The ruins of today's Shurland Hall is located near the village Eastchurch*1
on top of "Cheney Rock", a hill of the peninsula Sheppey. Sheppey recieved
it's name because of the Anglo-Saxon "Sceapige". "Sceapige" means nothing
else then "Island of sheep". Even today the great Landscape offers a perfect
condition for sheep and other animals like reams of pheasants and rabbits.
The peninsula locates within the county of Kent in south-east-England, and
always played a role in the history because of its location. Even the Romans
have built there, and on the place, where a hundred years later, Shurland Hall
has been built, even a fort. Records of roman tiles in shurland Hall proof this.
King Hoestan of Denmark alights with about 350 ships on Sheppey's coast in
the year 892, and bordered the country. People believe, that the Shurland
Castle (Hall) were the birthplace of English Kings in the 9th and 10th century.
After Englands conquest by the Normans in 1066 the possessions has been
splitted, and because of that the aristocratic Baron Adam de Shurland, the
eponym of the later Shurland Hall, recieved exactly this building and several
country houses and a mill with more then four square kilometres of countryside.
But it was marsh mostly.
Sir William de cheney*2, who married Margaret of shurland in about 1303,
probably was the one, who allowed the church in the year 1331 to manifacture
a chapel on one of his countrysides. This led to a fast increase of the village.
Several years later, in the year 1465, Shurland Hall went to Sir John Cheneys
son, whose name was also John. Most of the sources claim, that William,
Johns younger brother, has been the owner of Shurland Hall later until his death
in 1487. After his death, at the beginning of the 16th century, Sir Thomas Cheney,
John Cheneys son, extended and rebuilt the shurland Hall and the estate, inclusive
a several metres high wall around the estate, until the area was several hectare
large. The material came from Chilham Castle. The reason for the extension
was the visiting of King Henry VIII, who spent his honeymoon there with Anne
Boleyn, whose relative Isabella Boleyn married William Cheney several years
before, Queen Anne supported Williams son Sir Thomas Cheney. The honeymoon
just lasted two days, but it seems they revisited them from time to time.
In the first and second World War the mainbuilding has supposedly been used
for military purposes. It probably has been damaged by air attacks.Today there
are just the ruins of the reinforced gatehouse left. There hasn't been any record
whether someone inhabited the building or not.
"The Spitalfields Trust" started to restore the Shurland Hall (Mainbuilding).
According to an executive of Spitalfields trust, Oliver Leigh-Wood, they
managed to rebuild 2/3 of the roof.
*1
The name Eastchurch means: "the church, that is eastern of the mainchurch".
The mainchurch in this case is Westminster Abbey.
*2
The name Cheney is originally french and its spelling changed several times
during the centuries. (i.e. Cheney, Cheyney, Cheyne...)
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