Weekend away in Kent 26th-27th October 2024

SATURDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2024

DEAL KENT

Mel and I made our way down to Deal in Kent to spend the weekend in Kent to escape life for a bit. We parked up on the seafront just out of town for free and walked back into Deal. First along the seafront and then along Middle Street. We reached the Saturday market here and had a look around, nothing spectacular I my add!

The Middle Street area of Deal, Kent was once known for its smuggling activities. Smuggling was a notorious part of Deal's history from the 17th to the early 19th century:

Smuggling gangs adapted to the changing tax laws, bringing in goods like tea, spirits, and tobacco.

We pass The Rose PH on the High Street.

A significant landmark on Deal’s High Street for over 200 years.In the Victorian and Edwardian era The Rose was one of the town’s most popular venues for ‘smokers, evening entertainments and posh dinners’. At the time it boasted seven bedrooms, with a commercial room and a billiard room on the first floor and a bar, a smoking room, a parlour and large kitchen on the second floor. In an advertisement from 1897 it describes itself as a ‘Family and Commercial House’ with ‘spacious hall for public and trades dinners and every comfort for golfers, cyclists, anglers etc’.

There was a WWII jeep here supporting the many Poppy sellers along the High Street.

We walk back out onto the Seafront and pass the Deal Timeball Tower.

The Deal Timeball is a Victorian maritime Greenwich Mean Time signal located on the roof of a waterfront four-storey tower in the coastal town of Deal, in Kent. It was established in 1855 by the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy.

The Timeball Tower stands on the site of an earlier Shutter Telegraph. This early form of optical telegraphy was one of a chain of stations between the Admiralty in London and the Naval Yard at Deal. The telegraph line opened in 1796 and closed in 1814. Its purpose was to allow rapid communication between London and Deal, the latter being an important Naval anchorage during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1805 news of the naval victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson was brought to Deal by the schooner HMS Pickle (after calling at Falmouth), and transmitted by the telegraph to the Admiralty in London.

From 1821 to 1831, the Tower carried a semaphore mast, another form of visual telegraphy which was used signal to ships at anchor in the Downs or passing in the English Channel. it was employed by the Coast Blockade for the Suppression of Smuggling to pass information along the coast. The Blockade was under the auspices of the Navy, and was staffed by their personnel.

The Deal Timeball Tower Museum features exhibits about the history of the tower and its use for navigation aid, fight against smuggling, signalling, and the mechanics of the time ball.

We walk along the beach passing the fishing fleet up on the beach and the closed huts from which the fresh fish is sold.

Deal became a 'limb port' of the Cinque Ports in 1278 and grew into the busiest port in England; today it is a seaside resort, its quaint streets and houses a reminder of its history along with many ancient buildings and monuments.

We reach Deal Castle on the seafront.

Deal Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII in Deal, Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the strategically important Downs anchorage off the English coast. Comprising a keep with six inner and outer bastions, the moated stone castle covered 0.85 acres (0.34 ha) and had sixty-six firing positions for artillery. It cost the Crown a total of £27,092 to build the three castles of Deal, Sandown and Walmer, which lay adjacent to one another along the coast and were connected by earthwork defences. The original invasion threat passed but, during the Second English Civil War of 1648–49, Deal was seized by pro-Royalist insurgents and was only retaken by Parliamentary forces after several months' fighting.

Although it remained armed, Deal was adapted by Sir John Norris and Lord Carrington during the 18th and 19th centuries to form a more suitable private house for the castle's captain, which was by now an honorary position. In 1904, the War Office concluded that the castle no longer had any value either as a defensive site or as a barracks and it was opened to the public when the captain was not in residence. Early in the Second World War, the captain's quarters were destroyed by German bombing, forcing Deal's then-captain, William Birdwood, to move to Hampton Court Palace and the castle became an observation post for an artillery battery placed along the shore line. The castle was not brought back into use as a residence and was restored by the government during the 1950s to form a tourist attraction. 

We back along the beach passing the way we came and back pass the fishing fleet.

