Royal Tunbridge Wells

We have been staying in Royal Tunbridge Wells at the Hotel du Vin while we have been exploring the sights of Kent and, to a lesser extent, East Sussex. I thought I would end with a short review of the town itself starting opposite the hotel with these two art deco buildings: the Assembly Hall and the Court and Police Station.

 

Turning right out of the hotel we went through this handsome arch which led us to Calverley Grounds. It dates back to the early-1800s when it formed part of a development by Decimus Burton then called Calverley New Town. The historic grounds were opened to the public in the 1920s and are listed as a conservation area. Burton was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. Among many others, Burton's works included Hyde Park, the Wellington Arch, St James's Park, Regent Park ....

Heading south along Mount Pleasant we passed the splendid clock tower of Tunbridge Wells railway station opened in 1846 ...

... and opposite, the grandly named Great Hall.  It was opened as the “New Public Rooms” in 1872 and is often referred to as being in the French Empire style – a sort of modest version of the Louvre extension. It has also been described as a sort of Burlington Arcade - or Shopping Mall. In 1983 planning permission was granted to redevelop the site, retaining the original façade.

We carried on along the High Street which has some imposing buildings.

At the end we crossed the road and headed - of course - to the famous Pantiles, first passing the church of King Charles the Martyr (which was dedicated to the cult of Charles I who was executed in 1649). The original chapel was the first substantial building constructed in Tunbridge Wells and it eventually became itself a parish church in 1889.

We quickly reached the famous  Pantiles, with its colonnades and 17th and 18th century shops. The Pantiles and indeed Tunbridge Wells itself owe their existence to the discovery of the Chalybeate Spring in 1606. Chalybeate (pronounced Ka-lee-bee-at) means iron-rich, and this is apparently evident in the unique taste of the water. The spring water can still be sampled at this elegant building.

Beyond the Spring you come to the shopping area of the Pantiles with its colonnades and 17th and 18th century shops ...

                                    

...and a fine clock.

On the left at a lower level was the former 19th century Corn Exchange, now the Pantiles Arcade which sells English silver, art glass and paperweights, Tunbridge Ware, porcelain & pottery, Georgian glass, bronzes, chandeliers, coins and Art Deco furniture.

To conclude, Royal Tunbridge Wells is one only three towns which can call themselves "Royal". The other two are ... Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Wooton Bassett.

Ightham Mote

 

Ightham Mote, six miles from Sevenoaks, is a square, or perhaps rectangular, medieval house with its main buildings in the inner courtyard. The only entrance is over a small bridge and through a gatehouse. It is one of the oldest medieval manor houses to survive in England.

The house dates from circa 1340–1360 and changed hands several times until it was bought in 1591 by Sir William Selby. The house remained in the Selby family for nearly 300 years until the late 19th century when further further changes of ownership took place. In 1953 Ightham Mote was purchased by Charles Henry Robinson, an American of Portland, Maine in the US. He had known the property when stationed nearby during World War II. He lived there for only fourteen weeks a year for tax reasons. He made many urgent repairs, and partly refurnished the house with 17th-century English pieces. In 1965, he announced that he would give Ightham Mote and its contents to the National Trust. The Trust took possession in 1985 and in 1989 started a substantial conservation project that involved dismantling much of the building and recording its construction methods before rebuilding it.

One account has it that Ightham (pronounced item) is possibly derived from a Saxon (or Jutish) name, Ehta, plus the common suffix ham, so it means Ehta’s homestead – or, as we would say, ‘Ehta’s place’.  The ‘mote’ is possibly because it might have been built on a moot – an ancient meeting place; or possibly because the house is surrounded by, yes, a moat. I am not convinced. Generally of course a mote is a speck of dust or similar.

Before entering the house you see the former stables now a bookshop across the grass. There is a then an interesting and amusing introductory talk about the house.

You go through the gatehouse to emerge into the spacious central courtyard surrounded by half-timbered buildings.

