Cranbrook

Fresh from our delightful visit to Sissinghurst we went on a couple of miles to see the village of Cranbrook. Known as the Capital of the Weald, it is a pretty town with a medieval layout of streets and alleys – many buildings dating from the 15th century through to the 19th century. 

We started near the bottom of the High Street where we admired this fine plaque above an old pub. On teh corner of Hugh Street and Stone Street is the Vestry Hall built in 1859; the old fire station was below.

                                                 

Just beyond the Vestry Hall was St Dunstan’s Church, known locally as the Cathedral of the Weald.

We retraced our steps and walked along Stone Street to reach the junction of Waterloo Road and The Hill. We were struck by how many white painted, wood-cladded houses there were.

We forked right to reach the celebrated Union Windmill, built in 1814. It is known for being England's tallest Smock Mill. Thanks to Wikipedia I can inform you that "a smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weather-boarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides".

We returned to Waterloo Road to have a look at Cranbrook School. It is a co-educational state funded boarding and day grammar school. It is one of only a small number of state boarding schools in the UK. And it is an ancient school, founded in 1518 and given its royal charter by Elizabeth I in 1574.

As we headed back we were struck by a further clutch of white painted houses. Gradually we came to realise that this is a feature all over Kent.