Elizabeth Whitten mentioned going to London and hoping to find the CATLETT
old home place, "CATTS PLACE".
It does still exist and is occupied by a family not related to the Catletts.
An acquaintance went there for me one day and said:
"Parts of it appear to be very old and, I would say, at least 1600s if not
earlier. It consists of a group of buildings built round a yard. The
entrance is on the west side and runs into the west end of the yard. Along
the north side, that is running parallel to the road is a long single storey
brick building, quite old and in need of some repair. At the eastern end of
the yard is a large double oast, probably about the same age and which also
looks as if it needs some attention. The house itself is next to this on
the southside. It's a large 3 storey house which looks 1700s, but could be
built round a much older house and is obviously well looked after. You can
only see it from the road at the moment as there are no leaves on the trees!
There appear to be some really old half timbered buildings between the house
and the end of the yard, but you can't see these properly from the road.
"It suddenly appeared to me that you may not know what an oast is! They are
only found in Kent, with a few in East Sussex and are buildings used for
drying hops, used for beer making. The one at Catts Place is slightly
unusual as it's built into what must have been storage space as well. The
oasts themselves are generally free standing round (or occasionally square)
buildings with very pointed roofs topped by the white, wind-directed cow!
Anyway, they must certainly have grown some hops and may even have made
their own beer."
I have embedded two maps (below) from
www.mapquest.com that I hope you can
view. If not, you should be able to go to that site and, with the
directions I have outlined, locate Catts Place and Bearsted Church.
Catts Place is located SE of London and just SE of Paddock Wood (see A228)
on the imbedded first map, below. On the second map, follow Church Rd SE
out of Paddock Wood. When it hits Queen St. (to the north) and Mile Oak Rd.
(to the south), turn right (south) onto Mile Oak Rd. Catts Place is on the
east side (left) of Mile Oak Rd. almost midway where the split of the two
Chantiers Pl dead-ends into Mile Oak Rd. Chantiers Pl. is what shows on
this map; however, it is actually Mascalls (could be Mascatts) Court Rd.
You may also want to visit the Bearsted Church where some of our Catletts
were members, as mentioned in Dr. Stubbs book. The church name is "Church
of the Holy Cross, Bearsted". From Maidstone, follow Ashford Rd. due east
to Bearsted. On the eastern side of Bearsted is Church Lane, midway between
Yeoman Lane and Roundwell -- these two streets are on the left (north) side
of Ashford Rd. You'll have to turn on one of these roads to wind back to
the tiny Church Lane.
Have fun!
Pam Catlett Mullinax
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