HAWKWELL/SPRING GROVE ESTATE
A REVIEW OF HOUSES CALLED HAWKWELL
By Jane Grooms, October 2023
The names of properties around Hawkwell
in Pembury are very similar and so can
seem confusing. The maps below show the
location of the various properties in
the Hawkwell area of Pembury and
approximately when newer properties
appeared. There are accounts of each
property thereafter including
interesting facts or stories.
Key to Properties
A:
Site of Great Hawkwell Manor
(Manor of Pepingbury Magna)
|
E:
Hawkwell Farm Cottage
|
B:
Great Hawkwell Cottage/Farm
|
F:
Little Hawkwell Farmhouse
|
C:
Hawkwell Place/Spring Grove
Mansion (Part of Kent College,
2023)
|
G:
Hawkwell House
|
D:
Hawkwell Farmhouse
|
H:
Hawkwell Cottages (Seven cottages)
|
Ordinance Survey Map, surveyed 1868,
published 1872 – Key Map 1
Showing:
A:
the site of Great
Hawkwell Manor (see credit to
David Brown below);
B:
Great Hawkwell Farmhouse (now
Cottage in 2023);
C:
Hawkwell Place here named as
Spring Grove;
E:
Hawkwell Farm
Cottage;
F:
Little Hawkwell Farmhouse and
H:
Hawkwell Cottages.
Hawkwell House and Hawkwell
Farmhouse are yet to appear.
The same
key locations shown on a
modern map (not to
the same scale)
Ordinance
Survey Map, revised 1938,
published 1946 – Key Map 2
Showing:
Hawkwell Place no
longer described as Spring Grove
and G:
Hawkwell House.
Ordinance
Survey Map, Revised 1938,
published ca 1950 – Key Map 3
Showing:
D: Hawkwell
Farmhouse (name as of 2023)
described as Great Hawkwell
Farm.
|
|
SECTION A:
NORTH OF MAIDSTONE ROAD
A:
GREAT HAWKWELL MANOR
A manor house existed called
Great Hawkwell Manor named
after the Hawkwell family that
once lived there. Sadly, it no
longer exists having been
destroyed by fire when the
Woodgate family lived there
and demolished in 1830. The
Woodgate family bought the
house from the Weyburn family.
An online book relating
to the Weyburn genealogy by
Samuel Fletcher Weyburn
outlines a visit by “W. F.
Weyburn, of New York, who,
with Mrs Weyburn, visited
Pembury, Kent, early in 1910”
They visited “Reverend
Woodgate” of Pembury Hall
[Reginald S. S. Woodgate].
Reverend Woodgate took the
visitors to “the Lowlands
…where the Manor House stood
and I saw water in about
one-half of the moat. He also
took me up to Little Hawkwells
on the Hill, a house that was
built about 200 years ago, and
showed me the old oak
staircase that was taken from
the original Hawkwells Manor
House by one of his ancestors.
It was magnificent, broad
handrail and massive newel
posts, all of which were made
before they had any planes or
saws to work with. The carving
was done with a knife and the
smoothing with an axe. This
staircase is about 800 years
old and is in a perfect state
of preservation.”
Hawkwell
from the Weyburn Genealogy
document p128
(lower
down this page)
Image of a pen and ink
drawing of Great Hawkwell
Manor, 1829, courtesy of
Martin Easdown, author of the
book, “ Lost Country
Houses of Kent”.
Great Hawkwell Manor had a
moat around it, fed from the
Alders stream which also
powered the Spring Grove Mill
further downstream. An image
of a section of the Tithe map
from circa 1840 below shows an
area to the right of the image
(circled in blue) with
square-sided pond-like
features. One or more of these
could be what remained of the
moat. Also, plot 657 occupied
by Richard Ashby and owned by
Woodgate and Briscoe [the
Woodgate family] is described
on the Tithe schedule as
“Coach House Meadow”. This was
probably the coach house/site
of the coach house to Great
Hawkwell Manor.
