Sissinghurst to Cranbrook Kent Circular walk. 16th February 2024

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On Friday the 16th February 2024 Ian and I drove just over and hour to Sissinghurst in Kent. We parked roadside on Common Road and walked up to The Street in Sissinghurst.

Sissinghurst's history is similar to that of nearby Cranbrook. Iron Age working tools have been found and the village was for centuries a meeting and resting place for people travelling towards the south coast.

The village of Sissinghurst grew up along an old drovers’ route. It was known as Mylkehouse or Milk House Street until 1851 when it was renamed after the local Sissinghurst Castle to shake off its reputation for cockfighting, outrage and robbery!

Originally called Milkhouse Street (also referred to as Mylkehouse), Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smuggling and cockfighting activities of the Hawkhurst Gang.

An infamous group, the "Holkhourst Genge", terrorised the surrounding area between 1735 and 1749. They were the most notorious of the Kent gangs, and were feared all along the south coast of England. At Poole in Dorset, where they had launched an armed attack on the customs house (to take back a consignment of tea that had been confiscated), several were hanged including Thomas Kingsmill, one of the gang's leaders.

We walked up to Trinity Church Sissinghurst. In 1838 Admiral King, his sister and her daughter finance the building of Trinity Church at a cost of £1900 and the ecclesiastical parish is formed.

We walk back and take Chapel Lane and turn right onto a footpath here that runs parallel to Sissinghurst Road.

 

Here we discover the first mud of the day, that only gets worst as the day goes by.

We drop down to cross the Buckhurst Farm Road and climb back up the other side.

We continue on across the field down to a waterlogged and muddy gate and into a wooded area of Buckhurst Farm.

We exit out of the woods by Oak Hill Manor and continue along a track.

Oak Hill Manor has ornamental gardens and grounds laid out around a neo-Georgian mansion designed by Charles Geddes Clarkson Hyslop (1899-1988) in 1938 and set within extensive 18th-century parkland and woods.

We continue along the track, nice to be mud free for a while. As w walk we can see the windmill in Cranbrook in the distance.

We then leave the track onto a path on our left that leads downhill into another waterlogged mudfest.

We cross a bridge over the Crane Brook follow the path down to Golford Road.

We follow the road towards Cranbrook.

The place name Cranbrook derives from Old English cran bric, meaning Crane Marsh, marshy ground frequented by cranes (although more probably herons). Spelling of the place name has evolved over the centuries from Cranebroca (c. 1100); by 1226 it was recorded as Cranebroc, then Cranebrok. By 1610 the name had become Cranbrooke, which evolved into the current spelling.

There is evidence of early activity here in the Roman period at the former Little Farningham Farm where a substantial iron working site was investigated in the 1950s. In 2000 the site was the subject of a Kent Archaeological Society fieldwork project to establish the extent of the site and the line of the Roman road from Rochester to Bodiam, which was published in 2001. The site had earlier produced a number of clay tiles bearing the mark of the Roman Fleet, or Classis Brittanica who may have been overseeing the work.

Edward III brought over Flemish weavers to develop the Wealden cloth industry using wool from Romney Marsh; Cranbrook became the centre of this as it had local supplies of fuller's earth and plenty of streams that could be dammed to drive the fulling mills. Iron-making was carried on at Bedgebury on the River Teise, an industry which dates back to Roman times. The tributaries of the River Beult around Cranbrook powered 17 watermills at one time. In 1290 the town received a charter from Archbishop Peckham, allowing it to hold a market in the High Street.

Golford Road becomes Bakers Cross an here is a old Telephone box repurposed as a library.

Baker's Cross on the eastern edge of the town is linked to John Baker, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Queen Mary, a Catholic. Legend holds that he was riding on his way to Cranbrook in order to have two local Protestants executed, when he turned back after the news reached him that Queen Mary was dead. Different versions of the legend have it that he heard the parish church bells ringing, or that he was met by a messenger. The place where this happened was, in the words of biographer and historian Arthur Irwin Dasent, "at a place where three roads meet, known to this day as Baker's Cross".

Popular legend also has it that Baker was killed at Baker's Cross; although in fact he died in his house in London.

Bakers Cross now becomes The Hill and we walk up the pretty road and village.

 

We reach the Union Windmill in Cranbrook. England’s tallest working smock mill.

