There
is nothing of particular note in the group of houses that cluster
together to form this village. A narrow curved lane overhung by large,
mature trees and that's about it.
However, as already mentioned in other pages, close by Acol is the
famous chalk pit where Exciseman Gill and Smuggler Bill met their
deaths as told in the well known poem, The Smuggler's Leap by Richard Barham. Exciseman Gill sold
his soul for a demon horse that had the ability to catch Smuggler
Bill. In the swirling mist on that night in Thanet, just as Exciseman
Gill caught up to the Smuggler, he drove his horse off the top of
the chalk pit as did the Riding Officer. The bodies of the two men
and only one horse were found later and are still
said to haunt the area. Should any teachers read these pages, please,
please, ensure your students read this story from the Ingoldsby
Legends as their lives will not be complete without it!
The following summary of the history of Acol was originally written
by Neil Lawrence and kindly forwarded to me by Tracey Denovan. I am
not sure about the writer named in the piece, as I have not read from
this source myself. The original article gave a second name for the
same reference which I have subsequently deleted, thinking that the
first name, "Cobbett", is probably the correct one. The information
was sent to me because it was thought that my write-up of Acol did
not do it justice. There's only one way to solve that, which is to
take a look for yourselves!
by Neil Lawrence
We can trace the origins of Acol to before 1347 and the start of
the Black Death. After most of the inhabitants had died, the village
was burnt down to stop contamination, and the decision was made
to move it to it's current position. The old Location was at Sparrow
Castle, or Kemp's Corner - the Junction between Shottenden Road
(B2049), and Manston Road (B2050). The village's first name was
"Millbrough", and then variously "Ville in the Oaks", "Ville in
the Woods" or "Ville of Woods". Later the name became "Acoll" and
finally "Acol" which is a Saxon word for Oak Trees.
The "Ville in the Woods" first appears on Thomas of Elmham's map
of the Isle of Thanet, Circa 1412. The Original is housed at Trinity
Hall, Cambridge. A later reference to the village is found in William
Cobbett's "Rural Rides of 1823". Cobbett was an MP, a
celebrated Radical Publicist and Agricultural Critic. He visited
Thanet in the September of 1823, during one of his Rural Rides.
The aftermath of the Napoleonic War was a cruel time for small farmers
and farm workers. Starvation wages, low prices and crippling taxes
drove many to desperation and caused social upheavals on the land.
At first sight, Cobbett was most impressed:
"When
I got upon the corn land in the Isle Of Thanet, I got into a garden
indeed." He avoided Margate as being "full of Stockjobbing Cuckolds
at this time of year..." He breakfasted at a little Hamlet (Acol)
"But could get no corn for my Horse, and no Bacon for myself." Regarding
the local conditions, Cobbett was moved to comment, "The Labourers
houses, all along, through this Island are beggarly in the extreme.
The People dirty, poorlooking, ragged, but particularly dirty. It
is impossible to have an idea of anything more miserable than the
state of the Labourers in this part of the country".
[end of quote]
In reality, the condition for labourers throughout Kent at the time
were deteriorating to the point where unrest brought about the start
of the "Swing Riots" in 1833/4. At the same time, many labourers left
Kent, often with the grateful assistance of their Parish Councils
who did not want to keep supporting them, to take up new lives in
the Colonies in North America and particularly Australia and New Zealand.
