Holding of Ickham in Kent

[tlaporte]

Would anyone be able to help me locate the site of some places in Kent from their 13th century names?

I am trying to locate the 'field of teague', Cnoldane (Knoldane), Stokedune and Burnes.

I have the following description from a Quitclaim in the Canterbury Cathedral Archives:

"in the field of Teaghe lying between the demesne of Cnoldane and the king's highway which goes from 'Burnes' to Adisham with Stokedune to the west and the land of Simon Bole to east"

Another grant mentions "Knoldane of the holding of Ickham".

Adisham is easy enough but I'm not having much luck with the rest.

My interest lies chiefly with Simon Bole and later descendants.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Tom

[Geoffers]

I don't know the area, which means that this isn't a definitive reply. However, the first element of the place name Cnoldane - Cnol, means a hillock.

A little to the east of Adisham is a village called Knowlton and the Knowl bit is clearly from the same root. I would tentatively suggest that this might be your Cnoldane.

Stoke just means an outlying farmstead and it was presumably on a hill (dune). This could have been renamed over the centuries.

Burnes may be Bishopbourne

Have you tried comparing the places mentioned against locations recorded in Domesday?

Field names sometimes stay the same or similar over many generations. A large scale map with field names between Adisham and Knowlton might show something which hints at the location of the field.

[Rubina]

I had a feeling that "dane" was a way of naming a town but I can't find references to prove my memory is correct. However, if this was the case, Geoffers suggestion of Knowlton (Ton being a foreshortening of Town) sounds right. (A town on a hill?)

Don, Den, Dean and Dene is Old English for Valley. A place on a hill in a valley? Just throwing it in!

Rubina

[Thomasin]

This seems to be a few miles to the east of Canterbury. Adisham is on the same road as Patrixbourne and Bekesbourne (and Bishopsbourne is not far away), while Ickham is directly north of Adisham. There is also Knowlton to the east of Adisham. Stokedune at the moment has me stumped, and there is as yet no sign of Simon Bole.

Thomasin

[Rubina]

I am rubbish at reading the whole thing before flying off into research - ham is Old English for farm, homestead or settlement.

[Thomasin]

There is also Littlebourne, just west of Ickham. All these places are in a very small area. Need a larger scale map, but I can't get to it without waking the household!

Thomasin

[Rubina]

If you google demesne you will find a definative explanation of this term as used in the feudal system.

[Thomasin]

A tributary of the River Stour runs round this little area, and I wonder whether Stokedune can possibly have anything to do with this. Probably clutching at straws!

Thomasin

[tlaporte]

I like my little sub-title "New to the group so an unknown at this point". I should introduce myself, I'm Tom LaPorte, resident in Central Canada with a foot of new snow on the ground and have a wife, two girls 20 and 22, three dogs and 17 years of family history experience but new to this period is correct. I publish a web site with about 700 pages now dedicated to the single surname Bowles which started in Canada but now covers Ireland and England. I'm now trying to uncover the earliest possible roots for the Bowles name and this looks like the right area. Simon Bole who is also Simon son of Osbert in other records is very close to where we knew some 1400's Bolles lived at Chartham who later moved on to Chatham and into modern history from there. I'm looking up every little clue I can to identify Simon's landholding as well as anything about Osbert. I already know that Osbert's four sons divided up his estate of 165 acres which seems like a pretty decent sized holding.

Happy to see so many responses already and hopefully there will be more when your side of the world wakes up in the morning. This seems like a great forum.

I'll just go over your responses and see if I can make some further conclusions.

Thanks
Tom

[Rubina]

There is also Littlebourne, just west of Ickham. All these places are in a very small area. Need a larger scale map, but I can't get to it without waking the household!

Thomasin

Sounds good - Bourne is Old English for brook/stream!