Union Mill was built in 1814 by Cranbrook millwright James Humphrey for Mary Dobell and was initially worked by her son Henry. Mrs Dobell was declared bankrupt in 1819 and the mill was taken over by a union of her creditors, and thus gained its name. The mill was sold to John and George Russell in 1832, remaining in the Russell family for five generations until it was purchased by Kent County Council in 1957 after the retirement of the last miller.

Restoration commenced on 18 June 1958 and was completed in 1960, costing a total of £6,000. Rex Wailes presided over the official reopening of the mill. In 1994 the fantail was blown off during a storm, damaging the sails as it fell and landing on a parked car. In November 2010, the mill was repainted by a team from WallWalkers, who abseiled down the mill to access the smock, as an alternative to using scaffolding to surround the mill whilst the work was undertaken.

The mill is seven storeys tall, with a three-storey smock on a four-storey brick base, which consist of basement, ground, first and second floors. It cost £3,500 to build in 1814. The overall height to the cap roof is 72 feet (21.95 m).

We on along The Hill towards the village centre.

We leave the hill and onto Stone Street and its shops and tearooms.

A look back to Union Windmill.

On the corner of Stone Street and High Street, St Dunstan's Church is nestled back away from the High Street hustle and bustle.

St Dunstan's Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Weald, in Cranbrook, dates to the late 13th century. It is now Grade I listed.

Its 74 feet-high tower, completed in 1425, has a wooden figure of Father Time and his scythe on the south face. It also contains the prototype for the Big Ben clock in London. Work started in the late 13th century, the chancel arch and porch are a century later, the nave and tower were added after 1500, and William Slater and Ewan Christian restored the building in 1863. It is administered by the Weald Deanery, part of the Archdeaconry of Maidstone, which is in turn one of three archdeaconries in the Diocese of Canterbury.

Snowdrops were abundant today and there were plenty here in the churchyard amongst the daffodils.

Sadly the church was locked and we make our way back down to the High Street.

To the left here is the Vestry Hall. Previously the George Inn, a late medieval hall where Queen Elizabeth I was received. Then old Fire Station was below.

We walk up hill along the High Street.

A old Victorian Postbox.

We turn right onto a footpath ;pass some houses, cross Angley Road and into Angley Wood on the High Weald Landscape Trail.

We follow the track through Angley Woods.

Now we reach the part of the woods that is clearly used for logging and the path become a mud fest where heavy machinery has been used.

We leave the High Weald Landscape trail and follow paths through Burnt Bank Wood and its very muddy and slippery paths.

Here in the woods I see some firecrests, but more likely goldcrest's. Damn wish I had my binoculars to be sure!

We head downhill on a muddy path, at one point I stepped into a deep section that almost reached the top of my boot!

This is now Gravel Pit Wood.

We cross a stream at the bottom and into a seriously muddy and waterlogged paths.

We hung onto the fence as we tried our best to stay of out the oozy mud.

More Snowdrops in the woods.

We leave the woods and follow track up pass Dog Kennels Farm.

We then walk out and along a busy A262 road. Care is needed to be taken here,

We turn left onto Friezley Lane and here is another Victorian Post-box!

Up a footpath on our right and then down onto a wooden footway.

As I walk along the walkway a male Pheasant jumps to life, flying upwards screaming.

Passing more snowdrops down by a stream we climb a muddy slippery slope up onto Friezley Woods.

Then we pass through Hilly Wood to a steep and long continuous climb upwards, suns warm now and with the climb, I slip off my fleece.

We walk out onto Starvenden Lane and stop to say hello to some horses that wasn't interested in moving.

A little further along some ponies did wander over to greet us.

We  eventually walk out onto the busy A229 and walk up a short way before turning left onto Spongs Lane.

Spongs Lane

We walk out onto Frittenden Road, another busy road with no pavement or verge. More care needed here,

After a bit of road walking it is nice to be off the road and walking down pass the Race Horse House.

We follow this for a while and this eventually leads us onto the grounds of Sissinghurst Castle grounds.