Deal is first mentioned as a village in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Addelam. It is referred to as Dela in 1158, and Dale in 1275. The name is the Old English dael meaning 'valley', cognate with the modern English 'dale'. Deal developed into a port by the end of the 13th century. In 1495, the town was the site of an attempted landing by the pretender to the English throne Perkin Warbeck. His supporters were driven off by locals loyal to Henry VII at the Battle of Deal, fought on the beach. Sandown, Deal and Walmer castles were constructed around the town by Henry VIII to protect against foreign naval attack.

In 1699 the inhabitants petitioned for incorporation, since previously the town had been under the jurisdiction of Sandwich and governed by a deputy appointed by the mayor of that town; William III by his charter incorporated the town under the title of mayor, jurats and commonalty of Deal. Deal Town Hall, the former meeting place of Deal Borough Council, was completed in 1803.

In 1861, the Royal Marine Depot was established in the town. In 1989, it was bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, killing 11 bandsmen.

We are now approaching Deal Pier.

Deal Pier is the last remaining fully intact leisure pier in Kent. It is the third pier to exist in Deal and was opened in November 1957 by the Duke of Edinburgh. Its structure was extensively refurbished and repaired in 1997, with work including the replacement of much of the concrete cladding on the pier's main piles. Work began in April 2008 to construct a new pier-head with a modern restaurant which opened the same year.

The present pier, designed by Sir W. Halcrow & Partners, was opened on 19 November 1957 by the Duke of Edinburgh. Constructed predominantly from concrete-clad steel, it is 1,026 feet (313 m) in length and ends in a three-tiered pier-head, featuring a cafe, bar, lounge, and fishing decks. The lowest of the three tiers is almost permanently underwater except for the lowest tide and has become disused. A notice announces that it is the same length as the RMS Titanic, but that ship was over 100 feet (30 m) shorter. The pier is a popular sport fishing venue.

In 2018, the pier underwent restoration at a cost of £500,000, in addition to installing more than 300 metres (980 ft) of gas mains supply, as the pier's own gas supply had developed problems. Refurbishment works included resurfacing, replacement and repainting of railings and an upgrade to the drainage system. The works coincided with the 60 year anniversary of the pier's official opening.

We stop for lunch at Deal Beach Parlour before we walked on popping into an amusement arcade.

Back at the car we drive onto St Margaret's Bay where we are staying for the night.

St Margaret's Bay,Kent.

We arrive at St Margaret's Bay and park in the car park after driving down the steep narrow run down. We sit there trying to get a phone signal to pay for the parking using Ringo, our phones had registered  onto a French network and signal too weak to get a data connection. We move the car to the Coastguard Pub car park instead.

This beautiful hidden gem of White Cliffs Country has at its heart the picturesque seaside village of St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe and secluded cove at St. Margaret's Bay.

First appearing in the Domesday Book as "Sancta Margharita", St Margaret’s is an historical treasure trove. Experience “First Light” at the South Foreland Lighthouse – the first lighthouse to use electric light and the site of Marconi’s first ship-to-shore radio transmission. 

St Margaret’s has been home to some famous faces including Noel Coward and Ian Fleming. Fleming’s book, Moonraker, is largely based in St Margaret’s and nearby Kingsdown.

The surrounding countryside is spectacular at all times of the year, offering an inspiring backdrop to a range of activities. Discover The Frontline Britain Trail, a 4 mile circular route on which you can learn about the role of St Margaret's during the Second World War.

Britain’s nearest pub to France, the Coastguard has kept watch on the sea-front for more than 300 years – and after its refurbishment means you can take in those spectacular bay views in style.

The pub’s look is inspired by maritime heritage, with a red and white lighthouse-style fascia and boat-shaped planters and lifebuoys dotted around the beautiful front veranda – where an outside bar and barbecue set the scene for summer. In winter, the pub offers a haven for those enjoying a bracing walk along Dover’s famed White Cliffs. Inside, the nautical theme continues, with a warm welcome offered to all who come aboard.

We visit The Coastguard pub, Mel has a hot chocolate whilst I get myself a Shepherd Neame Spitfire  Lager and we sit in the garden overlooking the beach. Its too hazy today to be able to see France.

