Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EASTWELL

EASTWELL, a parish in East Ashford district, Kent; 2½ miles W by N of Wye r. station, and 3 N by E of Ashford. Post town, Westwell, under Ashford. Acres, 894. Real property, £1, 079. Pop., 126. Houses, 17. The property is not much divided. The manor belonged anciently to a family of its own name, but passed to successively the families of Hales, Moyle, Finch, Heneage, and Hatton. Eastwell Park is the seat of the Earl of Winchelsea; has a modern mansion, by Bononi, on the site of one built by Sir Thomas Moyle in the time of Henry VIII.; extends beyond the parish so far as to include about 2, 500 acres; and both presents fine scenery within itself, and commands very brilliant exterior views. Richard, the last of the Plantagenets, a natural son of Richard III., took refuge in Eastwell after the battle of Bosworth; worked here as a mason till identified and relieved by Sir Thomas Moyle; and then built a small house, in which he lived and died, and which was demolished towards the end of the 17th century. A modern building marks the site of the house; and a spring near this is called Plantagenet's well. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £196.* Patron, the Earl of Winchelsea. The church is ancient but good; consists of nave, aisle, and two chancels, with square embattled tower; and contains a massive table monument to Sir Moyle Finch, and his wife the Countess of Winchelsea, and also a worn ancient tomb, without inscription, supposed by some to be the tomb of Richard Plantagenet, but appearing to others to be of earlier date. There is a free school.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Eastwell AP/CP       East Ashford RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Eastwell

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.