I use my NT Membership for free access and Ian pays £13 and we enter.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden, at Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent in England, was created by Vita Sackville-West, poet and writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is designated Grade I on Historic England's register of historic parks and gardens. It was bought by Sackville-West in 1930, and over the next thirty years, working with, and later succeeded by, a series of notable head gardeners, she and Nicolson transformed a farmstead of "squalor and slovenly disorder" into one of the world's most influential gardens. Following Sackville-West's death in 1962, the estate was donated to the National Trust. It was ranked 42nd on the list of the Trust's most-visited sites in the 2021–2022 season, with over 150,000 visitors.

The gardens contain an internationally respected plant collection, particularly the assemblage of old garden roses. The writer Anne Scott-James considered the roses at Sissinghurst to be "one of the finest collections in the world". A number of plants propagated in the gardens bear names related to people connected with Sissinghurst or the name of the garden itself. The garden design is based on axial walks that open onto enclosed gardens, termed "garden rooms", one of the earliest examples of this gardening style. Among the individual "garden rooms", the White Garden has been particularly influential, with the horticulturalist Tony Lord describing it as "the most ambitious of its time, the most entrancing of its type."

The site of Sissinghurst is ancient and has been occupied since at least the Middle Ages. The present-day buildings began as a house built in the 1530s by Sir John Baker. In 1554 Sir John's daughter Cecily married Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, an ancestor of Vita Sackville-West. By the 18th century the Baker's fortunes had waned, and the house, renamed Sissinghurst Castle, was leased to the government to act as a prisoner-of-war camp during the Seven Years' War. The prisoners caused great damage and by the 19th century much of Sir Richard's house had been demolished. In the mid-19th century, the remaining buildings were in use as a workhouse, and by the 20th century Sissinghurst had declined to the status of a farmstead. In 1928 the castle was advertised for sale but remained unsold for two years.

Sackville-West was born in 1892 at Knole, the ancestral home of the Sackvilles. But for her sex, Sackville-West would have inherited Knole on the death of her father in 1928. Instead, following primogeniture, the house and the title passed to her uncle, a loss she felt deeply. In 1930, after she and Nicolson became concerned that their home Long Barn was threatened by development, Sackville-West bought Sissinghurst Castle. On purchasing Sissinghurst, Sackville-West and Nicolson inherited little more than some oak and nut trees, a quince, and a single old rose. Sackville-West planted the noisette rose 'Madame Alfred Carrière' on the south face of the South Cottage even before the deeds to the property had been signed. Nicolson was largely responsible for planning the garden design, while Sackville-West undertook the planting. Over the next thirty years, working with her head gardeners, she cultivated some two hundred varieties of roses and large numbers of other flowers and shrubs. Decades after Sackville-West and Nicolson created "a garden where none was", Sissinghurst remains a major influence on horticultural thought and practice.

Sackvilles-West Writing Room in the Tower.

We climb the many, many steps to the top of the tower to see the fantastic views.

The Tower is of brick and was the entrance to the cour d'honneur of the 1560s rebuilding. Of four storeys, it has recessed staircase turrets to each side, creating what the architectural historian Mark Girouard described as an "extraordinarily slender and elegant" appearance. The courtyard was open on the tower side, its three facades containing seven classical doorways. Girouard notes Horace Walpole's observation of 1752, "perfect and very beautiful". Such an arrangement of a three-sided courtyard with a prominent gatehouse set some way in front became popular from Elizabethan times, similar examples being Rushton Hall and the original Lanhydrock.

The Tower was Sackville-West's sanctum; her study was out of bounds to all but her dogs and a small number of guests by invitation. Her writing room is maintained largely as it was at the time of her death. Nigel Nicolson records his discovery in the Tower of his mother's manuscript describing her affair with Violet Trefusis. This went on to form the basis of his book Portrait of a Marriage. The clock, below the Tower parapet, was installed in 1949. A plaque is affixed to the arch of the Tower;[ the words were chosen by Harold Nicolson: "Here lived V. Sackville-West who made this garden". Nigel Nicolson always felt that the memorial failed to acknowledge his father's contribution. The Tower has a Grade I listing.

View down to the South Cottage.

View to Priest's House.

South Cottage

We leave the tower and have a walk about the gardens.

This building formed the southeast corner of the courtyard enclosure buildings. It was restored by Beale & Son, builders from Tunbridge Wells, and provided the pair with separate bedrooms, a shared sitting room, and Nicolson's writing room. His diary entry for 20 April 1933 records: "My new wing has been done. The sitting room is lovely, My bedroom, W.C. and bathroom are divine". Of two storeys in red brick, with an extension dating from the 1930s, South Cottage has a Grade II* listing.

