ROLVENDEN & ROLVENDEN LAYNE

 

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'

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