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Julie and
David Murray of Snoad Farm, Otterden, have been delving into
the history of their home.
Julie says:
"Since we have lived at Snoad Farm, we have discovered
several old wall paintings, two being Coats of Arms. The lady
who restored them was very knowledgeable (she helped to restore
Windsor Castle) and seemed to think that Snoad Farm was once
a Royalist 'safe house'."
Pat Winzar,
the Charing historian, has also investigated the farmhouse.
Following a visit in 1997, she offered her thoughts on the building
and some known history of the surrounding area
She wrote:
"I am only sorry that I cannot tell you the names of previous
occupiers as a lead towards finding out who commissioned those
unique wall paintings.
With the
help of a colleague, Sarah Pearson, she was confident that the
majority of the timbers in one downstairs room were 16th century.
The rest of the house was some years later, possibly early 17th
century.
She concluded
from this that, if the wall painting upstairs could be said
to depict the Royal Stuart Coat of Arms, it had to be painted
between 1603, James I, and the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne
in 1714. Her choice would be to "go for a date not later
than Charles I."
"After
that," suggests Pat Winzar, "with the Parliamentarians
supposedly in charge of Kent, it would be a risky thing to have
the Stuart Coat of Arms on the wall until Charles II came back
as King".
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