Rolvenden
Encyclopedia
Rolvenden is a village
and civil parish
in the Ashford
District of Kent
, England
. The village is located on the A28
Ashford to Hastings road, 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Tenterden
.
The settlement of Rolvenden Layne
, south of Rolvenden, is also in the parish
.
times. The name 'Rolvenden' originates from a chieftain Hropwulf, and refers to the 'den or pasture of Hropwulf's people'. Den is the jutish word for swinepastures with associated hamlets
, isolated farmsteads and cultivated land.
Rolvenden was first mentioned in the Domesday book
as Rovindene. In the reign of Edward III this was changed to Riolvinden, and then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
Rolvenden village originally consisted of the Street, located along what is now the A28 Ashford to Hastings road, which was almost entirely burned down in 1665 during the Great Plague
(except for the church, pub and some farms). This caused the villagers to abandon the Streyte and move a mile down the hill to the common land of the Layne during the 1660s. Already there was the Tudor house, where John Wesley
later preached in the 18th century. The villagers later returned to rebuild the Street, resulting in the two small hamlets, the Streyte and the younger, smaller and quieter Layne that you see today.
The population declined between 1830 and 1850, when many people left during and after the Swing Riots
. This was caused by Rolvenden parish making the conscious decision to provide the poor with a single payment for assisted passages to the colonies, as opposed to large ongoing payments for parish relief.
Rolvenden is now approximately ten square miles in area, consisting largely of farming and rural activities, with an increasing number of professional, craft and tourist services. Rolvenden is within the High Weald
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
(AONB) and the South Kent development area.
has the arms of the Culpeper
family on it. The war memorial in the churchyard was designed by Edwin Lutyens
. One of the most interesting places in the church is the Squire's pew, a room upstairs furnished with a table and chippendale chairs, built for the Gibbons family from Hole Park, separately and looking down on the main congregation.
Lady Jane Grey
, who was the first queen of England for nine days in 1554, until Queen Mary
beheaded her before she could be crowned, lived at nearby Halden Place. The Reverend John Frankesh of Rolvenden became one of the Kent Marian
Martyrs when he was burned at the stake in Canterbury on the 12th July 1555 - he is named among the 41 martyrs inscribed on the Martyrs' Memorial, near Wincheap Street, Canterbury
and in Foxe's Book of Martyrs
.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
rented Great Maytham Hall
, located down the hill towards Rolvenden Layne
, in 1898 and a blocked-up door in the old walled garden inspired her to write the well known children's novel "The Secret Garden
". After her departure in 1907 the mansion was rebuilt in 1910 by Edwin Lutyens
for the Rt Hon H.J. Tennant
. The estate dates from Saxon times and at least four Norman lords had manors here. The Lutyens
hall has since been divided into apartments and is used a retirement home. The gardens are open to the public via the National Gardens Scheme
on listed dates and on the first Wednesday of the month, from April to October.
Hole Park on the Benenden Road regularly opens its gardens to the public under the National Gardens Scheme
. Edward Gibbon
lived at Hole Park and became famous as the author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
", which was published between 1776 and 1788.
Rolvenden Windmill
is a familiar landmark that can also be seen on the Benenden Road. Rolvenden's restored post mill, first mentioned c.1580 and of a type now rare in Kent, is now probably the best surviving example in the county. Its restoration was carried out in 1956 as a memorial to John Nicholas Barham who, according to the inscription, 'lived his short life within sight of it' and died in August 1955, just before his eighteenth birthday. The mill, which is privately owned and does not open to the public, stands on a little hill and was featured in the Tommy Steele
film "Half a Sixpence
".
The C.M. Booth Collection of Historic Vehicles is located in the middle of Rolvenden High Street at Fallstaff Antiques. It specializes in Morgan
3 wheeler motor cars, and has a variety of other vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, displays of toy and model cars etc.
Rolvenden also has a thriving Farmers' Market
which takes place every Thursday morning between 10 am and 12 pm in the church and the new village hall opposite. It aims to help local farmers sell their produce to local people, keeping down "food miles
" and giving customers direct contact with the farmer/producer.
