Lectures

6th April 2022: Three Castles and an Ironmaster's House

On Wednesday 6th April Wye Historical Society welcomed David Clarke, who gave us an illustrated talk about his 50-mile circular walk between four National Trust houses: "Three Castles and an Ironmaster's House". Bodiam has been important since Roman times, lying on the Roman road across the river Rother and is near the Kent Ditch, the historic border between Kent and East Sussex. Sir Edward Dalyngrigge was given permission to build a castellated manor house during the Hundred Years War. At that time Bodiam was situated at the head of the Appledore Estuary so there was a real possibility of a French attack from the water. Walking uphill, Sandhurst village is easily missed by car but 97 Grade 1 and 2 listed buildings remain, many behind the main road. Next, the walk passes Ringle Crouch Green Mill, which now produces electricity instead of corn, and Chapel Down vineyard before arriving at Benenden village green. It was here that rioters under the banner of Captain Swing gathered in 1830 to protest against mechanisation. The captain of the militia read the Riot Act and the four ringleaders were imprisoned.

The route follows Hemsted wood towards Sissinghurst, the second "castle". Originally a moated manor house the re-building was started by Sir John Baker, or "Bloody Baker", whose family were originally wealthy wool traders from Cranbrook. He got his name for persecuting protestants during the reign of Queen Mary. The village was once known as Milkhouse Street and was famous for its twine produced to tie hops. The village had a bad reputation and in the 18th century was used as a storage point by the Hawkhurst gang of smugglers. In 1851 it was renamed Sissinghurst. The walk now travels past 'Great Swifts', an estate owned by a Mr Tooth who in the 1840s laid out a cricket pitch in his garden, and into Cranbrook and its church, known as the Cathedral of the Weald. The room over the porch, a "parvise", was known as Baker's Gaol, where the aforementioned Baker held his prisoners. The route then traverses Angley Wood, where a "vengeful dragon" was supposed to live, and past Glassonbury House, where Jaffa, one of Napoleon's horses at Waterloo, is supposedly buried. Goudhurst, situated on a high ridge, is the site of a battle on 21st April 1747 between the Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers and the local militia led by General William Sturt. Two smugglers died and the rest fled, and by 1749 the gang had disbanded.

The third castle is Scotney, named after the Scoteni family from Normandy. Like Bodiam, it became a castle in the 14th century. Later additions included well concealed priest holes for Father Richard Blount, an infamous Jesuit priest, who after evading capture was said to have run off into the forest. Evidence of the iron industry can be seen at Lamberhurst, where railings for St Paul's Cathedral cast nearby in 1714 have now been put on display in the village; at Wadhurst between the 16th and 18th centuries there were 36 furnaces within six miles.

Possible smugglers' graves in the churchyard and Kipling's son's name on the village war memorial can be found at Burwash. Kipling lived at nearby Bateman's from 1902, but it was built by a prosperous iron master, John Brittan, in 1634. On the way back to Bodiam via Robertsbridge and Salehurst Abbey the walk passes several follies, including a pyramid mausoleum in Brightling churchyard, Brightling needle, a tower, observatory, rotunda temple and a conical stone sugar loaf - built to win a bet. These were all built by 'Mad Jack' Fuller, a local landowner, who in 1829 saved Bodiam Castle by buying it for £3,000 to prevent its demolition by a firm of Hastings builders.

The walk guide can be purchased at https://www.1066haroldsway.co.uk/three-castles

Ellie Morris