Pembury
Set in one of the prettiest corners of Kent is the village of Pembury. Surrounded by protected woodland and sitting on an elevated site high above the Weald of Kent. This rolling landscape appeals to everyone, especially as it is not too far from the spa town of Royal Tunbridge Wells or the city of London. It is easy to see why the village is popular with merchant bankers and fund managers because of the quick commute to the city and the excellent shopping facilities at the Wells. It has all of the character of a rural Kentish village with shops, homes, businesses and pubs and yet easy access to almost any where in this country or the world with two airports almost on its doorstep.
Many of the new inhabitants of this village have bid “Au revoir” to the city and all of the problems that usually go hand in hand with living in the metropolis and “Vive to le rural idyll”. The rural idyll is a fundamental part of the British national identity and romantic tradition, and having strolled around the traditional village green which unusually is triangular in shape, I can see why!
The village has its own individual character that separates it from other nearby Wealden villages, in that it doesn’t possess the openness and the rural views that extend over the surrounding countryside. Pembury is more secretive, it has a cosy enclosed feel not one of insular fortification, which seems totally at odds with Pembury’s position high upon a sandstone ridge! It is not the buildings that distinguish Pembury from neighbouring villages, it is the forest setting which includes both ancient deciduous and specimen evergreen trees that restrict the views and define the village.
Even though both Pembury and Tunbridge Wells have both used sandstone for building it is were the similarity ends. The buildings in Pembury were built to be useful and yet are just as lovely to look at as the grand buildings in nearby Tunbridge Wells. They have acquired the mellowness that only time and the elements can bestow upon sandstone.
The village has not one but two green spaces which help to alleviate the enclosed feel of the village. One has more of a village green feel and surrounds the war memorial and the other is large and oddly triangular in shape. The later is a large tranquil area surrounded by large prestigious houses of the gentry dating from the 18th century. Fronting the green is The Camden Arms public house which is probably one of the most important focal points and is something that every English man would expect to find alongside a traditional green. The houses surrounding the green have large gardens and together with the mature trees of Wellingtonia, Lime and Horse Chestnut further enhance the feeling of space.
Even though it has changed considerably since its very rural beginnings, Pembury still maintains its village identity.
The village originally started life as a clearing in the forest that covered most of southern England. The earliest known mention of Pembury is in 1120 but there are remains of an Iron Age hill fort which is still visible on Castle Hill which does provide some evidence for the village of Pembury being even older. Originally there were five hamlets that eventually merged into the Pembury that we know today and one of them was called Lower Green.
The name of Pembury is believed to come from the Saxon word “Pepingburh” meaning fortress of the Pepings or possibly Pepingeberia meaning the Pippin Apple Tree. It was also known by other variations like Pepingeberia, Pepyngbury and Pepenbury.
Pembury used to rely upon its position along the main highway between London and Hastings now known as the A21. The section from Sevenoaks to Pembury in 1709 became the first road in Kent to become a “turnpike” under the Turnpike Act. This meant that in order to travel on the road, a toll had to be paid. As Pembury was established at an important crossroad the service industries thrived, the coaching inn alone was dealing with fourteen coaches a day in 1785.
For such a small village Pembury has always been a hive of activity from iron to bricks to the cleaner cloth industry which included weaving and fulling. The land on which Pembury evolved yielded a source of building stone and contributed to the economy. Local clays supplied the raw materials for brick making and eventually a pottery industry making bricks, tiles and other goods that flourished for some years on the lower green. There are still reminders of this industry in the names of local roads – Red Row and Slate Row.
It must amaze newcomers to this quaint and charming village that during the Medieval period Pembury’s economy was reliant upon a dirt labour intensive industry that we would not normally consider in an area such as this – iron!. Pembury had a thriving iron industry because of the iron ore found in the local clay and the availability of timber from the surrounding woods. Many of the iron workings (bloomeries), including charcoal hearths and furnace ponds, can still be found in the woods. From Medieval times through to the 19th century Pembury has enjoyed long periods of financial success from industries that have had very little negative impact upon the settlement. With care the village will be able to weather the coming centuries just as well!
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Pembury an idyllic Kentish village
In the South-East corner of England can be found a little gem known as Pembury. It is a picturesque Kentish village set in an area known as the Weald, deep within the garden of England, in an amazingly beautiful area of small hamlets, patchwork fields, wooded valleys intersected by fast flowing crystal clean streams.