We walk along the stony beach and this is hard going as the stones move beneath your feet.

We visit this unusual cliff bunker used for WW2 located in St Margaret’s Bay, Dover. Tunnel was used as an anti invasion site to counter German forces.

We walk over to what looks like a cave, but on closer inspection it doesn't go back far at all!

Walking away from this cave, the rocks move away from my feet and I end up on my arse!

We walk back to the car and drive the short way to our hotel room at Parkdean St Margaret's Bay, we get ourselves booked in and have a short rest. We then decide we'd take a drive down to the National Trust White Cliffs at Dover.

Dover,Kent

We arrive at the NT White Cliffs of Dover and make use of my NT membership using the free car parking otherwise £6!

We walk down and can see down into the Port of Dover.

The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 mi) away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime passenger ports, with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries, 2.2 million cars and motorcycles and 80,000 coaches passing through it in 2017, and with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year. This contrasts with the nearby Channel Tunnel, the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland, which now handles an estimated 20 million passengers and 1.6 million trucks per year.

The modern port facility features a large artificial harbour constructed behind stone piers and a defensive concrete breakwater. The port is divided into two main sections: the Eastern Docks serve as the main cross-channel ferry terminal, while the Western Docks contain a cruise ship terminal and a yacht marina along with cargo facilities.

The Port of Dover has a long history and possesses several listed buildings and structures. The port is owned and operated by the Dover Harbour Board, a statutory corporation formed by royal charter in 1606 by King James I. Most of the board members of the Dover Harbour Board are appointees of the Department for Transport. The port has its own private police force, the Port of Dover Police. The current port traffic volumes and urban population categorize Dover as a Large-Port Town.

The White Cliffs of Dover are the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of 350 feet (110 m), owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, deposited during the Late Cretaceous. The cliffs, on both sides of the town of Dover in Kent, stretch for eight miles (13 km). The White Cliffs of Dover form part of the North Downs. A section of coastline encompassing the cliffs was purchased by the National Trust in 2016.

The cliffs are part of the Dover to Kingsdown Cliffs Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation. The point where Great Britain is closest to continental Europe, on a clear day the cliffs are visible from France, approximately 20 miles (32 km) away.

The chalk grassland environment above the cliffs is excellent for many species of wild flowers, butterflies and birds, and has been designated a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Rangers and volunteers work to clear invasive plants that threaten the native flora. A grazing programme involving Exmoor ponies has been established to help to clear faster-growing invasive plants, allowing smaller, less robust native plants to survive.[18] The ponies are managed by the National Trust, Natural England, and County Wildlife Trusts to maintain vegetation on nature reserves.

The cliffs are the first landing point for many migratory birds flying inland from across the English Channel. After a 120-year absence, in 2009 it was reported that ravens had returned to the cliffs. Similar in appearance but smaller, the jackdaw is abundant. The rarest of the birds that live along the cliffs is the peregrine falcon. In recent decline, the skylark also makes its home on the cliffs. The cliffs are home to fulmars and to colonies of black-legged kittiwake, a species of gull. Since bluebirds are not indigenous to the UK, some believe that bluebirds, as mentioned in the classic World War II song "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", composed by American artists, may actually refer to swallows and/or to house martins, which make an annual migration to continental Europe, many of them crossing the English Channel at least twice a year.

Its started raining so we make our way back to the Visitor Centre, have a quick look around.

We leave the White Cliffs and drive down into Dover, passing Dover Castle to visit a supermarket. We then drove back to the hotel, where we rested before going to the clubhouse for dinner and drinks and of course bingo for Mel.

Sunday 27th October 2024

Canterbury, Kent

The next day we checked out and drove half hour up the road to Canterbury. I've visited many times before but still love this city.

Canterbury is a popular tourist destination, with the city's economy heavily reliant upon tourism, alongside higher education and retail. As of 2011, the city's population was over 55,000, including a substantial number of students and one of the highest student-to-permanent-resident ratios in Britain.

