end, and vaulted over with stone.
The whole of it is now pulled down, and the foundations erased, so that the very scite of it is no longer
visible.
In the endowment of the vicarage of Norborne, the
tithes with which the vicar was endowed within the
limits of this chapel, are recited, and that the lords of
the manor of Cotmanton were bound to repair this
chapel and the chancel of it, and to find the books,
vestments, and other ornaments necessary to it; but
the vicar was bound at all times either to serve himself, or to find a fit priest to serve in divine offices in
this chapel. (fn. 6)
Charities.
SIR THOMAS SMITH, by will in 1625, gave to six poor men
a four-penny loat each, on a Sunday; 2s. to the minister, 2s.
to the churchwardens; 2s. to the clerk of the parish; to be
paid yearly out of money intrusted to the Skinners Company, in
London. But this gift has not been paid since the great fire of
London, in 1666.
A PERSON, name unknown, but supposed to be Rickman,
gave the sum of 20s. per annum, payable yearly out of the rents
of a house, and five or six acres of land in this parish, now in
the occupation of Adams, to the industrious poor of it. This
money was accordingly thus distributed till within these twenty
years past, since which it has been brought into the parish accounts, and for some years past has not been paid.
The poor constantly relieved are about eighteen, casually three.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of
Sandwich.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas,
consists of a nave and a chancel; it is of a good size
and well built, having a square tower steeple at the
west end, in which are three bells. The church is
ceiled, and kept very neat. In the chancel are several
modern memorials for the Wyborn family. There are
no monuments of antiquity in it, nor any thing worth
further notice.
The church of Sholdon was always accounted as a
chapel belonging the church of Norborne, the tithes
of it, both great and small, being in king Henry III.'s
reign, assigned by the abbot of St. Augustine's, to the
eleemosinary of almonry of the convent, which tithes
the chamberlain of it had before been accustomed to
receive. (fn. 7)
The several tithes within the bounds and limits of
this chapel, belonging to the church of Norborne,
have been recited before in the endowment of the vicarage of that church, but the parsonage of Sholdon
still remained with the religious.
After the dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine,
anno 30 king Henry VIII. this chapel, as an appendage to the church of Norborne, passed into the hands
of the crown, whence the rectory of it was granted in
exchange the next year to the archbishop, as was the
advowson of this chapel, anno I king Edward VI. together with that of the church of Norborne, in which
state it continues at this time, the archbishop being
now possessed of the rectory appropriate of Sholdon,
which is entirely distinct from that of Norborne, and he
is the present patron of the church of Norborne, with
the chapel of Sholdon annexed to it.
The instrument of endowment of the vicarage of
Norborne, with this chapel appendant to it, has been
already recited in the description of that parish, to
which the reader is referred. (fn. 8)
This chapel is not valued separately in the king's
books, but is included in the valuation of the church
of Norborne; the vicar of which is instituted and inducted to that vicarage, with the chapel of Sholdon
annexed to it.
In 1588, here were communicants sixty-two. In
1640 eighty-eight.