In the cottage garden, it is alive with a sea of blue crocus's.

We along the Lime Walk, bet this nice in the summer months!

A early flowering Camelia.

We walk around to the priest's House with the well in front.

The architectural historian John Newman suggests that this building was a "viewing pavilion or lodge". Its name derives from the tradition that it was used to house a Catholic priest, the Baker family having been Catholic adherents. Sackville-West and Nicolson converted the cottage to provide accommodation for their sons, and the family kitchen and dining room. Of red brick and two storeys, Historic England suggests that the building may originally have been attached to Sir Richard Baker's 1560s house but Newman disagrees.

We leave the grounds to make our way back to Sissinghurst, walking along the road called Sissinghurst Castle.

This gate/Stile is an interesting idea.

We walk along Sissinghurst Road back pass Trinity Church and the Milkwood pub.

We turn right back onto Common Road and back to the car. A nice but muddy 10.2 miles!

Rochford and Blackbox Brewery Essex walk. 31.01.24

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On Wednesday the 31st January 2024 Dan and I caught the train to Rochford Train Station ,Rochford, Essex. Well it was more of an excuse to visit the Blackbox Brewery later. Hence this was a very uninspiring walk to say the least!

We left the station and walked up West Street.

The town is the main settlement in the Rochford district, and takes its name from Rochefort, Old English for "Ford of the Hunting Dogs". The town runs into suburban developments in the parishes of Ashingdon and Hawkwell. Kings Hill, in Rochford, was notable for containing the Lawless Court up until the 19th century.

In 1837 James Banyard (14 November 1800 – 1863) a reformed drunk and Wesleyan preacher and William Bridges (1802–1874) took a lease on the old workhouse at Rochford, which became the first chapel of the Peculiar People, a name taken from Deuteronomy 14:2 and 1 Peter 2:9. The Peculiar People practised a lively form of worship bound by the literal interpretation of the King James Bible, banning both frivolity and medicine. During the two World Wars some were conscientious objectors, believing that war is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Peculiar People are nowadays known as the Union of Evangelical Churches.

A superb replica in the Market Place at Rochford, Essex.

Markings: "DONATED BY ADRIAN CHAPMAN 2002".

Manufacturer: It was made by local structural engineer Adrian Chapman, when the town square was reinstated in 2002. He produced the wooden patterns based upon a photograph of the original pump, which was removed in 1902, and had the castings made by the Rayne Foundry in Braintree.

We turn right onto South Street and up to the roundabout junction with Southend Road, where there is the Rochford Village sign.

The new sign has been manufactured by Alpha Signs, of Saffron Walden, and is set in a 15ft oak post sited here in 2004.

Just by the Horse and Groom Pub on Southend Road we take a footpath beside the River Roach.

A random Elephant in garden beside the river.

The River Roach is a river that flows entirely through Essex. It is one of four main streams that originate in the Rayleigh Hills to the west, and flow east. They then flow towards the centre of the Rochford Basin, a circular feature which may have been caused by an asteroid impact in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene periods. To the east of Rochford, the river becomes tidal, and is governed by the Crouch Harbour Authority. It joins the River Crouch between Wallasea Island and Foulness Island. To the west of Rochford, there is some doubt as to which of the four streams is officially the Roach.

Stambridge Mills in the distance.

At Stambridge, there was a tidal mill from at least the 1500s, although few details are known until it was rebuilt in 1809. A pound was filled by the incoming tide, and was released to drive a water wheel as the tide fell. On spring tides, this gave around 7 hours of operation, which gradually decreased as the tides reduced, and at neap tides, the operation of the mill was entirely dependent on the flow from the upper river. Rankins, the millers, objected to plans by the Great Eastern Railway to build a dam and reservoirs in Rochford, as it would damage their operation, but a single reservoir was authorised in 1904.

The river channels are designated as "heavily modified" from their natural state by the Environment Agency, who measure the water quality. This is moderate for most of the tributaries, and the chemical status has improved since 2013. Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle was moored on the river from 1850 as a Coast Guard watch ship. It was sold for breaking, but an archaeological survey concluded in 2008 that much of it still remains buried beneath the mud near Paglesham. The Paglesham Reach is also significant for its native oysters.