We park up at Toddlers Cove Car Park (CT2 8BG) and walk along the beautiful River Stour into the city.

The site of the city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci and Jute Kingdom of Kent. Many historical structures fill the area, including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century, the Westgate Towers museum, the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey, the Norman Canterbury Castle, and the oldest extant school in the world, the King's School. Modern additions include the Marlowe Theatre and Kent County Cricket Club's St Lawrence Ground. Canterbury Cathedral is known for its architecture, its music, and for being the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury; it receives a million visitors per year.

We walk through Westgate Gardens beside the River Stour, with a 200 year-old plane tree and a Victorian Tower House.

The Westgate beside the River Stour

The Westgate is a medieval gatehouse in Canterbury, Kent, England. This 60-foot (18 m) high western gate of the city wall is the largest surviving city gate in England. Built of Kentish ragstone around 1379, it is the last survivor of Canterbury's seven medieval gates, still well-preserved and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. The road still passes between its drum towers. This scheduled monument and Grade I listed building houses the West Gate Towers Museum as well as a series of historically themed escape rooms.

The Westgate

Canterbury was walled by the Romans around 300 AD. This has been consistently the most important of the city's gates as it is the London Road entrance and the main entrance from most of Kent. The present towers are a medieval replacement of the Roman west gate, rebuilt around 1380. There was a gate here at the time of the Norman conquest, which is thought to have been Roman. From late Anglo-Saxon times it had the Church of the Holy Cross on top, but both church and gate were dismantled in 1379, and the gate was rebuilt by Archbishop Simon Sudbury before he died in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It has been suggested that it was built primarily as an entrance for pilgrims visiting the shrine of St Thomas Becket at the cathedral. However the rebuild as a defensive status symbol was paid for partly by Sudbury and partly by taxation for military protection against expected raids by the French.

In 1453 Henry VI permitted the Mayor and Commonality to keep a jail at the Westgate, so the building was Canterbury's prison from the 15th to the 19th century, while Canterbury Castle was the county jail. In January 1648, after the Christmas Day riot, Parliamentarians burnt down all the wooden doors of the city's gates. They were all replaced in 1660, but these replacements were removed at the end of the eighteenth century. They were similar to the surviving wooden Christ Church gates at the cathedral. After repairs to the Westgate and jail in 1667, a pound was built on the north side for the hail; this is now gone, but Pound Lane remains. The guard rooms, heavily wood-lined in the eighteenth century, became cells for both debtors and criminals, and the room over the arch became the condemned cell with the portcullis now laid on top. Until 1775 there was a grated cage in the prison gateway, where certain prisoners were allowed to beg for alms and speak with passers by. Capital punishment was normally the gallows, plus the stake at Wincheap for religious martyrs in the time of Queen Mary.

We stroll along the High Street, popping in and out of a few shops.

The siege of Canterbury saw a large Viking army besiege Canterbury in 1011, culminating in the city being pillaged. Remembering the destruction caused by the Danes, the inhabitants of Canterbury did not resist William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066. William immediately ordered a wooden motte-and-bailey castle to be built by the Roman city wall. In the early 12th century, the castle was rebuilt with stone. Canterbury Castle was captured by the French Prince Louis during his 1215 invasion of England, before the death of John caused his English supporters to desert his cause and support the young Henry III.

Black Death reached Canterbury in 1348. At 10,000, Canterbury had the 10th largest population in England; by the early 16th century, the population had fallen to 3,000. In 1363, during the Hundred Years' War, a Commission of Inquiry found disrepair, stone-robbing and ditch-filling had led to the Roman wall becoming eroded. Between 1378 and 1402, the wall was virtually rebuilt, and new wall towers were added. In 1381, during Wat Tyler's Peasants' Revolt, the castle and Archbishop's Palace were sacked, and Archbishop Sudbury was beheaded in London. In 1413, Henry IV became the only sovereign to be buried at the cathedral. In 1448 Canterbury was granted a City Charter, which gave it a mayor and a high sheriff; the city still has a Lord Mayor and Sheriff.