One couldn’t ask for a more perfect spot to live, encircled by a landscape that is charmingly simple and serene. You would expect any one living here to enjoy a country life of Arcadian contentment, which is partly true but on the whole a great many of the residents commute the short distance to Tunbridge Wells or the City of London and thereby get the best of both worlds!
Although called the Garden of England, this part of the counties landscape is actually more challenging and diverse than one might expect of a well kept garden! The reality is that it is still quite wild and untamed in places. The name of the area the “Weald” in which Pembury lies quite literally means wilderness or forest and is derived from Old English. During the Anglo Saxon period it was known as Andredes Weald the name comes from the Roman name of Pevensey, Anderida. By the time William the Conqueror had organised the Domesday survey (a census for the collection of tax) the High Weald remained the most densely wooded area of England and even today is still able to boast more ancient woodland than anywhere else in England.
The Weald isn’t confined to Kent alone but stretches across southern England to Hampshire, and is divided into three areas, the sandstone High Weald, the clay Low Weald and the Greensand Ridge. The High Weald in which Pembury can be found has the most dramatic scenery which is in part due to the malleable soft sandstone that overtime has been moulded by water that escapes from deep within in the form of springs and is responsible for the deep valleys and even the spa at Tunbridge Wells! It is a silent reminder of the quiet force of nature that has shaped the landscape around us!
Although the forest is in no way as dense as it was, being a mere shadow of its former self, it was the Medieval period which wrought the greatest change upon the landscape with the desolation of the forests. Whereas the industrial revolution during the eighteen hundreds used coal in the production of iron the Medieval iron industry needed vast amounts of wood to help extract the iron. Pembury lying in what is now a rural paradise was amazingly at the centre of the iron industry, which is quite a surprise because you quite naturally tend to associate heavy industry with industrial towns up North! The remains of old iron workings known as bloomeries along with the furnace ponds can still be found hidden amongst the vegetation that has since reclaimed the industrial ruins.
Even though much of the surrounding landscape is now protected it doesn’t stop old farming methods disappearing. The soil around this area is particularly fertile and hop gardens and the oast houses that were once an integral part of this landscape are disappearing at an alarming rate. Well at least the hop gardens have, the oast houses have become homes for wealthy residents along with the cottages that once housed farm labourers!
The village gained its name from the Saxons who settled in the area and is believed to be derived from” Pepingbeorg” which means “the hill of the Pepins” or possibly “Pepingeberia” which translates to the Pippin Apple Tree. It was in the 11th century that Pembury became a settlement, that’s not to say that the area wasn’t home to others, in fact quite recently the remains of an Iron Age settlement were discovered between Pembury and Kippings Cross so it is more than likely that the village is much older than has previously been estimated! Iron and agriculture were not the only industries to flourish in Pembury, between 1500 and 1700 there was a thriving cloth industry which was followed by the production of bricks. Although these industries suffered an inevitable decline the manufacture of bricks and tiles lasted into the twentieth century and left its mark not only in the houses that were built using these home produced bricks but also in the street names like Red Row and Slate Row!
Pembury today is the amalgamation of five hamlets one of which was Upper Green, where the local Gentry lived alongside plenty of shops. However it wasn’t more exclusive than the neighbouring hamlets because despite the distance from the coast, the lower end of Upper Green was well known for smuggling links to the Hawkhurst Gang. It seems that what the local stores couldn’t or wouldn’t supply the smugglers did!
Pembury is able to offer its residents a quality of life that isn’t available elsewhere, with the perfect blend of relaxed Kentish living, with excellent transport link to London, and Europe via Gatwick airport and the high speed Eurostar trains. For families and couples alike there is plenty to enhance life, you don’t need to live in the middle of a city to have plenty of entertainment. If you are hoping to improve the balance in your life then this is definitely the place for you! Tunbridge Wells famed for its Georgian architecture, its health giving spa, restaurants, and plenty of retail therapy is just around the corner. With Waitrose nearby and farmers markets providing an extensive array of local produce from organic meat to strawberries, wine and asparagus is surely enough to tempt most taste buds!
copyright© Wendy Stevenson 2011
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