Hawkhurst
Encyclopedia
Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells
, Kent
, England
. The parish lies to the south-east of Tunbridge Wells. Hawkhurst itself is virtually two villages. One, the older of the two, consisting mainly of cottages clustered around a large triangular green known as The Moor, and the other, farther north on the main road, called Highgate (which has been updated to town status because of its increasing population and the councils plans to build more houses). Highgate stands on a crossroads and is where the shops and hotels lie .
Since boundary changes in the 2010 general election, Hawkhurst is part of the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells, represented by Conservative Greg Clark
. Prior to this it was in the Maidstone and The Weald constituency, formerly represented by Ann Widdecombe
.
which here crossed the Weald
.
The station site is now an industrial area just off the Cranbrook Road, but some original buildings are still standing and in a good state of preservation. The nearest open station is now Etchingham
.
was taken from clay beds, then heated with charcoal from the abundant woods in the area. The iron was used to make everything from Roman ships to medieval cannon, and many of the Roman roads in the area were built in order to transport the iron. William Penn
, founder of the state of Pennsylvania
, owned ironworks at Hawkhurst. The industry eventually declined during the industrial revolution of the 18th Century, when coal became the preferred method of heating, and could not be found nearby.
, encouraged Flemish weavers to come to England. Many chose to settle in the Weald, because it had all the elements needed for weaving - oak to make mills, streams to drive them and Fullers Earth to treat the cloth.
The Kentish domination of the hop industry was stimulated by that same influx of Flemish weavers, who brought a preference for beer
, and beer making skills with them. Several wealthy Kentish farmers invested in this new opportunity and approach. Although not the centre of the industry, Hawkhurst Brewery and Malthouse was built in 1850, on the edge of The Moor (now a house).
Hop growing also gave the area its distinctive skyline of hop gardens and oast house
s, which were used to dry the hops. Nowadays, most hops are imported. However, at its peak 35000 acres (141.6 km²) of hop gardens existed in England, almost all of them in Kent, including much around Hawkhurst. Eventually mechanisation and cheap imports ended the industry, but the oast houses remain.
along the Kent and Sussex coast line. 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. A number of inns and local houses in Hawkhurst claim associations with the gang: high taxation on luxury goods in the early 18th century had led to an upsurge in smuggling, and the gang brought in brandy, silk and tobacco up from Rye and Hastings to be stowed away in hidden cellars and passages, before being sold off to the local gentry. It was reputed that when needed for a smuggling run, 500 mounted and armed men could be assembled within the hour. The Battle of Goudhurst
eventually brought their career to an end.
Rudyard Kipling
, who lived at Batemans in nearby Burwash, wrote the following lines in A Smuggler's Poem:
home for orphans under six years old was built in Hawkhurst, caring for hundreds of babies. It was known as Babies' Castle, and followed nine inspiring principles, known as "The Nine Nos":
In 1903 Gunther and his wife Leonie bought the Tongswood Estate. When he died in 1935, the house, dating from the 1860s, was sold and became St Ronan's School. Earlier owners of Tongswood were the Dunks family, who lived there from about 1500-1750. Sir Thomas Dunk, a wealthy clothier, who died in 1718, bequeathed enough money to build almshouses for six 'decayed housekeepers' (three men and three women) and a village school, plus enough money to buy lands to generate a steady income.
In 1875, the Victoria Lecture Hall was built by Henry Maynard "for the good of the village". It now houses the Kino, a digital cinema.
Hawkhurst has several churches. The parish church of St Laurence stands at the south end of the village known as The Moor, which is the older part of Hawkhurst. It falls within the Canterbury diocese, and has as patron the Dean and Chapter of Christ College, Oxford. It is likely that a church has stood on this site since 1100, or even earlier. After the Battle of Hastings
William the Conqueror gave the Manor of Wye, with rights over a large part of the parish, to the Abbot of Battle
. The first mention of the church is in the charter of 1285, and its first rector was Richard de Clyne in 1291. The Chancel and North Chapel are the oldest parts of the church. The Great East Window was built about 1350 and has been described as one of the finest pieces of architecture in the country. Most of the rest of the church dates from around 1450, when the nave was lengthened and raised, the aisles, porches and tower added, and it took on its present appearance. The room over the North porch was used by Battle Abbey
officials for rent collecting, and used to be called "The Treasury". In 1574, communion
rails were introduced at a cost of 53 shillings, to keep communicants from the altar, the first parish church in England to have done so.
