The former parishes of Monkton and Boardfield
In his History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (published c.1797), Edward Hasted refers to the parishes of Monkton and Boardfield.
In the section on Otterden in volume V, he says:
(on p533): "That part of the parish lying north-westward of the valley which is between the church and Hall Place, which includes Otterden Place, that church, and the scite of the dilapidated church of Monketon, is in the division of West Kent; and the remaining or south-east part of it, including Hall-place, the scite of the dilapidated church of Boardfield, and the whole hamlet of it, is in that of East Kent."(on p.540): "Monketon is another hamlet, situated at the north-west extremity of this parish which was formerly likewise accounted a parish of itself. The manor of it, which extends into the parish of Newnham, seems to have been given by Ralph Picot, to the Abbey of Faversham, at or soon after the foundation of it, and his gift was confirmed to it by Henry II in his 11th year (1164/1165)."It has for many years had the same owners, as the manor of Sharsted, in Doddington, and passing in like manner from the family of Deloune, (it should be de Laune or Delaune) to that of Thornicroft, and from thence, since the death of Mrs Anne Thornicroft in 1791, it came to her nephew Alured Pinke esq., now of Sharsted, the present possessor of it. A Court Baron is held for this manor. "
Research by local historian Pat Winzar confirmed that both Monkton and Boardfield had been small manors and parishes, subsequently being absorbed in Otterden Manor.
A Survey of Boardfield Church in 2009
Lesley Feakes of Lenham Archaeological Society contacted Otterden Online in November 2010 to say that, in 2009, members of her Society did a resistivity survey* of the site of Boardfield Church.
Lesley explained: "It shows quite clearly as a single nave/chancel. One of the best resist printouts we have ever done. Although we had not completed the geophys in 2008, notes re Boardfield are in our "Discovering Ancient Lenham" journal, on sale in Lenham Library. One day we hope to do a dig (with owners permission) and establish how much of the floor (if any) remains.
"A resistivity survey is sometimes called "earth resist". It uses an electrical current between two electrodes and the resisitance of the soil denotes how hard or soft that point of the ground is. So walls will give a high reading and print out as a dense area, filled ditches will be soft and less resistant to the electrical charge. It's one of the geophys methods used by television's "Time Team" and the equipment looks rather like a zimmer frame!"
* Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, has more on the subject at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistance_survey_(archaeology)
Site of Monkton Church
It would seem that around 1797 the church ruins were still above ground as Edward Hasted calls it 'dilapidated'.
If he is correct in saying the church served a manor and a parish, albeit a small one, then there may well be other buildings, also now vanished, but still with "below ground" evidence.
The location of the church is believed to be at National Grid Reference: TQ 943554.