Harrietsham is the modern name taken from the Saxon Heriagierdeshamme, meaning Heriagierdes' Water Meadow. There wasnt a lot there, no water meadow in sight, but I did manage to get some batteries and water that didnt taste like it came from the B&B pond. This is the last night at the Thurnham Keep. Its a beautiful house, like walking into someone's 1900 home, as it should be because it was built in 1910. Clearly before the invention of showers. I havent had sticky, greasy hair in years, since I was in my teens. Good thing I have a large hat.
The view from a chair in the sitting room, the best place in the house if you arent outside.
It does have a perfect conservatory attached to the sitting room with huge geraniums and a citrus plant with spider mites. Winter it might not be such a good spot, I noticed there was no weather stripping.
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| I See a Pool That Needs to be Filled In |
The guide book looks like this. The NDW is a straight line, a super highway, as I've said following the Pilgrims Way directly or parallel. The guide describes the walk of the day in sections using numbers and letters to point out junctions or places of interest. We arent following the stages the book has, we've varied from it but that only affects the daily mileage somewhat.
By the way, for this blog I'm using Googles free blog site BLOGSPOT. Its easy to use and fine for my purposes. Its basic so if you want more bells and whistles go to Wordpress or another in depth blog program. The font is Trebuchet.
Our finish today is "Borton Lees" and there was a lot to see. I had my lambs wool ( lucked out to find some of that!) toe padding, hat and water since its been hotter now. The countryside smells of hedge and garden roses and the bugs are out. Summer is coming to England. It will soon be the 21st, the shortest night and longest day of the year, the summer solstice. Shouldnt we be at Stonehenge? Or maybe run back to White Horse Rock!
The taxi dropped us at Harrietsham where we left off.
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| Brother Percival |
We walked through a thankfully short section of greenish brown worms hanging from threads. At first when I saw the sign I thought "How bad can this be? They're probably not even there." Not so, my friend! They're like Gypsy Moth Caterpillars, totally denuding a bush and leaving it covered in web material. But they hang by the tens on a long string from above and across the path. By the time we got through the section marked out we had the thread and the worms on us.
An example of a farmers' participation in Prince Charles' 2009 wildflower reform plan. I like the wildflower margins.
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| Another Scallop Shrine for the Devout |
Charing is a village you could spend some time in. Friendly people, genuine period buildings and a store with a great sense of humor and Chap Stik.
It also has a large collection of medieval buildings including another important Archbishops Palace. These archbishop hotels were placed along the route to Canterbury for the Big A to have a nice place to stay and entertain en route. There was one earlier on in Otford. The Palace was given to the Church of Canterbury in the 8th century, and remained with the Archbishops of Canterbury until the Reformation in the time of Henry VIII.
This house was reputedly a favorite residence of Archbishop Thomas Becket. In the Middle Ages the Archbishop of Canterbury was the wealthiest landowner in Kent with seventeen estates in and around the county, each one within one day’s ride of the next. Thus Charing was a staging post between Canterbury and Maidstone, and here the archbishop spent a few nights on his way to or from London and Canterbury, sometimes entertaining royalty or other important people.
The earliest buildings have all gone, and the present stone buildings date only (haha "only"!) from the 13th and early 14th centuries. In its day the palace must have been very splendid as documented in a rare account for the expenses of the archbishop and the abbot of Faversham Abbey, who came to stay for one night in 1343. To help with preparations many temporary staff were taken on, including 63 boys, stabling was required for 80 horses. The cook and his staff baked 212 loaves of bread, 300 herrings were bought as well as many other fish in smaller quantities, and to drink they required 82 gallons of beer and 27 gallons of wine. Imagine what the scene would have been like when Henry VIII came to stay in 1520 on his way to France to meet the king of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
In 1545 H8 took the palace from the archbishops, and it was then tenanted until sold into private ownership in 1629. It became a working farm, with the buildings turned into a farmhouse, a couple of cottages, and animal accommodation, and the great hall turned into a barn. It is due to this that so much has survived. For where most of the archbishops’ other residences have been rebuilt and extended many times the fact that no one after 1545 spent much money at Charing, means that it is unique in retaining so much evidence of its early 14th century form including an original medieval barn. I heard some women talking that its been taken under a benefactors wing and being restored.
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| Barley Barley Barley and a Long Way to Go |
The scallop symbol, associated with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, is showing up as we get closer to the sea.
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| Endless farmland in Eastwell Park |
The romantic ruins of St Mary's church in Eastwell Park. The roof caved in on St Mary's in 1951. It's believed the tank exercises staged at Eastwell during WWII undermined the foundations. A man made lake constructed beside it may also have caused water to seep into the chalk ground on which the building was built. This left behind a peaceful and beautiful modern day ruin. I say "modern day" but the church dates from the 15C. George William Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea, 5th Earl of Nottingham (
But theres an even better story......
Originally, the parkland surrounding Eastwell Manor was a huge deer park and was supposed to have consisted of 6,000 acres. Early descriptions make it one of the most beautiful parks in England. Now the Estate is broken up into several farms and the Manor House is a conference center, hotel and restaurant . I bet they have showers.
In Eastwell Park (but not within our track) there still remains "Plantagenets Well" and "Plantagenet Cottage". The tale is that there was a boy named Richard who was brought up without knowing his parents but was boarded with a schoolmaster who taught him Latin, a sign of someone being educated according to his status.
When he was older, he was brought to the Bosworth battlefield to join the battle where the king embraced him and told him he was his son. That king was our car park skeleton Richard III.
After King Richard III was killed in battle at Bosworth, his son fled and ended up at Eastwell, working as a gardener or a mason or a bricklayer f(unknown) for the lord of the manor, Sir Thomas Moyle. Being a claimant to the throne made for an unhealthy situation.
There is a rubble tomb in the ruins of St Mary's with a plaque that reads "Reputed to be the tomb of Richard Plantagenet 22 dec 1550" The burials were badly overgrown and not knowing where to look it could have taken hours to find it. A goal for another day!
It would be nice to believe the individual who might have been the last of the Plantagenet line (who could have become a King of England if the Battle of Bosworth had ended differently) lies here peacefully in these beautiful surroundings after having lived out his days in a one room cottage on these grounds . This may be too romantic! Richard III is credited with managing to sire as many as seven bastard children. Who knows who might have succeeded to what position as a result of Richard's little dalliances!
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| Hasta la Vista, Bay Bay! |
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