In 1944 a German flying bomb
fell in the churchyard, caused considerable damage, and the church was put out of action until 1957. Part of the flying bomb can be seen on the south side at the back of the church.
There is a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St Barnabas, in the High Street, an active Baptish Church in Cranbrook Road built partly on the site of the original Rootes cycle factory and a Methodist Church on Highgate Hill.
.
Sir John Herschel
(1792–1871) lived in Hawkhurst for thirty years.It was he who named Uranus, which had been discovered by his father, Sir William Herschel. He was also a mentor and inspiration to a young Charles Darwin
. Herschel lived at Collingwood House in Hawkhurst.
Richard Kilburne, born in London to a Kentish family, was a lawyer and historian. Richard Kilburne died at Hawkhurst on November 16, 1678, at age 74. Kilburne is buried in the chancel of the church at Hawkhurst under a flat stone inscribed with Latin declaring him "an ornament and an honor to his country."
Hawkhurst lays claim to being the birthplace of the Rootes car empire; William Rootes set up shop in the village as a cycle trader before moving into the production of cars, including Singer
, Hillman
, Humber
and Sunbeam, eventually becoming Chrysler Europe
.
Another leading local businessman was Charles Eugene Gunther, head of the Leipzig Meat Extract Company, later known as Oxo
. He was also Lord Lieutenant of Kent
in 1926.
Philip Langridge
, the 20th-century operatic tenor, was born in Hawkhurst.
Tunbridge Wells (borough)
Tunbridge Wells is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. It takes its name from its main town, Royal Tunbridge Wells.The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the municipal borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells along with Southborough urban district, Cranbrook Rural...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The parish lies to the south-east of Tunbridge Wells. Hawkhurst itself is virtually two villages. One, the older of the two, consisting mainly of cottages clustered around a large triangular green known as The Moor, and the other, farther north on the main road, called Highgate (which has been updated to town status because of its increasing population and the councils plans to build more houses). Highgate stands on a crossroads and is where the shops and hotels lie .
Since boundary changes in the 2010 general election, Hawkhurst is part of the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells, represented by Conservative Greg Clark
Greg Clark
Rt. Hon. Gregory David Clark is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Tunbridge Wells since 2005. Clark is currently a Minister of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government, with responsibility for overseeing decentralisation, a key...
. Prior to this it was in the Maidstone and The Weald constituency, formerly represented by Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
.
Roads
Hawkhurst (Kent) lies at the intersection of the A229 and A268 (see map). The village lies on the route of a Roman roadRoman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
which here crossed the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
.
Railway
A railway station was built in Hawkhurst in 1892, to the west side of the Cranbrook Road, on the northern edge of the village. It was rarely busy except during hop picking time, when up to 26 special trains per day, each carrying up to 350 Cockneys from London, would arrive at Hawkhurst - up to 10,000 people per day. As this declined, the station became uneconomic, and it was closed in 1961.The station site is now an industrial area just off the Cranbrook Road, but some original buildings are still standing and in a good state of preservation. The nearest open station is now Etchingham
Etchingham railway station
Etchingham railway station is on the Hastings Line in East Sussex in England, and serves Etchingham. Train services are provided by Southeastern....
.
History
Hawkhurst has over 1,000 years of recorded history. The oldest known settlement was the Saxon manor of Congehurst, which was burnt by the Danes in 893 AD. There is still a lane of this name to the east of the village.Etymology
The name Hawkhurst is derived from Old English heafoc hyrst, meaning a wooded hill frequented by hawks - 'Hawk Wood'. Hurst (Hyrst) in a place name refers to a wood or wooded area - there are several in West Kent and East Sussex. The 11th Century Domesday Monacorum refers to it as Hawkashyrst, belonging to Battle Abbey. In 1254, the name was recorded as Hauekehurst; in 1278, it is often shown as Haukhurst; by 1610, it had changed to Hawkherst, which then evolved into the current spelling.Iron industry
The village was located at the centre of the Wealden iron industry from Roman times. The Weald produced over a third of all iron in Britain, and over 180 sites have been found in the area. IronstoneIronstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
was taken from clay beds, then heated with charcoal from the abundant woods in the area. The iron was used to make everything from Roman ships to medieval cannon, and many of the Roman roads in the area were built in order to transport the iron. William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, founder of the state of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, owned ironworks at Hawkhurst. The industry eventually declined during the industrial revolution of the 18th Century, when coal became the preferred method of heating, and could not be found nearby.