Tithe
Map circa 1840
The section of Ordinance
Survey Map from Key Map 1
(circa 1868) shows an area of
landscaped garden, possibly a
parterre, a Well and a pond
near to “Hawkwell”.
The manor house site is in the
square area where the Well is
situated – see area
highlighted in yellow. Thank
you to David Brown for his
help in identifying this
location. The building circled
in blue is a coach house
recorded on the Tithe Schedule
(see above).
Section
of Key Map 1
The Hawkwell Ghost
There
is a sad but fascinating
ghost story connected to
Great Hawkwell Manor
published in 1914 in the
book, “Historical
Associations of Pembury”
by Luke Pearce. The
story was related to the
author by the Reverend
Reginald S. S. Woodgate
(died 1911), a member of
the Woodgate family. The
following is a summary of
the account from the book:
A
widow and two
daughters lived at
Great Hawkwell Manor.
The younger daughter
married a fortune
hunter and went to
live in London. The
daughter’s new husband
was cruel to her and,
having no transport,
decided to walk with
her baby back to
Great Hawkwell Manor,
her family home. Upon
arriving, exhausted,
she found the Manor in
ruins, destroyed by
fire. Unknown to her,
her mother was at a
nearby house due to
celebrate her
birthday. The mother
refused to participate
in the celebrations
saying she was waiting
for her younger
daughter to arrive.
The mother collapsed
and died saying “she
has come”. Later, the
body of the daughter
and her baby were
found, frozen to death
near the ruins of the
Manor. A ghost of the
daughter is thought to
have been encountered
still searching for
her family on the
anniversary of her
death.
The
account in “Historical
Associations of Pembury”
details an encounter with
the ghost where a baker
was returning late at
night on the anniversary
of the death of the
daughter and became
“affrighted” and “rushed
into the nearest house,
which happened to be the
Three Stars Inn, now
[circa 1914] turned into
cottages.”
|
B:
GREAT HAWKWELL COTTAGE
Plot 651 on the Tithe map
circa 1840 (see above), is
described as “Cottage &
Land”. Plot 650 is described
as “Farm Yards & Bldgs”.
Plot 652 is described as
“orchard”. These plots
together with others including
Spring Grove Mill were in the
occupation of Richard Ashby.
The land was owned by
“Woodgate and Briscoe” [the
Woodgate family]. It is
clear the cottage and land
were a farm circa 1840.
The 1851 census records
Richard Ashby as living at
Great Hawkwell Farm and Spring
Grove Mill. Was Richard at
Great Hawkwell Cottage (name
as of 2023) as he was in 1840?
This is unclear as the 1851
Census has cottages listed
after this entry. However, it
seems unlikely to be Little
Hawkwell Farmhouse as the
entry specifically says
“Great”.
The following article
from 1869 reports that Richard
Ashby was a yearly tenant of
the whole Spring Grove
[Hawkwell] estate except for
the Spring Grove Mansion
[Hawkwell Place]. Richard is
likely to have had
under-tenants for properties
he did not occupy himself.
Maidstone and Kentish
Journal, 17 May 1869
Note:
This 1869 Article refers
to an old tenement known
as the “Old Seven Stars”.
The transcribed Tithe
schedule for Brenchley,
Kent has a description for
plot 417 as “House &
Garden Old 7? Stars?”
being owned by Francis
Woodgate and in the
occupation of John
Longley.
C:
HAWKWELL PLACE/SPRING
GROVE MANSION
Hawkwell
Place/Spring Grove Mansion
is the name of the
original house which is
part of Kent College (as
of 2023) and situated next
to the “old” church of St
Peter. The original
mansion is described in
the 1869 article under B:
Great Hawkwell Cottage.
Hawkwell
Place circa 1940
D:
HAWKWELL FARMHOUSE
On Key Map 3, Hawkwell
Farmhouse (name as of 2023) is
labelled as Great Hawkwell
Farm. The house does not
appear on Key Map 1 or Key Map
2. It is easy to see how
confusion has arisen over the
names of properties in the
Hawkwell area of Pembury.
