Ewells in Kent, continued.....

[jecn_stories]

The father of Edward Ewell, yeoman (who was the father of James/bricklayer/immigrant) was Robert Jesse Ewell, born in 1565 at Reculver. He married Margaret Harris at the age of 15 in Barfrestone (near Nonington...see previous post), and later became rector at 'Barston' (Barfrestone, as pronounced and often spelled.) This may have been at the Church of St. Nicholas, a Norman church in Barfrestone which has been compared with Herefordshire's Kilpeck for its remarkable Romanesque carvings which include rabbits, harpies, a scorpion man, a foliate crab, and carvings resembling playing card kings. There may have been more than one church in the village, but Barfrestone was tiny, and St. Nicholas is the only Barfrestone church I've been able to find information about.

Link to St. Nicholas at Barfrestone

Check out the bell in the churchyard...hung in a yew tree, which serves as the church's bell tower.