We stop by Old Weavers House on the High Street and beside the River Stour.

The Old Weavers House is a gorgeous half-timbered building on the River Stour. The river quite literally laps at the side of the building, which currently houses a popular restaurant.

The Old Weavers House takes its name from the influx of Flemish and Huguenot weavers who settled in the area after fleeing from religious persecution during the 16th and 17th centuries. Elizabeth I granted the Flemish weavers the right to establish their businesses in Canterbury, and they are known to have used this and other similar buildings nearby.

Despite the date 1500 which can be seen prominently displayed above the door, this house probably dates back to at least the 14th century. The current building largely dates to a reconstruction in the second half of the 16th century, not the first, as you might assume by the sign!

At the rear of the Old Weavers House is a medieval ducking stool, jutting out over the river. This ducking stool was historically used as a method of punishing 'scolds' - women accused by their husbands of talking back too much! The stool may also have been used as a more severe punishment for suspected witches. The suspected witch was dunked under the water and held there for several minutes. If she (it was usually a female) did not drown, she was proved a witch. If she drowned, at least her name was cleared!

We pass the Canterbury Museum, Visitor Info and Beaney House of art and knowledge.

We walk down Mercery Lane with great views to Canterbury Catherdral.

Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, Canterbury.

Founded in 597, the cathedral was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077. The east end was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the 12th century, and largely rebuilt in the Gothic style following a fire in 1174, with significant eastward extensions to accommodate the flow of pilgrims visiting the shrine of Thomas Becket, the archbishop who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170. The Norman nave and transepts survived until the late 14th century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.

Before the English Reformation, the cathedral was part of a Benedictine monastic community known as Christ Church, Canterbury, as well as being the seat of the archbishop.

The Cathedral was open for service only as its a Sunday.

We are now standing in Buttermarket.

In 1519 a public cage for talkative women and other wrongdoers was set up next to the town's pillory at the Bullstake, now the Buttermarket. In 1522 a stone cross with gilt lead stars was erected at the same place, and painted with bice and gilded by Florence the painter.

The Canterbury War Memorial.

This memorial commemorates the residents of Canterbury who were killed or missing in the WWI (531 names) and the WWII (261 names).

Tower of St. Mary Magdelene

The tower is all that remains of the medieval church of St Mary Magdalene, which stands near the eastern end of Burgate, in the heart of historic Canterbury, a short stroll from the cathedral. The church was pulled down in 1871 after it had become ruinous. The tower is a 1503 rebuilding of an earlier medieval structure.

In a specially built display area at the base of the tower is a fanciful Baroque memorial to the Whitfield family, dated 1680. This monument is in the Flemish style often associated with Grinling Gibbons and Arnold Quellin. It has been restored with the help of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Beside the tower, in the area formerly occupied by part of the old church, is a pleasant garden area, behind which is the 19th-century Catholic church of St. Thomas of Canterbury.

We walk on through the city.

Visiting a market and more shops

View down Butchery Lane back to The Cathedral.

We stop for a Cornish pastry and coffee on the High Street.

We now walk back along the Stour back to the car for the drive home.

Shoreham to Otford Circular with a drive to Lullingstone Castle via Eynsford 3rd November 2016

My friend Colin and I set off from Romford to head over to Kent for a walk on the 3rd November 2016. After a short 45 minute drive we arrived in Shoreham and parked up in the free car park in the village.

The walk map and directions are here.

 

The probable derivation of the name is estate at the foot of a steep slope. Steep slope was from the Saxon word scor. pronounced shor, but written sore by Norman scribes.

The village of Shoreham contains four traditional independent pubs: Ye Olde George Inne, The King's Arms, The Two Brewers and the Crown.

We left the car park walk a short distance up Filston Lane and took the footpath next to the Aircraft Museum that was closed, seems to be open on Sundays only.

