My Adventures 3: West Kingsdown

On Wednesday the 9th Of January 2019, I set off from home to walk my first walk of the year. A 12 mile circular from Wrotham in Kent.

I arrive and park up opposite St Georges Church on The High Street, where there is free parking.

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St. George's is a generously proportioned late 13th century church with a 15th century tower and porch. It is a Grade I listed building. The Church dominates the village square at the centre of Wrotham, a village of just under 800 households and some 2,500 inhabitants, lying on the Pilgrims Way. St. George’s is the only place of worship in the village. It is the second church to be built on the site – the first dating back to the middle of the 10th century - and has always been dedicated to St George, which was relatively rare at the time of its consecration.

The 15th century tower appears to dominate the whole village, rising as it does almost directly from the road. The tower has angled buttresses and a NE stair turret. It has a passage through the base of the tower, unique to Kent and relatively rare in England, with three bay rib vaulting. The passage was probably made to allow the annual Corpus Christi procession around the Church without needing to go outside consecrated ground, as the tower forms part of the western boundary of the churchyard. On the west side of the passage there is a large piece of sandstone with curious marks. These were probably made by archers sharpening their arrows on the stone on their way to the butts for archery practice. Alternatively they may be remnants of crosses which were often incised on external walls or perhaps wear from pilgrims marking what might have been a holy stone with the sign of the cross.

The peal of eight bells is reputed to be one of the best in Kent. The number at one time was six, but increased to eight in the mid 18th century. It is recorded that at a Vestry meeting in 1754, when repairs were being made to the tower, that "the six bells be taken down and carried to some foundry or other proper place and there melted down or cast into a complete peal of eight, with such additions of new metal as may be required.” These eight were again recast in time for the coronation of King George V in 1911.

The clock was made in 1614 and is probably one of the oldest church clocks in the country. It is still in excellent mechanical order. It has a carillon (repeater) and is capable of playing one of five selectable tunes at selected hours. The tunes were originally all hymns but in 1754 a popular song of the time "The Captain with his whiskers, took a sly glance at me." was substituted for one of the hymns. In 1968 the clock winding mechanism was "improved" so that it could be wound by electric motors rather than hand winding which had to be carried out daily. This was done without making any alteration to the clock mechanism.

The Church has a two storied 15th century south porch.

In the niche over the entrance to the porch is a statuette of St George by Willi Soukop RA. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy before being placed in its present position and replaces a statuette that was stolen in 1971.

On the central boss of the vaulted ceiling of the porch can be seen the arms of the Peckham family who held Yaldham manor in the Parish for fourteen generations up to the year 1713. Over the porch there is a room, sometimes called a parvise or priest's room, which was probably used as overnight accommodation for visiting priests. The room is approached by a stone turret staircase from the south aisle of the Church.

There are a number of brasses recessed into the floor in front of the chancel screen. These include brasses in respect of (i) Thomas Nysell. (d 1498) and wife Alice, (ii) John Burgoyne (d 1500), (iii) Thomas Peckham (d 1515) in armour and wife Dorothy (d 1512) (a will extract states that he was "to be buried in the church of St George at Wrotham before the Rode besyde my wife), (iv) Reynold Peckham in armour (d 1552) and wife Joyce (d 1523) in a heraldic mantle, (v) James Peckham (d 1532) and wife Agnes, (vi) Wm. Clerk (d 1611) and wife Ann and 12 children, and (vii) Elizabeth Crispe (d 1615) in modish dress.

Statue of St.George

I leave the church and back up the High Street and onto Old London Way, passing Goring Place (a private estate).

Further up Old London Road I walk past some lovely cottages.

The name first occurs as Uurotaham in the year 788, meaning 'homestead of a man called Wrōta'.

The village has a central concentration of pubs, three within a hundred yards of each other: the Rose and Crown, the George and Dragon and the Bull Hotel.

Wrotham Hill to the north was a main measuring point for the 18th-century trigonometric survey linking the Greenwich Royal Observatory with the Paris Observatory. This Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) was led by General William Roy.

Close by is the Wrotham transmitting station which was the first transmitter in the UK to broadcast on FM in 1955 and now carries the main national FM radio frequencies for most of London.

Wrotham shows extensive signs of occupation by the Romans and it is posited that the Wrotham Pinot, a disease-resistant variety of the Pinot noir grape found in Wrotham churchyard, is descended from vines brought by the Romans.

Old London Road becomes a track with a view down to Wrotham.

Peaches Geldof, English journalist, television presenter and model, lived in Wrotham. She died at her home on 7 April 2014.[

Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge GCB, PC (30 March 1785 – 24 September 1856), British Army officer and politician, was born in the village.

I now cross a bridge over the busy M20 motorway.

I turn left and walk a short way up the A20 before taking a bridleway that climbs steeply upwards.

A log covered in Lichen

I cross over Labour in Vain Road and across some Farmland.

I am now walking across picturesque Stansted Lodge Farm. The wind is biting cold but it is a great day for a January.

I walk out onto Tumblefield Road and the Village of Stansted . I pass some cottages built in memory of Ada Berry of Fairseat. I couldn't find anything on Google about her sadly!

Opposite was The Black Horse PH, didnt look open, its just gone 10am.

The Black Horse in Tumblefield Road, which in the 18th century was a dwelling named 'Palmers' until it was licensed by its owner, Joseph Fremlln, between 1833 and 1847, whereupon its name was changed to the Black Horse.'

The Morris dancers of Stansted were one of the earliest groups to form from the revival of the activity, in 1934. The name Stansted means "stony place".

CHURCH COTTAGE

The oldest house in the parish is said to be Church Cottage in Stansted, which is probably late 13th or early 14th century, it would have been used by the priest visiting from Wrotham, to which Stansted was then a subordinate parish.