The Kent and East Sussex Railway
has its workshops near Rolvenden station, which is some distance from the village itself.
A more recent industry based in Rolvenden is Jim Hoad's Korker sausage factory. This started as small butchers on Rolvenden high street and is now situated behind the high streyte and produces some 15 tonnes of sausages a week.
There is also a village shop owned and run by Ken & Judith Linklater. Ken,Judith and their three sons Alexander, John and Max Linklater are mainstays of the community and their shop promotes and sells all manner of local produce from honey and beer to local plants. The shop also houses a Post Office and newsagents.
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...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Ashford
Ashford (borough)
Ashford is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. Its council is based in the town of Ashford.The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Tenterden with Ashford urban district, and the East Ashford, West Ashford and Tenterden Rural Districts...
District of 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 village is located on the A28
A28 road
The A28 is a trunk road in southern England. It runs south-west from the seaside resort of Margate in Kent via Westgate and Birchington, reaching open countryside at Sarre. The road continues via Upstreet and Hersden to Sturry, and on to the cathedral city of Canterbury...
Ashford to Hastings road, 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Tenterden
Tenterden
Tenterden is a Cinque Port town in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother....
.
The settlement of Rolvenden Layne
Rolvenden Layne
Rolvenden Layne is a hamlet within the civil parish of Rolvenden in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It is located approximately one mile south of Rolvenden, with a public house, the Ewe & Lamb....
, south of Rolvenden, is also in the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
.
History
The village of Rolvenden dates from at least SaxonHistory of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
times. The name 'Rolvenden' originates from a chieftain Hropwulf, and refers to the 'den or pasture of Hropwulf's people'. Den is the jutish word for swinepastures with associated hamlets
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...
, isolated farmsteads and cultivated land.
Rolvenden was first mentioned 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...
as Rovindene. In the reign of Edward III this was changed to Riolvinden, and then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
Rolvenden village originally consisted of the Street, located along what is now the A28 Ashford to Hastings road, which was almost entirely burned down in 1665 during the Great Plague
Great Plague of London
The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...
(except for the church, pub and some farms). This caused the villagers to abandon the Streyte and move a mile down the hill to the common land of the Layne during the 1660s. Already there was the Tudor house, where John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
later preached in the 18th century. The villagers later returned to rebuild the Street, resulting in the two small hamlets, the Streyte and the younger, smaller and quieter Layne that you see today.
The population declined between 1830 and 1850, when many people left during and after the Swing Riots
Swing Riots
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by agricultural workers; it began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830, and by early December had spread throughout the whole of southern England and East Anglia.As well as the attacks on...
. This was caused by Rolvenden parish making the conscious decision to provide the poor with a single payment for assisted passages to the colonies, as opposed to large ongoing payments for parish relief.
Rolvenden is now approximately ten square miles in area, consisting largely of farming and rural activities, with an increasing number of professional, craft and tourist services. Rolvenden is within the High 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...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
(AONB) and the South Kent development area.
Places of interest
The parish church was built by monks from Canterbury in around 1220, has remained largely unchanged since 1480 and is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. The 14th-century fontBaptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
has the arms of the Culpeper
Culpeper
Culpeper, Colepeper, or Culpepper are varying forms of the last name of several people:*John Culpeper , knight in the court of Henry V*Thomas Culpeper , courtier of Henry VIII...
family on it. The war memorial in the churchyard was designed by Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
. One of the most interesting places in the church is the Squire's pew, a room upstairs furnished with a table and chippendale chairs, built for the Gibbons family from Hole Park, separately and looking down on the main congregation.
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
, who was the first queen of England for nine days in 1554, until Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
beheaded her before she could be crowned, lived at nearby Halden Place. The Reverend John Frankesh of Rolvenden became one of the Kent Marian
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
Martyrs when he was burned at the stake in Canterbury on the 12th July 1555 - he is named among the 41 martyrs inscribed on the Martyrs' Memorial, near Wincheap Street, 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....
and in Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...