Run by local enthusiasts, the Museum is largely funded by proceeds made by visitors whose donations contribute to the recovery and preservation of the artefacts. The Battle of Britain, brought the village of Shoreham directly into the war, when on 15 September 1940, a Dornier Do 17Z, part of a force of about 100 German bombers approaching London, was shot down shortly before noon. The invading formation had been challenged by nine RAF squadrons and the battle developed into a series of individual 'dogfights'. The unfortunate pilot of the Dornier was forced to land in a field at Castle Farm, with a Spitfire circling overhead, its cockpit canopy open, and its pilot waving a handkerchief, to signal a warning to the growing crowd of hop-pickers nearby to stay away until the Shoreham Home Guard arrived to recover the German crew. Feldwebel Heitsch, the pilot and Feldwebel Pfeiffer, the observer, were driven to The Fox & Hounds pub in Knatts Valley, where they were bought a brandy before being driven to Sevenoaks Police Station. The museum holds a collection of photographs of the Dornier, along with items taken from the wreckage at the time.

The Darent valley was one of the major areas of Stone Age settlement; and Shoreham is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

It was also known as a smuggling area. Moreover, Shoreham was the most bombed village in the United Kingdom during the Second World War due to the fact the Army took over several manor houses for operational use.

Papermaking was once a local industry; the mill closed finally in 1925.

We  climb steeply up the hill to a wooded area that offers great views back across the Darent valley.

View to Shoreham

Looking down on Filston Farm

We descend back down the hill to Filston Land again and a short way up the lane we enter the footpath that runs through Filston farm.

Filston Farm is 1500 acres on which wheat,peas,oats,oil seed rape and grass is grown as well as pasture for sheep,cows,alpacas and horses.

Oast Houses now converted. But a sure sign you're in Kent.

We made our way through the farmland across paths, missing the first planet Pluto on the Solar System model.  

The model, the largest in the world, was created to celebrate the millennium and shows the relative positions of the Sun and planets at midnight on 1 January 2000.  Considerable effort was required to design an accurate layout that gave public access to every planet.  Each planet is on a concrete pillar, drawn to the same scale as the model as a whole.  On this scale, the nearest star would be in Los Angeles.

We now leave the farmland out onto the High Street in Otford, where we see the first of the planets 'Uranus'. 

We walk up the High Street passing Broughton Manor.

Broughton Manor was the property of the Crown at the time of Henry VIII and was used to house part of the retinue at the Archbishops Palace.

A 16th century house with  17th,18th and modern  alterations.

OTFORD'S rich and fascinating history includes two battles, the construction and ruin of a royal palace and at least 3,000 years-worth of inhabitants.

Since the early dwellers set up home next to the river Darent, Otford has been inhabited by Iron Age farmers, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and royalty.

The ancient village adopted its name in the sixth or seventh century, from the Anglo-Saxon, Ottanford, meaning Otta's ford.

Otta was a man of local authority, and his ford ran where the High Street now bridges the Darent river.

We pass two lovely Tudor buildings called Pickmoss House. Looks can be deceptive. The break in the roofline defines the new and the old. The timber frame to the left replaced brickwork in 1951, even though its heart is a 14th century house.

The residents of the duck house on Otford Pond have been a feature of the village for several years now. They will never go hungry, due to the number of visitors who like to indulge in the age-old pleasure of feeding the ducks. The attractive pond with its willow trees forms a natural roundabout in the centre of the village and is unusual in that it has been granted listed status. The pond is thought to date back to Anglo Saxon times, when it was probably used as a drinking hole for local livestock.

Opposite the pond is St Bartholomews Church. Otford parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, and built as a Chapel-of-Ease to Shoreham. The church dates to the Saxo-Norman overlap, with the addition of a tower around 1175 – spire not added until the 17th century.

In the graveyard is buried Tom Pryce. Auto Race Car Driver. Born the son of a policeman in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales, he entered Formula 1 racing in 1974 with the Token team, but soon moved to the Shadow team. Considered an exceptional driver, and many thought he had the ability to reach the very top of his sport, his best results were a third place in the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix and the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix. He tragically lost his life in a somewhat bizarre accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix at Kyyalami. Another driver had retired his car when an insignificant fire started. Two marshals sprinted across the track to put the fire out just as Pryce and Stuck appeared at top speed. Pryce struck one of the marshals, killing him, but the fire extinguisher the marshal was carrying struck the driver full in the face killing him instantly. The Shadows car careered along down the straight until it hit a crash barrier. Buried at St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, Otford, nr Sevenoaks, Kent.