Hawkwell
Farmhouse circa 2022
E:
HAWKWELL FARM COTTAGE
This is a property that has
two doors so may have been
originally two cottages. This
is of 2023, situated adjacent
to D:
Hawkwell Farmhouse but is
older having existed on
earlier maps, Key Map 1 and
Key Map 2.
Hawkwell
Farm Cottage circa 2022
|
|
SECTION B:
SOUTH OF MAIDSTONE ROAD
F:
LITTLE HAWKWELL FARMHOUSE
Little Hawkwell Farmhouse is
shown on the Tithe Map circa
1840 and the OS Map circa 1895
shown previously. It is, as of
2023, still situated on the
Maidstone Road.
In the 1861 Census, Richard
Ashby, is recorded as living
in the “Farm House, Maidstone
Road”. I believe this
farmhouse to be Little
Hawkwell Farmhouse as it is
listed next to number 7,
Hawkwell Cottages on the 1861
census.
An article below from 14
August, 1987 shows an image of
the house and describes the
staircase from “Old Hawkwell
Manor” i.e. Great Hawkwell
Manor.
See also the description of
the staircase by a descendant
of the Weyburn family who
visited Little Hawkwell
Farmhouse in 1910 under A:
Great Hawkwell Manor.
G:
HAWKWELL HOUSE
This is a Victorian detached
house on the same side of
Maidstone Road as Little
Hawkwell Farmhouse. See Key
Map 2 and Key Map 3.
Hawkwell
House circa 2022
In the
1871 Census, Richard Ashby
is a “retired miller” and
is recorded as living as
“Hawkwell Villa” which is
listed prior to the seven
Hawkwell Cottages.
Richards’s son, George
Ashby is now at “Hawkwell
Farm” which, in turn, is
listed next to “Hawkwell
Villa”. I believe Hawkwell
Villa may be Hawkwell
House and, if correct,
Hawkwell House was built
prior to 1871. It may have
just missed appearing on
Key Map 2.
H:
HAWKWELL COTTAGES
Situated on the Maidstone
Road next to Hawkwell
House above. These seven
cottages are referenced in
the article from 17 May
1869 when the Spring Grove
Estate was for sale (see
under Great Hawkwell
Cottage).
The Three Stars Inn
The Dover-Kent.com
pub archive web-page records
the location of the Three
Stars Inn as
1 Hawkwell
Cottages. It is
also listed in the Pubs and
Beerhouses page of this
website.
The reference originates from
a book “The Old Pubs of
Tunbridge Wells and District”
by Keith Hetherington and Alun
Griffiths. Most of their
findings were from old alcohol
licensing records that were
brief and indicated that at
some time in the past a
property acquired an alcohol
sales license.
The Hawkwell Ghost story (see
under A:
Great Hawkwell Manor) outlined
in “Historical Associations
of Pembury” refers to
the “Three Stars Inn” in
existence “forty or fifty
years ago”. The book was
published in 1914. The
Reverend Reginald S.S.
Woodgate had related the story
to the author of the book and
Reverend S.S. Woodgate died in
1911, so it is uncertain what
year the baker had an
encounter with the Hawkwell
Ghost. It follows, it is
unclear when the Three Stars
Inn existed.
Unfortunately, no record of an
inn or an inn keeper could be
found on the censuses from
1841 to 1881 for Hawkwell
Cottages.
Historic England have an image
of the cottages on their
webpage,
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1254442
|
Weyburn Genealogy document
in 1911 Samuel Fletcher Weyburn of
Scranton, Pennsylvania wrote a genealogy
of his family.
It contains many references to his
ancestors in Pembury, particularly at
Hawkwell.
The full
document (218 pages) is located here
- https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G007061.pdf
Book 1 (pages 5 -
104)
American Section.
Book
2 (pages 105 - 218)
English Section.
Hawkwell
- Weyburn page contains some
of the extracts from Book 2 relating to
Hawkwell
|