In January 2007 the village was used as a semi-fictional location in the filming of an episode of EastEnders broadcast in the United Kingdom over the Easter 2007 holiday season. Additional scenes were filmed at Wormshill and Ringlestone as ostensibly the same village location, even though they are some 20 miles from Stansted.

I reach St Marys Church in Stansted.

The church of St Mary the Virgin replaces the chapel of an Anglo Saxon lord.

Stansted church is first explicitly mentioned in the Textus Roffensis, which was compiled at Rochester in the 1120’s, in the most part from earlier Anglo-Saxon documents.

Stansted is mentioned as a chapel dependent on the church at Wrotham which paid sixpence a year in chrism fees to Rochester cathedral. This sum has been argued to preserve an Anglo- Saxon custom, which is further evidence for the chapel’s pre -conquest origins.

Stansted next appears in the documentary record in 1312, when a John de Hynton took refuge there. Later in the century, Archbishop Islip (1349-66) decreed that it was the duty of the Vicar of Wrotham to appoint the chaplain for the chapel of Stansted, leaving the locality with the power only to choose their sacrist. Islip’s decree is unlikely to have been intended to advance the pastoral care of the congregation : it was more probably made to place the revenues of the church on a more formal footing, for the benefit of the vicar at Wrotham and, ultimately, the archbishop. The spur for this reform may have been the establishment of baptismal and burial rights at Stansted, implied by the explicit statement that the new chaplain should have the right to administer all sacraments, and to exercise all cure of souls.

How old is this Yew Tree?

Islip’s decree appears to have done little harm to the fortunes of Stansted church, and may even have provided the financial basis for its complete rebuilding, probably sometime in the 14th century using materials from the Saxon chapel. Stansted briefly became an independent parish between 1647 and 1660, before being reincorporated into Wrotham, returning to the status of a dependent chapel for another two centuries, until 1846.

In 1883 St Mary’s was restored, but the extent of this work is uncertain. Many of the furnishings within the church – excepting the rood screen – were probably installed at this time, and the small vestry constructed on the south side of the chancel. All the windows of the church appear to have been replaced, and there is evidence that the chancel roof has been wholly rebuilt. It was probably at this time that the church was tiled with Kentish clay peg tiles which are still used today.

The oldest tombstones in the churchyard date from 1715. One gravestone belongs to the author and composer William Edward Hickson (1803 – 1870) whose words feature in the English national anthem.

Sir Sydney Waterlow, politician and philanthropist, was also buried in Stansted churchyard in 1906. He was a Commissioner at the Crystal Palace Exhibition and was director of the Union Bank of London. In 1872 Sir Sydney became Lord Mayor of London.

A short walk down Plaxdale Green Road brings me to the Stansted War Memorial.

The memorial is of a statue of a man holding up a 'peace' branch, fixed on top of a stone plinth, standing in a grassed area. The original by Alois Strool was stolen in 1995. It was replaced by the bronze figure by Faith Winter 13 months later.

I walk back up Plaxdale Green Road for a way.

I turn right onto Hatham Green Lane and then onto a footpath called Wises Lane.

I stop for a break on a log, and then continue on, where I met a elderly gent who had a black bag full of rubbish he had collected from the path.He blamed it on a local boot fair and had walked miles collecting it all!

I follow the footpaths out onto South Ash Road and cross over to London Golf club where there were 3 Police Cars parked. Most be a cafe there I assume.

The course is described as 'A classic Jack Nicklaus course, which forces you to consider every shot. Dramatic tee shots and daunting approaches make this course both memorable and challenging. Host to the 2008 & 2009 European Open, the course is maintained to the very best standards all-year round.'

After leaving the Golf Course I head through a tunnel beneath the M20 motorway.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

I walk through Richardsons Farm pass the ponies and other livestock.

I cross Falkham Road and up a path to the 11c Church of St Edmund King and Martyr.

Most historians suggest that the oldest part of the church was built around 1030 AD - before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and thirty years before the construction of Rochester Cathedral - but the first known record occurs in the Textus Roffensis, a schedule of buildings within the Diocese of Rochester made in 1120.

Some authorities indicate that the Church probably began its life as a private chapel built by the Saxon Lord of the Manor. It is also considered possible that it was once surrounded by a small Saxon village - wooden dwellings long disappeared.

Kingsdown became a Parish in 1265 and the list of Rectors, to be seen on the North wall of the Church, dates from that time.

The tower occupies an unusual position in that it is at the South East corner of the Nave instead of the more usual North side. Built of native material from the North Downs the absence of quoin stones is held to indicate its great antiquity.

Perhaps the greatest of the Church’s treasures is the little Norman window on the South wall. The glass is modern because the opening was not discovered until 1908 when workmen were removing some of the external rendering. Beyond the rounded arch the bricklayers discovered the splayed reveals and the medieval paintings we see preserved today.

This window decoration was dated as 1110 by Dr C R Dodwell, who was then the Librarian at Lambeth Palace and an authority on 12th century art.

The artist depicts the story of Cain and Abel. The sacrifice is shown on the Eastern splay while the murder is on the West.

The door was locked but I took the picture of the interior below through a window.

I leave the church and walk out into Church Wood.

I leave Church Wood and out onto the streets of West Kingsdown, not the nicest of walking today.

I cross the A20 and down more roads before I take a footpath again.

After not the nicest of paths I come out into a mobile home park.

I walk past a building site along a green lane.

After walking through some grotty farm, I now am walking uphill towards Drane Farm.

At the top I join The North Downs Way a 153 mile path from Farnham to Canterbury via Dover. So this is almost half way according to the milepost.

I walk out onto Exedown Road and cross and then down some steps and a steep downhill. I'm glad I did the walk this way around, that looks one hell of a climb.