 

We sat outside the church on a bench overlooking the pond and shops and ate our lunch. Its far busier here than Shoreham with much noise from traffic passing through.

After seeing a palace on the map, we ask some people cutting down bushes and tidying the green where it was. She points off down the road by some shops.We walked off and after a distance, thought she must be wrong it looks closer on the map so we walk back. But the lady catches us and asked if we found it, well we couldnt say no now so back we went along the road to find it.

We did find it a little further along the road.

Otford Palace, also known as the Archbishop's Palace.

The King of Mercia, Offa, fought the Kentish Saxons in 776 at the Battle of Otford. From those times until 1537, the palace was one of the chain of houses belonging to the archbishops of Canterbury. It was rebuilt around 1515 by Archbishop Warham to rival that of Cardinal Wolsey at Hampton Court. Henry VIII forced Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to surrender the palace in 1537.

When Henry died the palace fell into ruin. The principal surviving remains are the North-West Tower, the lower gallery, now converted to cottages, and a part of the Great Gatehouse. There are further remains on private land, and a section of the boundary wall can be seen in Bubblestone Road. The entire site, of about 4 acres (1.6 ha) is designated as an ancient monument. There are many related buildings in the village, including a wall in St Bartholomew's Church dating from c. 1050.

In 1519 Henry VIII stayed there with his court and hunted in the great Deer Park that was attached to the palace.  The Palace must have met his approval because the following year Henry and Catherine of Aragon along with the royal court stayed there as they made their way to France for the meeting between Henry and Francis, King of France, at the Field of Gold.  This must have been a magnificent occasion, as the court that accommodated Henry was believed to have numbered over 3000.

Between 1532 and 1533 Princess Mary, the future Queen of England stayed there as a refuge from the political and religious turmoil that was engulfing England after the end of her mothers marriage to Henry.

On leaving the palace site, we can see just up the road to where the ladies were that gave us directions. Were they having us on? They sent us a long way round to get there!

Now we looked for the path to continue our journey, but we had a little trouble. The map wasn't clear or we were crap at navigating (probably the latter) and we ended up walking up Station Road before realising we were wrong. Then down another road,wrong again. We were looking for the sun pub to turn off by. Then realising our mistake we were looking for the sun from the Solar System model, Duh!!

Anyway we found the path and headed off into the Recreation ground, where the rest of the Solar System and the sun was!

The Solar System Model

We leave the recreation ground and follow a footpath come bridlepath back towards Shoreham.

There is a white memorial cross in the hillside opposite the village church. It was dug in 1920 as a memorial to local men killed in action.

We exit the footpath out into Shoreham on Station Road after passing the golf course.

We reach The Ye Olde George Inn. Ye Olde George Inn is a 16^th century local community pub.

Opposite The Ye Olde George Inn is St Peter & St Paul Church.

The porch is of very solid fifteenth-century workmanship with good, though weathered, carvings in the spandrels and plain bargeboards above. Inside the church the greatest treasure is the rood screen, with its original loft - 6 ft 6 in wide. It shows the Pomegranate of Catherine of Aragon carved on its door, and this may help us date it to the visit of Henry VIII and his queen to nearby Otford Palace in 1520. The pulpit of 1827 is by Blore and is one of two in the county that originally stood in Westminster Abbey (the other is at Trottiscliffe). In the south wall is a window of 1903 depicting Joy, Creation and Love by the firm of Morris and Co. A most unusual thing to find is the painting of Lt Verney Cameron, who led the expedition to find David Livingstone in 1873, painted by Charles Cope RA.

We left the church and head back out onto Church Street and pass Ye Olde George again on its other side.

A recent Halloween decoration ?

We now come to the River Darent and its beautiful bridge!

Here we sat by the river and the Shoreham War Memorial and had a cup of coffee and enjpyed the peace and quiet listening to the river bubble by.

