We were led on our tour of Tenterden town by our guides Colin and Eileen, members of the local History Society, having booked it previously via Debbie, our contact at the Tenterden Museum in Station Road. It is a very affordable experience at £5 a head, with a minimum group size of 10 people. The walking tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.
We started our journey at St Mildred’s Church named after a 7th century princess who served as the abbess of the nunnery at Minister-in-Thanet. The tower was built with Bethersden Marble. Bethersden has long been associated with the material known as Bethersden Marble which was quarried until the 19th century and used in many of Kent's churches and cathedrals. The name 'marble' is misleading because it is a limestone packed with fossilised gastropod shells which polish well, hence the use of the term.
The Tenterden coat of arms depicts the links it has to shipbuilding. Smallhythe was a community of around 200 people, most of whom were involved in shipbuilding. The population would have increased by transient workers when large vessels were being built, and by sailors joining and leaving the ships. From here a ferry crossing to the Isle of Oxney provided an important link between the Cinque Port towns of Tenterden to the north and Rye and Winchelsea to the south.
The churchyard has a number of barrel vaults which were built to house the remains of wealthy families. One of these is of the Ward family. This is where the Rev Philip Ward (B:1795 D:16/1/1859) is buried. He married Horatia Nelson (B:1801 D:1881), daughter of Admiral Horatio Nelson and his mistress Emma Hamilton.
Many of the buildings we viewed in the town were Wealden Hall Houses which are a type of medieval timber-framed hall house traditional in the south east of England. Typically built for a yeoman, it is most common in Kent (hence "Wealden" for the once densely forested Weald) and the east of Sussex but has also been built elsewhere. Kent has one of the highest concentrations of such surviving medieval timber-framed buildings in Europe.
We also were introduced to mathematical tiles. These are tiles which were used extensively as a building material in the south eastern counties of England, especially East Sussex and Kent, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were laid on the exterior of timber-framed buildings as an alternative to brickwork, which their appearance closely resembled. Mathematical tiles had several advantages over brick: they were cheaper, easier to lay than bricks (skilled workmen were not needed) and were more resistant to the weathering effects.
Tenterden have recently introduced a Blue plaque scheme highlighting buildings and places of particular social and historical interest. The vinyl plaques are applied inside to businesses front window or in a picture frame to hang on an interior wall to give residents and visitors a glimpse of the history of the building.
We greatly enjoyed this fascinating tour, luckily in good weather, and came away with so much new knowledge of a town we have visited many times.
Report by: Denise Maiden,
Speaker Secretary Ashford Branch