Hop growing
In the 14th century, Edward III, wanting to break the Flemish (Dutch) monopoly on weavingWeaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
, encouraged Flemish weavers to come to England. Many chose to settle in the Weald, because it had all the elements needed for weaving - oak to make mills, streams to drive them and Fullers Earth to treat the cloth.
The Kentish domination of the hop industry was stimulated by that same influx of Flemish weavers, who brought a preference for beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
, and beer making skills with them. Several wealthy Kentish farmers invested in this new opportunity and approach. Although not the centre of the industry, Hawkhurst Brewery and Malthouse was built in 1850, on the edge of The Moor (now a house).
Hop growing also gave the area its distinctive skyline of hop gardens and oast house
Oast house
An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture...
s, which were used to dry the hops. Nowadays, most hops are imported. However, at its peak 35000 acres (141.6 km²) of hop gardens existed in England, almost all of them in Kent, including much around Hawkhurst. Eventually mechanisation and cheap imports ended the industry, but the oast houses remain.
The Hawkhurst Gang
By 1745 it is estimated that 20,000 people were smugglingSmuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
along the Kent and Sussex coast line. 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. A number of inns and local houses in Hawkhurst claim associations with the gang: high taxation on luxury goods in the early 18th century had led to an upsurge in smuggling, and the gang brought in brandy, silk and tobacco up from Rye and Hastings to be stowed away in hidden cellars and passages, before being sold off to the local gentry. It was reputed that when needed for a smuggling run, 500 mounted and armed men could be assembled within the hour. The Battle of Goudhurst
Goudhurst
Goudhurst is a village in Kent on the Weald, about south of Maidstone.It stands on a crossroads , where there is a large village pond. It is also in the Cranbrook School catchment area....
eventually brought their career to an end.
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, who lived at Batemans in nearby Burwash, wrote the following lines in A Smuggler's Poem:
- If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
- Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
- Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
- Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.
Notable buildings
In 1886, the largest Barnardo'sBarnardo's
Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children and young people. As of 2010, it spends over £190 million each year on more than 400 local services aimed at helping these same groups...
home for orphans under six years old was built in Hawkhurst, caring for hundreds of babies. It was known as Babies' Castle, and followed nine inspiring principles, known as "The Nine Nos":
-
- No destitute child refused
- No Race Barrier
- No Creed Clause
- No Physical Disability
- No Age Limit
- No Money Promise
- No Voting
- No Waiting
- No Red Tape
In 1903 Gunther and his wife Leonie bought the Tongswood Estate. When he died in 1935, the house, dating from the 1860s, was sold and became St Ronan's School. Earlier owners of Tongswood were the Dunks family, who lived there from about 1500-1750. Sir Thomas Dunk, a wealthy clothier, who died in 1718, bequeathed enough money to build almshouses for six 'decayed housekeepers' (three men and three women) and a village school, plus enough money to buy lands to generate a steady income.
In 1875, the Victoria Lecture Hall was built by Henry Maynard "for the good of the village". It now houses the Kino, a digital cinema.
Hawkhurst has several churches. The parish church of St Laurence stands at the south end of the village known as The Moor, which is the older part of Hawkhurst. It falls within the Canterbury diocese, and has as patron the Dean and Chapter of Christ College, Oxford. It is likely that a church has stood on this site since 1100, or even earlier. After the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
William the Conqueror gave the Manor of Wye, with rights over a large part of the parish, to the Abbot of Battle
Abbot of Battle
Abbot of Battle was the title given to the abbot of Battle Abbey in Sussex, England. The abbey was founded in 1067 by William the Conqueror and the first abbot was Robert Blanchard, who drowned soon after his appointment. The following table gives the abbots from the founding of the abbey until...
