Orlestone has the origin in Ordlaf's farmstead and Ham Street derives from Hem - water meadow. Ham Street was once just the road through Orlestone, the church for which now lies at some distance from Ham Street, which is where the village has migrated to.
However, the pretty little church of Orlestone remains, up a narrow dead-end lane at some distance from the village.
The churchyard is beautifully kept and there's a sweet flower garden in the car park.
Unfortunately, I could only access the porch today, as the church itself was locked.
Beautiful hand-made swan basket filled with flowers in the porch
Ham Street is a pretty ordinary village, just south of Ashford. It does, however, have one point of interest - the Johnsons Corner Memorial. You can find this at the lower end of the village, where the road through the village joins the A2070 Ashford to Brenzett road.
Lieutenant William “Bill” Johnson was the pilot of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, known as Spare Parts, which was part of the 711th Bombardment Squadron, 447th Bombardment Group, of the United States Army Air Forces.
On Thursday, April 13, 1944, having ordered his crew to abandon the plane, which had been heavily damaged over Europe, Lt Johnson intentionally crashed to the south of Hamstreet to avoid killing villagers.
When the village received a bypass in the mid 1990s, a junction off the road towards Hamstreet, close to where he crashed, was named Johnson’s Corner. A memorial was also erected in his memory.
Update: the memorial is being refurbished. It's now a lovely, peaceful place to sit, even though it's on the edge of a busy road.
The memorial to commemorate the 100th. anniversary of the 1914-18 war stands by the main carpark in the centre of the village
Hamstreet is twinned with the little town of Therouanne in France. Therouanne was once a city with a cathedral which was sacked by the troops of Henry V. The stone cannonball was a gift from the mayor of the twin town, presented with the words 'You can have your cannonball back!
N.B.: since writing this article, a new memorial has been added to the little green next to the village car park, and the village garden centre is having a new restaurant built. I shall update this early in the Spring.
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