William Boys of Bonnington

Willielmus or William Boys of Bonnington was born in 1452, at Nonington in Dover. He was son to Thomas Boys and Edith. He had two siblings, Alice Boys and Thomas boys. At some point before 1477, he married Isabella Phallop, with whom he had five sons and three daughters between 1477 and 1490. In April 1483, he, John Nethersole, Thomas Butte, and Robert Gerneys gained ownership of "The manors of Fredville and Beauchamp and 2 messuages, 405 acres of land, 3 acres of wood and 76 shillings and 4 pence of rent and a rent of 8 cocks, 30 hens and 1 pair of gloves in Nonington and Goodnestone" and was brought from Thomas Quadryng The Elder.^[1]

In 1485, Nethersole conveyed Fredville, which included parishes from Nonington, Barfreston, Womenswold, Goodnestone, Knowlton and Tilmanstone. This gave him sole ownership and feudal control over the land, and he held it for 20 years. He moved to Fredville manor. During the same year he purchased Shepherdswell manor, previously owned by Richard Guildford. Before his death, he returned to Bonnington.

He died on 31 July 1507. His probate is preserved in the probate registry in Canterbury.^[2] His estate was split between his two sons, John and William. John inherited the manors of Beauchamp, Fredville and a property in Nonington. He gave Nonington Church money towards buying an Antephonar.

In 1939, over the north porch of the door in Holy Cross church is a hood mold. A small shield in the middle inscribed "Wyllym Hoyyl". A small statue of a sow suckling her piglets is on the left, with a chain on her neck and a rock behind her. It has been linked to William Boys and dated to around the end of the 15th century. It was likely attached on the window, on the south aisle above his burial plate.^[3]