[TQ 71995417] Manor House [NR] (Site of) [NAT] (1) The manor of East Barming is mentioned in Domesday and was owned by the Clare family. The manor was held as two moieties and that which comprised East Barming was given to the Benedictine nunnery of St. Helen's, London, whence it acquired the name of St. Helen's. It occurs in many different hands after the Dissolution. The ancient house and dovecote stood nearly at the foot of the hill near St. Helen's Bridge: both have been pulled down not many years since. (2) The Norman manor house stood at the NW corner of the field [shown at OS site on small sketch plan.] The site of it is a large hollow where the cellars appear to have been. The mansion apparently stood parallel with the church and opposite to it; the brink of the hollow is only 18 yards from the churchyard wall. Mr. Noble's MS mentions its repair in Elizabethan times. In excavations near the Roman villa [TQ 75 SW 22] some of the 'out-offices ' of the manor house may have been found '.. they ran somewhat parallel to the remains of the dovecot. ' Coins found at the villa-site include a silver penny of Edward I. All buildings are now cleared away - the last, an eel-house in 1844. (3) The site of the manor house falls within an extension to the graveyard of St. Margaret's Church. The ground lies under pasture and has not been dug for graves as yet. No traces of building material were seen here or in an adjoining freshly-ploughed field. (4) No evidence was found in recently cut graves but the general area has a good deal of broken tile fragments scattered about its surface. (5)

<1> OS 6" 1931-47 (OS Card Reference). SKE48329.

<2> History of Kent 4 1898 386 (Hasted) (OS Card Reference). SKE44122.

<3> Collectanea Antiqua 1 1848 193 (Beale Post) (OS Card Reference). SKE39188.

<4> F1 ASP 28.05.59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42324.

<5> F2 CFW 11.02.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43219.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 20 - May, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4006.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 20 - February, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4007.