Sturry
Encyclopedia
Sturry is a village
on the Great Stour river
three miles north-east of Canterbury
in Kent
. The large parish of Sturry Church incorporates the former mining village of Hersden
and several hamlet
s.
junction of the road from the city to Thanet and Reculver
: at the point where a fort was built to protect the crossing of the river. Sturry railway station
was opened in 1848 and electrified in 1962, by the South Eastern Railway
: it is on the line between Canterbury west and Ramsgate
. The station was until the 1860s the stage coach point for Herne
and Herne Bay
. The parish boundaries are the same now as they were in 1086 as recorded in the Domesday Book
.
implements - namely knives and arrow-tips - show. Other signs of early human activities include a collection of axes and pottery shards from the Bronze Age
and more pottery from the Sturry Hill gravel-pits, and a burial-ground near Stonerocks Farm showed that there was an Iron Age
settlement of Belgic Celts (who gave Canterbury its pre-Roman name of Durovemum) from the end of the 2nd Century BC. All this evidence indicates that human habitation of some kind existed on the north bank of the River Stour, on Sturry's site, for hundreds and thousands of years. When the Romans arrived, they built Island Road (the A28) to connect Canterbury
, the local tribal capital, with the ferry to the Isle of Thanet, with a branch to their fort at Reculver
.
The most important era for Sturry, determining its future shape, size, function and name, was that part of the early 5th century when the beleaguered Romano-Britons brought in Frisians and Jutes as mercenaries to help them fight against invading Picts and Scots, and rewarded them with land. Some of them settled near Sturry: their cemetery was found at Hersden
. Then in the mid 5 Century, Kent was re-organised into lathes, or districts. Sturry was the first; Stour-gau, meaning district or lathe on the Stour. The lathe was bounded by the Stour as far as Canterbury in the North by the sea, and farther south as distant as Wye.
The remains of a large village water mill lie near the parish church, and the High Street retains some charming historic buildings. The village virtually adjoins one of the smallest towns in England, Fordwich
, where there are further interesting buildings, including the historic Town Hall. Fordwich itself is smaller in size than Sturry. A rare survival, a small granary, constructed with wooden weather-boards is located at Blaxland Farm and has nine staddle stones
supporting it. A barn from Vale Farm, Calcott has been re-erected at the Museum of Kent Life
, Sandling
. A 16th Century manor house and oasthouse, built in 1583 and which belonged to St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury still stand in Sturry village beside the medieval tithe barn - although they have all been incorporated into the King School after they were sold by the widow of Lord Milner in 1925.
Since the 1960s a large number of satellite housing estates have been built on the north side of the village, mostly in former woodland, which have turned Sturry into one of the major dormitary villages for Canterbury. Nonetheless, the village is still overwhelmingly rural, with fields for arable farming
and livestock grazing, and large amounts of coppice woodland
. A number of market gardens can also be found in the countryside around the village. Large and deep quarries are still worked on the edge of the village, with the old workings flooded to provide recreational lakes used primarily for fishing.
, the greater part of the High Street being destroyed by a parachute mine in 1941 during the Baedeker Blitz
, killing 15 people of which 7 were children aged 12 and under. One of these was a little girl who had been to the bakers' and whose body was recovered still clutching the bag of buns she had bought. The same aircraft dropped another bomb, but this landed amongst the allotments. In the book, Letters to Sturry, it is recorded that on Wednesday, 28 August 1940, there were eight separate air raid warnings and on 'Battle of Britain Day', 15th September 1940, a German Dornier bomber plane, (Aircraft 2651, 3rd Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 76), crash-landed in a field below Kemberland Wood near the Sarre Penne stream. Three of the five crew were killed and were firstly buried in Sturry Cemetery but then re-interred in the late 1960s into the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase.
Nonetheless a number of interesting buildings remain intact in Sturry, including St Nicholas parish church, which is predominantly Norman in style, with the oldest parts dating to about 1200. The Manor House
, built in 1583, is now the junior school of The King's School, Canterbury
.
, is also located in south Sturry. Famous alumni include Antony Worrall Thompson
and Orlando Bloom
.
Spires Academy, formerly known as Sturry Secondary Modern School and later Frank Montgomery School, is the only secondary school in Sturry.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
on the Great Stour river
River Stour, Kent
The River Stour is the river in Kent, England that flows into the English Channel at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes...
three miles north-east of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
in 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...
. The large parish of Sturry Church incorporates the former mining village of Hersden
Hersden
Hersden is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.The village lies on the A28 road, an old Roman road between the City of Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet, in the civil parish of Sturry, bordering the parish of Westbere....
and several hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
s.
Geography
It lies at the old RomanRoman 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...
junction of the road from the city to Thanet and Reculver
Reculver
Reculver is a hamlet and coastal resort situated about east of Herne Bay in southeast England. It is a ward of the City of Canterbury district in the county of Kent. Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the western end of the Wantsum Channel, between the Isle of Thanet and the Kent...
: at the point where a fort was built to protect the crossing of the river. Sturry railway station
Sturry railway station
Sturry railway station serves the village of Sturry near Canterbury in Kent, England. The station is 3.5 km north east of Canterbury West on the Ashford to Ramsgate Line. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
was opened in 1848 and electrified in 1962, by the South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
: it is on the line between Canterbury west and Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
. The station was until the 1860s the stage coach point for Herne
Herne, Kent
Herne is a village in South East England, divided by the Thanet Way from the seaside resort of Herne Bay. Administratively it is in the civil parish of Herne and Broomfield in Kent. Between Herne and Broomfield is the former hamlet of Hunters Forstal; Herne Common lies to the south.The hamlet of...
and Herne Bay
Herne Bay, Kent
Herne Bay is a seaside town in Kent, South East England, with a population of 35,188. On the south coast of the Thames Estuary, it is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government district...
