Property Summary
Parish of St. Margaret's, Rochester, Kent — Nashenden ManorThis property comprised arable land and woodland in the Parish of St. Margaret's Rochester, variously measured as 608a.2r.28p in 1595, 674a.1r.17p. in 1716, 715a.0r.18p. in 1731, and 642a.3r.32p. in 1753. Beginning that year most of the woodland was taken into hand and the sale of timber and underwood managed directly for the Bridge Wardens by their woodreeve. The 1753 lease, consisting mainly of arable land, contained 394a.0r.27p., rising to 399a.3r.4p. in 1813, as former woodland was grubbed and let as arable and other remaining plots of woodland were taken out of the lease. In 1847 the lease followed the acreage given in the parish tithe map of 403a.3r.13p. The 1874 survey, as plotted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map, gives the following description of the Manor of Nashenden: "Nashenden Farm, St. Margaret's, Rochester. In the occupation of Mr. Lewis Levy, with a farm residence brick and tiled, 3 barns, leanto cattle shed, cart shed, open cattle shed, open wagon shed, cow house, 3 stables, oast with two circular kilns, poultry house, and two labourers cottages". |
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Various land sales in 1862 and 1887 left 264a.3r.33p. in the estate in 1914.
Because leases before 1752 give only a general description of the property and because in leases after 1752 there are discrepancies between the acreage given in the lease and the acreage shown on the estate plans, the following table shows the adjusted acreage used to calculate the rent per acre:
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Rent Analysis
In spite of the removal of the woodland from the lease, the agricultural rent for the indifferent soil on this farm remained below the Turner-Beckett-Afton agricultural index (TBA) throughout the eighteenth and most of the nineteenth centuries. Capital investment by the Bridge Wardens briefly brought the Nashenden rent into line with TBA during the 1870s and 1880s. A new hop kiln in 1876 increased the rent from £1 0s. 1d. to £1 3s. 6d. per acre. In 1878 the rent increased further to £1 9s. 1d. per acre with the addition of three new cottages, a bailiff's house, and connection of the farm to the water main. In 1889, however, the Nashenden farm lease was split into two annual farm tenancies at much reduced agricultural rates of 11s. 5d. and 11s. 10d. per acre, while the farmhouse and garden were let separately in 1890 at a residential rate of £57 per acre. In 1896 an orchard containing 1a.2r.13p formerly let with the lower part of Nashenden Farm was added to the farmhouse lease at the rent of £8 a year, making an average for the combined residential premises of £25 8s. 11d. per acre. The Bridge Wardens continued to invest in the agricultural premises, adding a stable in 1890, new fencing in 1904 and 1905, and another stable in 1914, resulting in slightly improved rents. By 1914, the farmhouse and orchard were let for £65 10s. 6d. (£25 8s. 11d./acre), while the two farm tenancies brought in 16s. 9d. and 11s. 5d. per acre, just slightly below TBA.