ROLVENDEN & ROLVENDEN LAYNE

 

Rolvenden and Rolvenden Layne are two villages that come under the same parish. Although they are very separate, they are inextricably linked by history.

Rolvenden

Although it's just a village on the A28 that you drive through on the way to somewhere else, Rolvenden was once upon a time by the sea, and is worth stopping to see in its own right. Full of traditional Kentish weatherboarded houses, and with a stunning church at the end of the main street, and a nice little motor museum, don't just dismiss it. Also, there's a stop on the Kent & East Sussex heritage railway not too far from the village centre.
Oh, and Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of 9 Days, lived at nearby Halden Place.

Great Maythem Hall is a neo-classical house built by Edwin Lutyens on the foundations of a Georgian mansion. It was the Victorian home of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of children's classics like Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden. Indeed, it is thought that Burnett modelled the Secret Garden after her own garden at Great Maythem.

The vicar of Rolvenden during the time of Lady Jane Grey's residence, the Rev. John Frankish, was one of the Kentish Marian martyrs who were burned at the stake in Canterbury in 1555.

Originally, there were two hamlets - Rolvenden Streyte, which burned down in the 17th. century, during the Great Plague, and Rolvenden Layne, where the locals moved to after the fire. When the Streyte was rebuilt, they moved back, and the two hamlets gradually merged. 

Just on the edge of the village, near Hole Park, stands a fully restored post mill on  little hill. Sadly it is privately owned, so I was unable to get a good shot of it. It once featured in the Tommy Steele film 'Half A Sixpence'

St. Mary the Virgin church. The church is approached through a lych-gate which has a commemmorative plaque on each side of it.

How about this guy then? Auckland Campbell Geddes - 1st Baron Geddes, GCMG, KCB, PC, FRSE (21 June 1879 – 8 June 1954) was a British academic, soldier, politician and diplomat. He was a member of David Lloyd George's coalition government during the First World War and also served as Ambassador to the United States. Professor, Brigadier General, Cabinet Minister, Economist, Regional Commissioner - how much more?

and his wife............

Once through the gate, the first thing you notice, is the very old yew tree at the top of a short flight of steps.

Next is this unusual table tomb. Inscription was too worn to read.

The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. I was informed by an elderly gentleman who was tending  to the graveyard, that the tower clock was recently restored to full working order at some considerable expense. 

The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. 

The simple hexagonal font was the gift of the Culpepper and Guildford families and is embellished with their brightly painted coats of arms. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides. This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.

south chapel. Well, not precisely in the chapel, but above it. Raised above the chapel is a squire's pew, or gallery, built for the Gybbon family, owners of Hole Park. This is furnished like a domestic room, with carpeting, comfortable chairs, and a table. From here the squire and his family could look on in comfort while the service went on below them.

Also known as St Katherine and St Anne’s chapel, the south chapel was built in the 15th century, and dedicated on its completion on April 14th 1444, this being recorded on a Brass high on the south wall. In the centre of the chapel floor is a slab covering the grave of Sir Edward Guldeforde, who died in 1449, and was responsible for the building of the chapel.

When the ownership of the Guldeforde’s estate at Halden passed to the Gybbons family, use of the chapel also passed to them and their successors at Hole Park, the Gybbons-Monypennys.

Both the South and th North chapels are loaded with memorials to the Gybbon-Monypenny dynasty, who lived at Hole Park, just outside Rolvenden

In the chapel are the Gybbon vault and a very nice memorial to Robert Gybbon (d. 1719) and his numerous offspring. A descendant of Robert was Edmund Gibbons, author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. the chapel east window having stained glass dated 1837, depicting the arms of the Gybbon-Monypennys.

In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.

This memorial is to the Rev. Harry Percival-Smith, M.A. He was vicar here from 1890 to 1904, during which time he was responsible for the restoration of the church, and did a lot of the wood carvings himself.

The Royal Coat of Arms for Queen Anne

Memorial to Frances Hodgson Burnett. She lived at Great Maytham Hall, just down the road, where she wrote 'The Secret Garden'.

Lawrence Peters, who was rescued from destitution by Captain James Monypenny, and became his servant for life. He saved his earnings, and when he died, he left £100 with the interest applied annually for the relief of the poor of the parish.

This memorial commemorates Trooper Joseph William Catt, 86th (Yorkshire) Company, 22nd Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry. Second son of Amos Richard and Elizabeth Ann Catt of Upper Woolwich Farm, Rolvenden, Kent. Baptised on 29 Aug 1880 at Rolvenden, Kent. Volunteered for service in South Africa during the Second Anglo Boer War 1899-1902. Died of disease at 11 Stationary Hospital, Winburg, Orange River Colony aged 20 years. 

Simple but elegent pew ends

Colonel Arthur Saxby Barham of Hole Park. The Barhams have owned Hole Park since the start of the 20th. century, and still do.

Assorted war memorials are scattered throughout the church.

The organ gallery at the west end of the church

There are also memorials to members of the Tweedie family, who lived at somewhere called Rawlinson, which is a Grade II* listed building on the Benenden Road.

Memorial to Colonel Maurice Tweedie, J.P Bombay Staff Corps, served in the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Deputy Inspector General of the Indian Police.

Colonel John Lannoy Tweedie. DSO. of the West Kent Regiment, and his brother, Major General Michael Tweedie, R.A. who served in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny. Quite a family eh?

The window above looks over the Tweedie plaques, and bears two Tweedie coats of arms. The Scottish word 'thole' means to endure, to put up with, or to suffer.

And so to move away from the church and look at the rest of the village..... I need more time to explore. The village is redolent with old white weatherboarded houses and Georgian properties, especially around the church and that end of the High Street. Here are just a couple that border on the graveyard.

Rolvenden Layne

Originally known as Leyne, this was a large tract of arable land. i.e. that which has lain fallow

Rolvenden Layne is more or less just a small adjunct to Rolvenden proper. Go down Maytham Layne at the side of the church in Rolvenden, and in a little under  mile you arrive at this small outpost.

Rolvenden village originally consisted of the Streyte, 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 located here was the Tudor house, now called Wesley House, where John Wesley later preached in the 18th century. The villagers later returned to rebuild the Streyte, resulting in the two small hamlets, the Streyte and the younger, smaller and quieter Layne that you see today.

In the middle of the hamlet, is a crossroads by the recreation field. On this crossroads, is a familiar red phone box.  A lot of villages have bought their defunct phone boxes, and use them to hold a defibrillator, for emergency help in the community. Others, like the one in Aldington are used as book exchange points - a sort of mini library. 

The one in Rolvenden Layne, however, houses something far more enchanting. It's a sound museum! There is no electricity supply to the box, so you need to power it by means of a hand crank. You can then listen to countless recordings of people's memories of the area, history bytes, and even local musicians.

It's a lovely idea

On the other side of the crossroads is the village playing field. The community has made a feature of the corner on the crossroads, with a double-sided brick bench. It looks like it originally had a dedication plaque on each side, but if so, these are now illegible

Next to it, stands a tree that I didn't recognise. I had to photograph it and bring it home to try and identify it. 

Turns out it is an Indian Bean Tree (catalpa bignonioides). Well, you learn something new every day!