About Otterden's Manor
The Domesday Book
The Domesday Survey of 1086 records Otterden Manor as "answering for sulung" (a land measurement). It had land for 2 ploughs, and the lord himself had land for one plough (also a form of land measurement). There were two villagers and four smallholders and they had a plough. There was one acre of meadow and sufficient woodland to feed 5 pigs on acorns and beech mast.
In the time of King Edward the Confessor 1043-1066 it was valued at 10s, but at the time of the Survey it had increased to 30s. The manor also had two measures of land in Canterbury at 12d. A Saxon, or Jute, called Alfward held the manor from King Edward.
Otterden Manor as listed in the Survey made by Christ Church, Canterbury (known as the Domesday Monachorum, or the Survey of the Monks) "is paying 7d".
Edward Hasted's Survey of Kent
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted (published c.1797) says in Volume V under the section on 'Otterden' (p533):
"OTTERDEN. Lies the next parish northward from Lenham, being written in the survey of Domesday, Otringedene, in ancient deeds, Otteringden, and in later ones Ottringden, alias Otterden."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. "
The Owners of Otterden Manor
Local historian Pat Winzar says: "There is no direct evidence that the people named 'of Otterden' were all of the same family, but it would seem that there must have been family links."
Archaelogia Cantiana includes the following information:
1287 Ralph de Otringden died. His wife was Joan and it is thought that Laurence de Otringden was her son. He granted some land at Bouqhton Manor in 1304.1291. John of Otringeden became Vicar of Limene, Lyminge. (vol.18. p.443)1308. Feet of Fine relating to Otterden Manor.29 Sept. 1308. Laurence de Otteringden, Joanna his wife and his heirs were acknowledged as the holders of the Manor of Otterden. (vol.11. p.320)1334/5. A Kent Lay Susidy printed in the Volume of Kent Records on the Medieval Kentish Society states that Laurence de Otindenne paid 3s 4d, which made him a fairly wealthy holder.1346/7. Laurence de Oteryngdenne contributed part of a 40s tax levy made by King Edward III to pay for the knighting of the Black Prince, his eldest son. (vol.10. p.143)
The Peasants' Revolt
Archaelogia Cantiana (vol.3. p401) In June of 1381, "Richard Baker of Lenham, together with others, came with force and arms to the house of Thomas ot'yngton, there took the said Thomas feloniously and carried him out, and threatened him with loss of life to the said (words missing) ............... William Sporier of Canterbury, with many others unknown, came to the house of the said Thomas Ot'yngton, and there feloniously broke open his doors, and upon him did make an assault the said Thomas despaired of his life."
It could be that the peasants destroyed the manor records of Otterden and that is why there is a big gap before the next information is recorded.
There are two Aucher monuments in Otterden Church: John Aucher of 1502 and James Aucher of 1508.
In the mid-16 century, Otterden belonged to Sir Anthony Aucher. After the Dissolution in 1543 he was one of the principal recipients of Henry VIII's largesse, being one of the Commissioners of Kent. He collected a number of manors and other holdings, mostly in this part of Kent, one of which was Eversley, a small Charing manor.
In 1537-1539 a State Document on the Lands of Dissolved Religious Houses refers to 'Rents in Munketon parish'.
In 1541 the rents of the free tenants in Monketon were 8s.10d which compares with the free tenants of Broadfield who were paying 20s. It means that Monketon was less than half the size of Broadfield, which itself is not thought to have been a large parish in the south of the Otterden manor.
1552. More state papers held at the Public Record Office have an entry headed 'Rents of the free tenants in the parish of 'Munketon'. It records:
'And of Js.5d for the rent of certain land called Munketon Deane which Anthony Auchyer free holds to be paid at the said feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel equally by the year. Total Js.5d.'
This is further proof that Munketon was part of Otterden Manor by this date.
There is an account of Sir Anthony receiving a Silver Table that had stood on the High Altar at Canterbury probably under orders from Edward VI. In 1556 he was involved in administering the late priory of Christ Church in Canterbury for which he was paid £6.1Js.4d a year. He died at Calais in 1558.
In 1604 there was an Act in Parliament (Harl.MSS.NO.6847) for the sale of the lands of Sir Anthony Aucher and others, to raise money to pay their creditors. It stated that Sir Anthony Aucher (who was surely a descendant of the Sir Anthony who died at Calais) and Sir Thomas Hardes had gone beyond seas to avoid their creditors, having first fraudulently conveyed their lands to others for their own use. The actual date when the lands were transferred is not stated but it could well relate to the next item which indicates that the Lewen family were at Otterden before 1602. It was a well known ploy to transfer land to friends you could trust, to administer the land on your behalf (or 'the use of'). The land could not then be sold away from the first owner.
1602. A report on the Administration of Kent Wills, lists the Wills of Anna Lewen of Otterden, a widow and her son John, both of whose wills were administered by Anna's brother, Sir Francis Goldsmith, on 2 November 1602. (vol.18. p40)
In 1648 a Sir Anthony Aucher is listed as of Bishopsbourne, a Royalist in the Kent Rising of that year.
1661. Details from a Feet of Fine describing the extent of the Manor of Otterden
Hilary Term (begins on 20 January) 1662. (vol.11. p.253)
Sir Justinian Lewen who, when he died in 1620, was lord of the manor of Otterden. (Hasted, vol.V. p537). His daughter and heiress was married to Charles, Duke of Richmond, who sold Otterden in January 1662 to George Curteis. The Fine registering the ownership describes the manor as "Otterenden and Boardfield".
The Fine is in Latin but transcribed reads as follows: "Seven houses, two (duar') cottages, seven granaries/barns, seven stables, one dovecote, nine gardens, eight orchards, 400 acres land (t're), 40 acres meadowland, 200 acres woodland and forest pasture and all other appurtenances in Otterden alias Otterenden, Boardfeild, Muncton, Stallesfeild alias stalkesfeile, Witchlinge, Doddington, Eastlinge alias Iselinge, Newnham and Lenham and also the rectories of Otterden alias Otterenden, Boardefeild and Munckton with appurtenances and also of the advowsons of the churches of Otterenden alias Otterenden, Boardfeild and Munckton."
This means that Muncton, however spelt, belonged to Otterden in 1662, so that Hasted's statement that Muncton was held by the Deloune (De Laune) family for "many years" must be taken to mean for about 100 years, as Hasted was writing in the late 18th century.
In the 18th century, Sir George Curteis held Otterden until 1702, and his only son George Curteis died in 1710 leaving a daughter Anne. She married Thomas Wheler, eldest son of Sir George Wheler, prebendary of the church of Durham, who was the son of Col.Charles Wheler of Charing.
The Auchers of Bourne Park
There is a Manuscript Book of Bourne (Bourne Park), written by Matthew Bell, in which he says that Sir Anthony Aucher acquired that property in the reign of Henry VIII. Sir Anthony was Marshall of Calais, Governor of Guisnes and Master of the Jewel House to Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary. He lost his life at the taking of Calais in 1558. (This must be Sir Anthony of Otterden).
A descendant, also Sir Anthony, was created a baronet in 1666.