The area of land where
Yalding is situated was originally a heavily-forested marsh. In the
9th century, Saxons began cutting
down the trees in the area.
They found that the land
was very fertile and with its excellent water supply from the River
Beult, it was a good place to site a village. The Saxons called the
village Ealding which meant the "land belonging to Ealda".
Over a period of time the spelling of Ealding was changed to Yalding.
This part of Kent was taken
over by the Normans in 1067. William
the Conqueror gave Yalding and several other villages in Kent
to Richard de Clare, one of his most
important military commanders. In 1314 Gilbert
de Clare, (the tenth Earl of Clare) was killed at the Battle
of Bannockburn. Gilbert did not have any children and so his death
brought
an end to the male line of the Clare family. The family estates were
now divided between Gilbert's three sisters, Eleanor, Margaret and
Elizabeth.
Margaret, received Yalding
and most of the other Clare estates in Kent. Her husband, Hugh de
Audley, became Yalding's new Lord of the Manor.
(1)
Domesday Book (1086)
Richard of Clare holds Ealding.
Aethelred held it from King Edward. Richard holds two sulungs. Sixteen
villagers, twelve smallholders and fifteen slaves. Six ploughs and
150 pigs. Two churches and two mills. Meadow, five acres. Value before
1066, £50; now £20, because the land has been spoiled
by livestock.
1. Copy the table below
into your book. Study the extract from the Domesday Book and fill
in the column for 1086. Read Yalding
Population in 1336
and fill in the column for
1336.
2. Read Yalding
Population in 1336, Animals
in Yalding and Equipment in Yalding
and then fill in Section 1 of your Family
Information Chart.
3. Study Map
of Yalding in 1336 and
Artist Impression of Yalding.
(a) Explain why it was a good idea to build a village by a river.
(b) Explain the disadvantages
of living by a river.
| Yalding |
1086 |
1336 |
| Population |
|
|
| Ploughs |
|
|
| Pigs |
|
|
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