. The first mention of the church is in the charter of 1285, and its first rector was Richard de Clyne in 1291. The Chancel and North Chapel are the oldest parts of the church. The Great East Window was built about 1350 and has been described as one of the finest pieces of architecture in the country. Most of the rest of the church dates from around 1450, when the nave was lengthened and raised, the aisles, porches and tower added, and it took on its present appearance. The room over the North porch was used by Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
officials for rent collecting, and used to be called "The Treasury". In 1574, communion
Communion
Communion may refer to:*Communion , the relationship between Christians as individuals or Churches*Full communion, a term used when two distinct Christian Churches say they are sharing the same communion...
rails were introduced at a cost of 53 shillings, to keep communicants from the altar, the first parish church in England to have done so.
In 1944 a German flying bomb
Flying bomb
A flying bomb is a manned or unmanned aerial vehicle or aircraft carrying a large explosive warhead, a precursor to contemporary cruise missiles...
fell in the churchyard, caused considerable damage, and the church was put out of action until 1957. Part of the flying bomb can be seen on the south side at the back of the church.
There is a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St Barnabas, in the High Street, an active Baptish Church in Cranbrook Road built partly on the site of the original Rootes cycle factory and a Methodist Church on Highgate Hill.
Education
Hawkhurst is home to three schools, one local authority primary and two independent preparatory schoolsPreparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
.
- Hawkhurst CofE Primary School
- Marlborough House SchoolMarlborough House SchoolMarlborough House School is a co-educational preparatory school situated in of countryside in Hawkhurst, Kent. The school currently has just over 320 pupils between the ages of 3 and 13 with a teaching staff of 40. Marlborough House is predominantly a day school, but operates a flexi-boarding...
- St. Ronan's SchoolSt. Ronan's SchoolSaint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located near Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 200 boys and 100 girls, all of them day pupils, although boarding is available from time to time...
Notable residents
The 19th-century astronomerAstronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Sir John Herschel
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
(1792–1871) lived in Hawkhurst for thirty years.It was he who named Uranus, which had been discovered by his father, Sir William Herschel. He was also a mentor and inspiration to a young Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
. Herschel lived at Collingwood House in Hawkhurst.
Richard Kilburne, born in London to a Kentish family, was a lawyer and historian. Richard Kilburne died at Hawkhurst on November 16, 1678, at age 74. Kilburne is buried in the chancel of the church at Hawkhurst under a flat stone inscribed with Latin declaring him "an ornament and an honor to his country."
Hawkhurst lays claim to being the birthplace of the Rootes car empire; William Rootes set up shop in the village as a cycle trader before moving into the production of cars, including Singer
Singer (car)
Singer was an automobile company founded in 1905 in Coventry, England. It was acquired by the Rootes Group of the United Kingdom in 1956, who continued the brand until 1970...
, Hillman
Hillman
Hillman is a British automobile marque created by the Hillman Motor Car Company, founded in 1907. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles...
, Humber
Humber (car)
Humber is a dormant British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers acquired a controlling interest and joined the Humber board in 1932 making Humber part...
and Sunbeam, eventually becoming Chrysler Europe
Chrysler Europe
Chrysler Europe was a division of the Chrysler Corporation that operated between 1967 and 1979.-Formation:In the 1960s, Chrysler sought to become a world producer of automobiles. The company had never had much success outside North America, contrasting with Ford's worldwide reach and General...
.
Another leading local businessman was Charles Eugene Gunther, head of the Leipzig Meat Extract Company, later known as Oxo
Oxo (food)
Oxo is a range of food products, consisting of stock cubes, herbs and spices, dried gravy, and yeast extract. In the United Kingdom, Oxo products are manufactured by Premier Foods...
. He was also Lord Lieutenant of Kent
Lord Lieutenant of Kent
This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Kent. Since 1746, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Kent.-Lords Lieutenant of Kent:*Sir Thomas Cheney 1551–?*William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham 3 July 1585 – 6 March 1597...
in 1926.
Philip Langridge
Philip Langridge
Philip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....
, the 20th-century operatic tenor, was born in Hawkhurst.