The memorial is composed of a Kent rag stone base and Bath stone plinth with a headstone shaped memorial on top. Interestingly, the inscription on the memorial calls for those who visit the memorial to refer to a large chalk cross located on a nearby hill which could originally be seen from the memorial. The inscriptions were originally carved into the stone, but the names on the plinth have since been covered with bronze plaques.

It commemorates those lost in WWI and WWII as well of those lost in the bomb raids here in Shoreham.

Just across the Bridge is The Kings Arms,Shoreham, a 16th Century Public House.

A historic feature to the left of the front door, is the Jolly Ostler's Box with serving hatch,

believed to be the only complete example left in the country.

We arrive back at the car and decided we didn't have time to extend the walk onto Lullingstone Castle today as we were short on time, so the 6 mile walk ended here. However we did decide to drive to the castle for a look and drove there via beautiful Eynsford.

 Lullingstone Castle is an historic manor house, set in an estate in the village of Lullingstone and the civil parish of Eynsford in the English county of Kent. It has been inhabited by members of the Hart Dyke family for twenty generations including current owner Guy Hart Dyke.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the present house was started in 1497. Henry VIII and Queen Anne were regular visitors to the Manor House.

The Tudor gatehouse, built by Sir John Peche, who became Sheriff of Kent in 1495, is believed to be one of the first in England entirely of brick.What survives of the house is largely of the Queen Anne era.

The surrounding 120-acre (0.49 km²) park was previously a fenced deer park, with the castle serving as a hunting lodge. The grounds are located on the River Darent and hidden within are Queen Anne's bathhouse and an icehouse dating from the 18th century. Most of the grounds of the former estate now constitute Lullingstone Country Park.

It also contains some of the oldest oak trees in Britain, wildflowers, a church (St Botolph's) of Norman and possibly earlier foundation but much later restoration and rebuilding, and a walled garden, and used to contain Lullingstone Roman Villa.

The Castle was previously home to the Lullingstone Silk Farm which produced silk for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gown. In 2011, the Castle was the location for the Comparethemarket.com advert 'Tough decision', featuring meerkats Sergei and Aleksandr.

The walled garden - previously a herb garden designed by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde - has recently been converted into the World Garden of Plants by the Castle's current heir (and 20th generation of the Hart Dyke's), plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke. The garden and the castle are open to the public from April through to September.

The castle was closed now and wont open again until April, it had a £8 entry fee.

We drove off back towards Eynsford again passing The Eynsford Viaduct.

This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the delightfully-named ''Bat & Ball'' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. The branch was initially single-track, seeing its first services on 2nd June 1862, but the viaduct was built to accommodate two tracks from the outset, because the line was doubled in the following year. A Maidstone extension from Otford opened on 1st June 1874, this again single-track, but following in the footsteps of the original Bat & Ball line, this was soon doubled, two-track working commencing on 11th August 1875. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley.

After passing through Eynsford we pass Eynsford Castle on the road above it and stop for a quick picture.

Standing within a picturesque village, Eynsford Castle is a rare example of an early Norman 'enclosure castle'. Built by the Eynsford family, the castle became the subject of a disputed inheritance. It culminated in an act of vandalism in 1312. From that point, the castle was abandoned.

Rather than having a keep or motte, like most Norman castles, Eynsford was instead protected by an extensive curtain wall. Today, parts of the wall survive to their impressive full height alongside the remains of the hall building, where the inhabitants would have lived.

The castle was founded shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. There was an earlier, Saxon building on the site, composed of a timber watchtower on an artificial motte. No evidence of this can be seen today.

The impressive curtain wall was built between 1085 and 1087, probably by William de Eynsford I, a knight and sheriff of Kent. In 1130 the wall was heightened and a gate-tower was built to strengthen the castle defences. A hall, which provided accommodation for the Eynsford family, and associated buildings were also erected inside the castle walls about this time. These buildings were reconstructed in about 1250, following a fire.

We now drove on home. A beautiful walk through some of Kent's prettiest villages. A great walk too!