BAPCHILD MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry record and its 1347-1348 and 1358-1362 Westminster Abbey court-roll references identify the Bapchild manor in Bapchild, Kent. Historical county material names the same manor as Bapchild Court, while Bakechild is an attested historical form of Bapchild rather than a separate manor. The evidence also distinguishes Bapchild Court from the separate manors of Morris Court and Radfield in the parish.
Representative point: 51.333493, 0.765467
Basis: documented_manor_house — Bapchild Court is the documented manor house/site adjoining the village and southwest of St Lawrence's Church. The coordinate is the mapped location for the present Bapchild Court address on School Lane (ME9 9NL), close to the historical court/manor site.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The available evidence confirms the manor-house location and historical ownership, but does not provide a defensible perimeter for the medieval or later manorial land. The Bapchild parish boundary and the 1836 tithe-map ownership parcels cannot safely be substituted for the manor boundary; the parish contained other distinct manors, including Morris Court and Radfield.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Bapchild Manor, F287570: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F287570 — Registry authority record for the exact manor, located at Bapchild, Kent.
- The National Archives: Bapchild manor court roll, 1347-1348, WAM 27790: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N17336670 — Contemporary manorial court-roll reference held by Westminster Abbey Library and Muniment Room.
- The National Archives: Bapchild manor court rolls, 1358-1362, WAM 27791-27792: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N17336737 — Additional contemporary court-roll references for the same manor.
- Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, volume 6, 1798: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/The_history_and_topographical_survey_of_the_county_of_Kent_%28IA_b28772155_0006%29.pdf — Describes the Manor of Bapchild Court, its historical owners, and its manor house/site at Bapchild; also distinguishes Morris Court as another manor.
- Tithe Apportionment for Bapchild: https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/tithes/bapchild — Lists Bapchild Court and associated lodge parcels in the 1836 tithe material, but does not establish a complete manorial boundary.
- Map of ME9 9NL postcode: https://www.doogal.co.uk/ShowMap?postcode=ME9+9NL — Maps the present Bapchild Court address on School Lane at approximately latitude 51.333493, longitude 0.765467.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No reliable historical manor-boundary map or complete parcel schedule was located in the available evidence.
- Do not use the modern Bapchild civil-parish boundary as the manor polygon.
- The representative coordinate is based on the mapped modern Bapchild Court address and should be treated as a manor-house/site point rather than the centre of the full medieval estate.