SNODLAND:  Holborough Hill (a.k.a. the nob)

Denis Anstey

1  Old chalk pit (date unknown) later used as a dump from which a large number of old bottles were recovered.  Now ploughed out.

2  Five Wents - the meeting of 5 ways or paths.  Paths were usually direct and favoured over roads.  Although a significant destination is given the ways would have extended far beyond.  Destinations were Paddlesworth, Meopham, West Malling, Holborough/Halling and Snodland Ford.

3  Cobblers Hole.  Probably a pit dug by Chalk Cobblers.  Many of the paths in the area are cobbled.

4  Ladykey - one of a number of dialect names for a Cowslip.  Eye witnesses tell of a profusion of cowslips growing on this part of the hill which offered a well-drained habitat with a south west aspect.

5 Bronze age ring ditch.  The mound was absent due to erosion.  This is the highest part of the hill at 210 feet (64 m).

6 Site of windmill.  First mentioned in the Wotton Survey 1557-60 as 'Monks' Tippit', and later in an estate map of 1740 as a 'smock hole'.  The two are very similar garments and typical of the naming of landscape features.

7 Anglo Saxon Cemetery.  We do not know the size or extent of the cemetery.  Archaeology and preservation were not high on our list of priorities during war time.

8  Roman Tumulus with insertion burial.

9  White Dyke Road/Way.

10 Coney Hall Farm.  A coney is a rabbit.

11 White Dyke way diverted to a lower road.

12 Anglo saxon hut group with sword moulds.

13 Windmill near clock tower (1824 Malling to Strood Toll Road map) Owner Mr. Stone Occupier Mr. Boorman.  William Coles Finch records that the windmill was purchased about 1839 by one of the Stedman family, transferred to Gillingham and re-erected there.  It was struck by lightning and burnt down in a violent storm which raged on the night of June 28th, 1892.

14 Collectanea Cantiana (1893) George Payne p.137
'Mr. Raven (of the Cedars) informs me that when the new road was made, which leads from Holborough towards the mound, Anglo-Saxon swords, spear heads and knives were found;  they are now in his possession'.  These items have been traced to Guildhall Museum, Rochester.  The artefacts could have come from graves but the tithe map indicates the existence of a burh.  A burh was a defensive position created to defend against Viking invasions c900 AD and to provide shelter for the local population.  Note the raids up the Medway and the sacking of Malling Abbey.