.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
rented Great Maytham Hall
Great Maytham Hall
Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden, Kent, England, is a Grade II* listed country house. The gardens are famous for providing the inspiration for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.-The house:...
, located down the hill towards Rolvenden Layne
Rolvenden Layne
Rolvenden Layne is a hamlet within the civil parish of Rolvenden in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It is located approximately one mile south of Rolvenden, with a public house, the Ewe & Lamb....
, in 1898 and a blocked-up door in the old walled garden inspired her to write the well known children's novel "The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
". After her departure in 1907 the mansion was rebuilt in 1910 by Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
for the Rt Hon H.J. Tennant
Harold Tennant
Harold John "Jack" Tennant PC was a Scottish Liberal politician. He served as Secretary for Scotland under his brother-in-law H. H...
. The estate dates from Saxon times and at least four Norman lords had manors here. The Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
hall has since been divided into apartments and is used a retirement home. The gardens are open to the public via the National Gardens Scheme
National Gardens Scheme
The National Gardens Scheme, was founded in 1927 in England with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity". Originally, the money was raised to provide pension support for district nurses; 609 private gardens were opened and £8,191 was raised.Over...
on listed dates and on the first Wednesday of the month, from April to October.
Hole Park on the Benenden Road regularly opens its gardens to the public under the National Gardens Scheme
National Gardens Scheme
The National Gardens Scheme, was founded in 1927 in England with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity". Originally, the money was raised to provide pension support for district nurses; 609 private gardens were opened and £8,191 was raised.Over...
. Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
lived at Hole Park and became famous as the author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89...
", which was published between 1776 and 1788.
Rolvenden Windmill
Rolvenden Windmill
Rolvenden Windill is a grade II* listed Post mill on the B2086 road west of Rolvenden in southeast England. It is maintained as a memorial to a local resident killed in a road accident in 1955.-History:...
is a familiar landmark that can also be seen on the Benenden Road. Rolvenden's restored post mill, first mentioned c.1580 and of a type now rare in Kent, is now probably the best surviving example in the county. Its restoration was carried out in 1956 as a memorial to John Nicholas Barham who, according to the inscription, 'lived his short life within sight of it' and died in August 1955, just before his eighteenth birthday. The mill, which is privately owned and does not open to the public, stands on a little hill and was featured in the Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...
film "Half a Sixpence
Half a Sixpence
Half a Sixpence is a musical comedy written as a vehicle for British pop star Tommy Steele.It is based on H.G. Wells's novel Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul...
".
The C.M. Booth Collection of Historic Vehicles is located in the middle of Rolvenden High Street at Fallstaff Antiques. It specializes in Morgan
Morgan Motor Company
The Morgan Motor Company is a British motor car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1910 by Harry Frederick Stanley Morgan, generally known as "HFS" and was run by him until he died, aged 77, in 1959. Peter Morgan, son of H.F.S., ran the company until a few years before his death in 2003...
3 wheeler motor cars, and has a variety of other vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, displays of toy and model cars etc.
Rolvenden also has a thriving Farmers' Market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
which takes place every Thursday morning between 10 am and 12 pm in the church and the new village hall opposite. It aims to help local farmers sell their produce to local people, keeping down "food miles
Food miles
Food miles is a term which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when assessing the environmental impact of food, including the impact on global warming....
" and giving customers direct contact with the farmer/producer.
The Kent and East Sussex Railway
Kent and East Sussex Railway
The Kent & East Sussex Railway refers to both an historical private railway company in Kent and Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company.-Historical Company:-Background:...
has its workshops near Rolvenden station, which is some distance from the village itself.
A more recent industry based in Rolvenden is Jim Hoad's Korker sausage factory. This started as small butchers on Rolvenden high street and is now situated behind the high streyte and produces some 15 tonnes of sausages a week.
There is also a village shop owned and run by Ken & Judith Linklater. Ken,Judith and their three sons Alexander, John and Max Linklater are mainstays of the community and their shop promotes and sells all manner of local produce from honey and beer to local plants. The shop also houses a Post Office and newsagents.