Capstone Farm Country Park

Capstone Farm Country Park is in Chatham, Kent, Medway, in Kent, England. A former farm converted into a landscaped park and open-space area. This park is set on 114 hectares (281. 694acre) of converted farm land, on the North Downs, near Walderslade. It is within the Kent Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. HistoryThe park is set within Capstone valley, between Hempstead and Walderslade. The valley has been used by human use since the Neolithic period, according to the various archaeological finds in the area. There were originally four large farms in the Walderslade and surrounding areas, including Walderslade Farm, Settingdon Farm, Shawstead Farm and Gibraltar Farm (the last two farms still exist). Shawstead Farm (and probably others nearby) were associated with the clearance of local woodland, in 1765 to help supply Chatham Dockyard with oak for the building of wooden sailing ships, launched at Chatham. Most of the larger and more valuable oak trees would have existed in the richer soil of the valley bottoms (Walderslade, Shawstead etc. ) where the farms were typically located. Much of the current park boundaries used to belong to the farm of Shawstead Manor. The ruins of Upper Shawstead Farm are still within the boundary of the park. In 1376, Robert Belknapp was forced to give the manor to the Prior and Convent of Rochester to King Edward III, in atonement for certain misdemeanours. The land then remained in the ownership of the church, latterly the Church Commissioners in Canterbury, until 1928. During this time the land was rented out to local farmers, including the Crittendens, but the woodlands were managed by the Church Commissioners.

Capstone Farm Country Park is in Chatham, Kent, Medway, in Kent, England. A former farm converted into a landscaped park and open-space area. This park is set on 114 hectares (281. 694acre) of converted farm land, on the North Downs, near Walderslade. It is within the Kent Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. HistoryThe park is set within Capstone valley, between Hempstead and Walderslade. The valley has been used by human use since the Neolithic period, according to the various archaeological finds in the area. There were originally four large farms in the Walderslade and surrounding areas, including Walderslade Farm, Settingdon Farm, Shawstead Farm and Gibraltar Farm (the last two farms still exist). Shawstead Farm (and probably others nearby) were associated with the clearance of local woodland, in 1765 to help supply Chatham Dockyard with oak for the building of wooden sailing ships, launched at Chatham. Most of the larger and more valuable oak trees would have existed in the richer soil of the valley bottoms (Walderslade, Shawstead etc. ) where the farms were typically located. Much of the current park boundaries used to belong to the farm of Shawstead Manor. The ruins of Upper Shawstead Farm are still within the boundary of the park. In 1376, Robert Belknapp was forced to give the manor to the Prior and Convent of Rochester to King Edward III, in atonement for certain misdemeanours. The land then remained in the ownership of the church, latterly the Church Commissioners in Canterbury, until 1928. During this time the land was rented out to local farmers, including the Crittendens, but the woodlands were managed by the Church Commissioners.