. The parish boundaries are the same now as they were in 1086 as recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
History
Human habitation in Sturry is thought to have started around 430,000 years ago, as dated flintFlint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
implements - namely knives and arrow-tips - show. Other signs of early human activities include a collection of axes and pottery shards from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
and more pottery from the Sturry Hill gravel-pits, and a burial-ground near Stonerocks Farm showed that there was an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
settlement of Belgic Celts (who gave Canterbury its pre-Roman name of Durovemum) from the end of the 2nd Century BC. All this evidence indicates that human habitation of some kind existed on the north bank of the River Stour, on Sturry's site, for hundreds and thousands of years. When the Romans arrived, they built Island Road (the A28) to connect Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, the local tribal capital, with the ferry to the Isle of Thanet, with a branch to their fort at Reculver
Reculver
Reculver is a hamlet and coastal resort situated about east of Herne Bay in southeast England. It is a ward of the City of Canterbury district in the county of Kent. Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the western end of the Wantsum Channel, between the Isle of Thanet and the Kent...
.
The most important era for Sturry, determining its future shape, size, function and name, was that part of the early 5th century when the beleaguered Romano-Britons brought in Frisians and Jutes as mercenaries to help them fight against invading Picts and Scots, and rewarded them with land. Some of them settled near Sturry: their cemetery was found at Hersden
Hersden
Hersden is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.The village lies on the A28 road, an old Roman road between the City of Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet, in the civil parish of Sturry, bordering the parish of Westbere....
. Then in the mid 5 Century, Kent was re-organised into lathes, or districts. Sturry was the first; Stour-gau, meaning district or lathe on the Stour. The lathe was bounded by the Stour as far as Canterbury in the North by the sea, and farther south as distant as Wye.
The remains of a large village water mill lie near the parish church, and the High Street retains some charming historic buildings. The village virtually adjoins one of the smallest towns in England, Fordwich
Fordwich
Fordwich is the smallest place in Britain with a town council, having a population of 351 recorded in the 2001 census. It lies in Kent, on the River Stour, northeast of Canterbury....
, where there are further interesting buildings, including the historic Town Hall. Fordwich itself is smaller in size than Sturry. A rare survival, a small granary, constructed with wooden weather-boards is located at Blaxland Farm and has nine staddle stones
Staddle stones
Staddle stones were originally used as supporting bases for granaries, hayricks, game larders, etc. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage...
supporting it. A barn from Vale Farm, Calcott has been re-erected at the Museum of Kent Life
Museum of Kent Life
Kent Life is an open air museum located at Sandling, next to Allington Locks on the east bank of the River Medway.- History :...
, Sandling
Sandling, Maidstone
Sandling is a suburb to the north of the town of Maidstone, Kent, England. Within the area is the headquarters of the Kent Wildlife Trust at Tyland Barn. Beside the River Medway is an eating place called The Malta Inn. Sandling is also home to the Museum of Kent Life...
. A 16th Century manor house and oasthouse, built in 1583 and which belonged to St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury still stand in Sturry village beside the medieval tithe barn - although they have all been incorporated into the King School after they were sold by the widow of Lord Milner in 1925.
Since the 1960s a large number of satellite housing estates have been built on the north side of the village, mostly in former woodland, which have turned Sturry into one of the major dormitary villages for Canterbury. Nonetheless, the village is still overwhelmingly rural, with fields for arable farming
Agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...
and livestock grazing, and large amounts of coppice woodland
Coppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
. A number of market gardens can also be found in the countryside around the village. Large and deep quarries are still worked on the edge of the village, with the old workings flooded to provide recreational lakes used primarily for fishing.
The Second World War
During the Second World War, Sturry was one of the most badly bombed villages in EnglandEngland
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 greater part of the High Street being destroyed by a parachute mine in 1941 during the Baedeker Blitz
Baedeker Blitz
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids were a series of Vergeltungsangriffe by the German air force on English cities in response to the bombing of the erstwhile Hanseatic League city of Lübeck during the night from 28 to 29 March 1942 during World War II.-Background:Lübeck was bombed on the night...
, killing 15 people of which 7 were children aged 12 and under. One of these was a little girl who had been to the bakers' and whose body was recovered still clutching the bag of buns she had bought. The same aircraft dropped another bomb, but this landed amongst the allotments. In the book, Letters to Sturry, it is recorded that on Wednesday, 28 August 1940, there were eight separate air raid warnings and on 'Battle of Britain Day', 15th September 1940, a German Dornier bomber plane, (Aircraft 2651, 3rd Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 76), crash-landed in a field below Kemberland Wood near the Sarre Penne stream. Three of the five crew were killed and were firstly buried in Sturry Cemetery but then re-interred in the late 1960s into the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase.
Nonetheless a number of interesting buildings remain intact in Sturry, including St Nicholas parish church, which is predominantly Norman in style, with the oldest parts dating to about 1200. The Manor House
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, built in 1583, is now the junior school of The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....
.
Education
There are two primary schools in the area. Sturry Church of England Primary school is situated near the north of the village, with strong links with Hersden Primary School. The junior part of The King's School, CanterburyThe King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....
, is also located in south Sturry. Famous alumni include Antony Worrall Thompson
Antony Worrall Thompson
Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson is a British celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.-Biography:...
and Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
.
Spires Academy, formerly known as Sturry Secondary Modern School and later Frank Montgomery School, is the only secondary school in Sturry.