We divert off the river along a path that takes us through then delightful Purdleys Industrial Estate and then out onto Sutton Road. ( I did say at the beginning that this wasn't going to be a spectacular walk!).

At the end of Sutton Road we turn left pass the Anne Boleyn pub onto Southend Road.

Built in 1901, the pub is rumoured to be haunted as Anne Boleyn was from this area. Situated on the main road into Rochford town, opposite Southend Airport, the pub is easy to find. A Greene King Hungry Horse pub .

We walk on along pass Southend Airport and its control tower.

The site opened as a military airfield for the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. It was used during World War One for training airmen and to attempt to intercept German raids on London. In 1919 the airfield was decommissioned and the site reverted to farmland. It reopened in 1935 as a civil airport. In 1939 the airport was once more used as a military airfield, known as RAF Rochford, mainly for fighter units of various nationalities. It was used by 11 Group of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain: this group was the most heavily engaged in that battle. The airfield was still grass surfaced, and was equipped with a mixture of Bellman and Blister aircraft hangars. The airfield was protected by three Pickett Hamilton forts, (a special type of retractable pillbox) one of which survived in 1989 In 1944 it was also for armament practice and as a barrage balloon centre. After World War Two, it was again a civil airport. In 1955-1956 two hard runways were added. In 1995 there was a major programme of refurbishment at the airport, some airport buildings were demolished, and others renovated. In the early years of the 21st century there are plans to expand the airport.

Plenty of boring road walking, no commercial flights took off here while we walked by just light aircraft. Not a busy airport by any means, maybe busier on certain days?

We walk along Eastwoodbury Crescent and Lane, St Lawrence Way right onto Nestuda Way and then onto Eastwoodbury Lane to the church.

St Laurence and All Saints is a Grade I listed medieval church in the parish of Eastwood, Essex, England, near to Southend-on-Sea. Its location adjacent to the perimeter of London Southend Airport has led to the church being threatened by proposals to expand the airport.

The church has been described as "one of the finest and most important small medieval churches in South Essex, and of exceptional architectural, archaeological and historical significance". Notable features include the complex plan form and development, Norman font and doors with original fittings and the medieval woodwork including a priest's room. The site is also of "considerable, possibly exceptional, archaeological significance".

The first known record of the church is in 1100 A.D. when Robert Fitz Suen (Robert d'Essex) gave the chapels of Eastwood, Sutton and Prittlewell to the Prior of Prittlewell. It is evident that there was a church at Eastwood before that date; this was probably the present Norman nave with a small apsidal chancel. The antiquity of the site is borne out by the presence of a sarsen stone built into the walls. There are claims that this is the remains from when the site was used for pagan worship.

The early development of the church is still not completely understood. The nave is 12th-century in origin, with Norman window openings in the north wall. The south aisle was added in the 13th century and the north aisle in the 14th. The chancel is 13th-century, with a 14th-century roof. The nave roof is 15th-century.

The brick south porch was added in the 16th century. There were extensive works within the church in the 1870s when it was thoroughly restored by William White, including new seating. The broach spire was restored in the late 20th century.

The church stands within a large churchyard containing monuments including chest tombs dating back to the 18th century, with 20th-century extensions to the north containing several war graves. The churchyard is a pleasant area of trees, grass and wild flowers, carefully managed for its wildlife value.

The church was popular with gypsies and other members of the travelling community who used it for christenings, marriages and funerals. The so-called "King of the Gypsies", Louis Boswell, was buried at Eastwood church in 1835. In the Burial Register he is described as a "Traveller aged 42" – "This man known as the King of the Gypsies was interred in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators".

We walk on and take Aviation Way onto an industrial estate where we walk onto Blackbox Brewery and its taproom.

An aviation-themed brewery launched at the start of the year and even opened its own a craft beer and ale taproom in September 2022.

We arrive before the 12 o'clock opening time but they come out and invite us in, seems a very friendly taproom and a good community.

We drink our way through the selection. Cloud Cover NEIPA, Ground Speed APA, Lost Luggage ESB, Mild High Club Mild, a taster of Vocation Aoraki Imperial DIPA and finishing with a yummy local brewed Thinking Juice cider.

We leave the brewery and walk on through the estate, trying to find the path we need. We walk down a path that leads nowhere except to a field of horses that ran up to greet us.

