Hawkhurst, Cranbrook, Kent
Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. The parish lies to the south-east of Tunbridge Wells. Hawkhurst itself is virtually two villages. One, the older of the two, consisting mainly of cottages clustered around a large triangular green known as The Moor, and the other, farther north on the main road, called Highgate (which has been updated to town status because of its increasing population and the councils plans to build more houses). Highgate stands on a crossroads and is where the shops and hotels lie.
Since boundary changes in the 2010 general election, Hawkhurst is part of the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells, represented by Conservative Greg Clark. Prior to this it was in the Maidstone and The Weald constituency, formerly represented by Ann Widdecombe.
ROADS
Hawkhurst (Kent) lies at the intersection of the A229 and A268 (see map). The village lies on the route of a Roman road which here crossed the Weald.
RAILWAY
Main article: Hawkhurst Branch Line
A railway station was built in Hawkhurst in 1892, to the west side of the Cranbrook Road, on the northern edge of the village. It was rarely busy except during hop picking time, when up to 26 special trains per day, each carrying up to 350 Cockneys from London, would arrive at Hawkhurst - up to 10,000 people per day. As this declined, the station became uneconomic, and it was closed in 1961.
The station site is now an industrial area just off the Cranbrook Road, but some original buildings are still standing and in a good state of preservation. The nearest open station is now Etchingham.
History
Hawkhurst has over 1,000 years of recorded history. The oldest known settlement was the Saxon manor of Congehurst, which was burnt by the Danes in 893 AD. There is still a lane of this name to the east of the village.
Etymology
The name Hawkhurst is derived from Old English heafoc hyrst, meaning a wooded hill frequented by hawks - 'Hawk Wood'. Hurst (Hyrst) in a place name refers to a wood or wooded area - there are several in West Kent and East Sussex. The 11th Century Domesday Monacorum refers to it as Hawkashyrst, belonging to Battle Abbey. In 1254, the name was recorded as Hauekehurst; in 1278, it is often shown as Haukhurst; by 1610, it had changed to Hawkherst, which then evolved into the current spelling.[1][2]
Iron industry
The village was located at the centre of the Wealden iron industry from Roman times.[3][4] The Weald produced over a third of all iron in Britain, and over 180 sites have been found in the area. Ironstone was taken from clay beds, then heated with charcoal from the abundant woods in the area. The iron was used to make everything from Roman ships to medieval cannon, and many of the Roman roads in the area were built in order to transport the iron. William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania, owned ironworks at Hawkhurst.[5] The industry eventually declined during the industrial revolution of the 18th Century, when coal became the preferred method of heating, and could not be found nearby.
Hop growing
In the 14th century, Edward III, wanting to break the Flemish (Dutch) monopoly on weaving, encouraged Flemish weavers to come to England. Many chose to settle in the Weald, because it had all the elements needed for weaving - oak to make mills, streams to drive them and Fullers Earth to treat the cloth.
The Kentish domination of the hop industry was stimulated by that same influx of Flemish weavers, who brought a preference for beer, and beer making skills with them. Several wealthy Kentish farmers invested in this new opportunity and approach. Although not the centre of the industry, Hawkhurst Brewery and Malthouse was built in 1850, on the edge of The Moor (now a house).
Hop growing also gave the area its distinctive skyline of hop gardens and oast houses, which were used to dry the hops. Nowadays, most hops are imported. However, at its peak 35,000 acres (140 km2) of hop gardens existed in England, almost all of them in Kent, including much around Hawkhurst. Eventually mechanisation and cheap imports ended the industry, but the oast houses remain.
The Hawkhurst Gang
By 1745 it is estimated[citation needed] that 20,000 people were smuggling along the Kent and Sussex coast line. An infamous group, the "Holkhourst Genge", terrorised the surrounding area between 1735 and 1749. They were the most notorious of the Kent gangs, and were feared all along the south coast of England. At Poole in Dorset, where they had launched an armed attack on the customs house (to take back a consignment of tea that had been confiscated), several were hanged. A number of inns and local houses in Hawkhurst claim associations with the gang: high taxation on luxury goods in the early 18th century had led to an upsurge in smuggling, and the gang brought in brandy, silk and tobacco up from Rye and Hastings to be stowed away in hidden cellars and passages, before being sold off to the local gentry. It was reputed that when needed for a smuggling run, 500 mounted and armed men could be assembled within the hour. The Battle of Goudhurst eventually brought their career to an end.
Rudyard Kipling, who lived at Batemans in nearby Burwash, wrote the following lines in A Smuggler's Poem:
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.
