There is no reason to suppose that the parish saw much of the lords, or ladies, of the Ash manor during the seventy odd years that followed the death in 1566 of Sir Martin Bowes. Bowes was succeeded by his son William, who left two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. Elizabeth was married to one William Buggin; Anne was the first wife of Sir Edmund Fowler of Islington, he being a son of Sir Thomas Fowler of that place and Jane Charlet his wife. When, in 1634, a partition was made of the Bowes estate, the manor and advowson of North Cray and the manor of Ruxley went to Buggin and the manor and advowson of Ash and the manor of Holiwell went, in right of Anne, to Sir Edmund Fowler.¹
   Despite a long history of absentee landlords, it is likely that the Ash manor would still have retained its Court Lodge, as Kentish manor houses were traditionally called, if only to accomodate a steward or bailiff. In Hartley, which was likewise enjoyed by lords of some grandeur suitably situated elsewhere, the manorial 

buildings in 1392 had consisted only of ‘a small aula with one solar for the bailiff, one granary thatched with straw and reeds, one cattle shed and two granges thatched with straw’.²   The manor of Ash may have had a similarly modest establishment; if such existed, it would almost certainly have been refurbished in Tudor times or, at least, before 1634.
   Hartley's old manor house reputedly stood near Hartley church, not far from the site of the present Hartley Court. At Ridley, Meopham, Longfield and Fawkham, manor house and church were built cheek by jowl. At Kingsdown, too, the house of one of the manors stood hard. by the church. Originally, these churches would have been more in the nature of manorial chapels than of parish churches and the church at Ash may have served a similar purpose.
   The house that at divers times has been called Ash Place or Ash