We head back pass the brewery, and a member of bar staff looked bemused that we were still walking about after we'd left a while back. We walk on back out onto Aviation Way and onto Cherry Orchard Way. Maybe it was bad navigation or I was just too pissed but anyway we end up with more road walking.

We walk off Hall Road and up to Rochford Hall by the golf course.

Rochford Hall is a manor in Rochford, Essex, England. During the reign of King Henry VIII, it belonged to Thomas Boleyn, who was then Viscount Rochford, and it was the marital home of his daughter Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn, and Mary's second husband, Sir William Stafford. It is now privately owned by Rochford Hundred Golf Club where it acts as the clubhouse and is a Grade I listed building.

The manor was originally built in 1216, which is the date carved into an old joist, and some of the arched doorways are original. In its 16th century form Rochford Hall comprised a sprawling turreted manor with a moat and great hall.

Rochford Hall belonged to Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne, as part of his rich inheritance from his mother Margaret Butler. Sir Thomas was created Viscount Rochford in 1525 and Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde 1529 and his title derived from his ownership of Rochford Hall. Following the second marriage of Anne's elder sister Mary to William Stafford in 1534, Rochford Hall was given to the couple as their principal residence. In 1550 the Rochford estate was sold to Richard, Lord Rich.

By the late 17th Century Rochford Hall was owned by the Child Family of Wanstead House, Essex, later Earl Tylney. It then descended with the Wanstead Estate to James Tylney-Long, his daughter Catherine Tylney-Long and via the Long-Wellesley Family to Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley. He sold it to a local gentleman farmer in 1867.

Rochford Hall was usually let, on long leases, or used by the Steward of the Rochford or greater Essex Estates of the Tylney-Long family.

There have been many additions and alterations to the manor over the centuries, not least a catastrophic fire in 1791. The 20-foot-high (6.1 m) stained glass replica window in the main hall consists of three coats-of-arms of previous owners including the crest of Anne Boleyn.

Rochford Hall.

In 1777, the owner of Rochford Hall decided to dissuade travellers from this natural approach to Rochford running past his front door, so he built Hall Road slightly away from his property and included a bridge across the Roach tributary. This road would later become a Turnpike or toll road.

We walk pass St Andrews Church here by the golf course an Rochford Hall.

St Andrew’s church building has its origins in the 13th and 14th centuries, although the list of incumbents lets us know that people were worshipping God on this site much earlier than this. Take a while to look inside at the stained-glass windows and the inscriptions on the tombs.

The 15th/16th century tower is a fine example of Tudor brickwork, featuring interspersed Reigate stone to give a diaper pattern. The tower is built from 15th century brick that came from Rochford brickworks and was built by Thomas Boteler, Earl of Ormond, the maternal great grandfather of Anne Boleyn. Although Sir Richard Rich would later claim the tower’s construction, and indeed may have contributed to its completion in some way, the Ormond coat of arms above the west entrance seems to settle this dispute. To the north is the vestry, a late 16th century brick addition.

Edward Calamy would join the church in the 1630’s and soon caught malaria as a result of living in this area. He would preach all his sermons while sitting at his desk as he became dizzy if he stood up.

In 1862 the interior of the church was restored, by replacing the old pews, raising the ceiling and removing the gallery. The Reverend Benjamin Cotton became rector in 1861, staying for over fifty years and oversaw many of these changes.

Benton, the local farmer and historian, recorded in 1882 that smugglers secretly used the church tower to store gin, tea and other goods brought from France and a cavity below the pulpit was called the magazine!

The Rochford parish memorial to local victims of the Great War of 1914-18 was moved to its present location in the tower in 2005. In the porch, wooden boards list the name of every Rochford resident who served in the war. The Great War caused difficulty for faith groups, especially when conscription became law. The Peculiar People wrestled with this topic – was it right for men to bear arms against each other? Some took on work of national importance, which meant that they could help the war effort without actually fighting, others became conscientious objectors and of this group many would serve hard labour in Dartmoor Jail. The conditions there were hard, food was consistently bad, and anyone caught looking out of his cell window during the day was punished with three days of a bread and water diet.

Today, the church is possibly unique in now being completely surrounded by a golf course.

We walk back onto Hall Lane and back to the Train Station for the journey home. 

Just under eight and a half mile walk and plenty of beer!