Gordon Ward Collection

Manorial documents, deeds, family and business papers relating to Kent

This large and very miscellaneous collection forms part of the mass of documents accumulated by Dr. Gordon Ward of Sevenoaks during many years of antiquarian study. It is essentially an antiquaries collection and contains items relating to many families and estates. Much of it was apparently acquired from solicitors' offices and relates to the business of those firms or their predecessors. Thus it owes much to Knocker of Sevenoaks, Norwood of Charing and Mercer of Deal. In this way, too, many items relating to important estates were received: the ultimate provenance of those items concerning Darell of Calehill and Tufton of Hothfield is almost certain to have been the firm of Horwood. Secondly Dr. Ward accumulated family papers of small obscure business houses, even though they might have nothing but bills and vouchers. Thirdly a quantity of civil parish records, tithe papers, etc. came into his hands so that this collection contains important elements for the parishes of Charing, Fairfield, Hadlow, St. Nicholas Rochester, Snave, Tenterden and Woodchurch, and also for the mainly Sussex Parish of Broomhill.

Presented by Dr. Gordon Ward, F.S.A., to the Kent Archaeological Society and by them transferred on deposit to the Kent Archives Office, August 1954.

Accession information

This collection comprises many additional accessions as follows.

Acc. 128:

T3; T61; T72; T73; T87; T94-T95; T113; T119

Acc. 128 and 250:

T104-T111

Acc. 250:

T74; T75; T100; T101; T103; T116

Acc. 581:

T123-T147; L14; Q14

Acc. 594:

T148; E39-E41; O75-O77; P61-P85; Q15-Q16; Z26

Acc. 767:

T154; E43; O81-O84

Acc. 799:

E42

Acc. 831:

P104-P112

Acc. 942:

P102

Acc. 1082:

T149-T153; O80; P103

Acc. 1099:

T155; P113-P127

Acc. 1804:

T167-T168; F16-F17; E44; Z36-Z37

Documents in T156-T166 are of uncertain provenance.

In fact this collection forms only part of the Gordon Ward MSS. When received it included a quantity of printed material which under agreement with the Archaeological Society was separated from the MS. documents and sent to the Society's room in Maidstone Museum. Secondly Dr. Ward had already given several groups of deeds to the Society either directly or per British Records Association (see U442/U47 Thirdly two other deposits had been received in the Archives Office, and these have now been merged into U442; and fourthly some material has passed into the hands of the Sevenoaks Public Library.

When dealing with the collection listed below it became obvious that certain sections were so closely related to other collections already held that they might better be merged with those collections from which they had clearly strayed. Thus all documents bearing the rubber stamp of H.W. Knocker, including a very fine series of Wrotham and Ightham court rolls were transferred to the Knocker collection (see U55) and a small group of items were placed with the Sackville MSS. to which they belonged.