Inside, the Great Hall is perhaps the greatest highlight ...

... but the Chapel is also very lovely.

Having completed our tour we walked round to see the South Lake. This offers a lovely, and rather different view of the House.

Bodiam Castle

 

We arrived at Bodiam late in the day and were completely bowled over by this wonderful walled and moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex. The castle dates from the 14th-century.  It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years War.

By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession of Lord Thanet, a Royalist who sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to Baron Ashcombe and then Lord Curzon,  both of whom undertook further restoration work. The castle is now protected as a Grade I listed building and Sceduled Monument. It has been owned by National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death.

Above is the rear of the castle with its central Postern Tower. The left hand tower contained a well. Below is the entrance along the causeway.

We went inside via the portcullis (one of the oldest in the country) to climb to the top of the ramparts of the rather battered castle. The building on the far side was the Great Hall.

 

 

This is the view looking back towards the entrance. 

It is overall a wonderful site and Wikipedia's article provides a wealth of detail and background.

Unexpectedly, we passed a lone World War II pillbox on our way out.

Rye

 

Rye is of course in West Sussex rather than Kent, but it is too good to miss. We parked on the east side of the town and headed towards the centre and almost immediately ran into another handsome Smock Windmill. It is now a B&B!

Once we were in the town proper we passed this pub, the Old Bell which claimed to be the oldest pub in the town - dating from 1390.

 

We continued up the High Street passing the Old Rye Grammar School of 1636. The founder died in 1838 a bequeathed the building to the town as a free Grammar School. It continued until 1901.

Further along the High Street was a house lived in by Radcliffe Hall (born Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall) author of the novel The Well of Loneliness.

Continuing to the left we came to the Landgate (the portcullis was removed in 1735). This is the town side view ...

... and here is the view from outside the walls that once were joined to it.

From here we headed to the Town Hall. The present Rye Town Hall was built in 1742, and is the third known to have existed on the Market Street site (the first of which was burned to the ground by the French in 1377 - the French were always a threat).

Just behind it is the passage which leads to St Mary's Church. It is tucked away, but impressive when you go inside. The clock on the turret was installed in about 1561.

It was built early in the 12th century when the town itself and much of the surrounding area was held, under a Royal deed of gift from the Abbey of Fecamp in Normandy. This link with Fecamp, which was an important member of the Cinque Ports Confederation, explains why Rye has such a magnificent church. In between there was a period of decline from the late 17th century and extensive repairs in 1882 and after the Second World War.

I was surprised to discover that I hadn't noticed a window by Burne-Jones, but

From there we visited one of the oldest buildings in Rye, the Ypres Tower, which was built in 1249, as "Baddings Tower", to defend the town from the French. It was later named after its owner, John de Ypres,  and is now part of the Rye Museum.

This is the view from the Tower. You can just about make out the sea on the horizon, which illustrates the well-known retreat of the sea from the town.

Finally, we noted the splendidly-named Mermaid Street with its cobbled road surface.

From there it remained only to retrace our steps to the Windmill and our car park.

Great Dixter

 

Great Dixter is another house we have always wanted to see. It was built in 1910–12 by the architect Edwin Lutyens, who combined an existing mid-15th century house on the site with a similar structure brought from Benenden, Kent, together with his own additions (the buildings on the left - which are private).

You can go in through the celebrated Porch ...

...and walk through the Ground Floor Hall to climb the stairs to see the Parlour ...

... and the Solar, a room of comfort and status.

Great Dixter was the home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006). Nathaniel Lloyd and Edwin Lutyens began the garden, but it was Lloyd's son Christopher, a well known garden writer and television personality, who made it famous. The garden is in the arts and crafts style, and features topiary, a long border, an orchard and a wild flower meadow.  It is currently managed by Fergus Garrett.

 This is the view of the house from the rear garden.

 Are this is another different angle

Like Sissinghurst, Great Dixter also has three 18th-century oast houses, under a common roof, and a 15th-century barn.

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.