Smarden


Smarden is a civil parish and village, west of Ashford in Kent, South East England.
The village has the Anglican parish church of St Michael the Archangel which, because of its high scissor beam roof, is sometimes known as "The Barn of Kent".

History

The earliest known date for Smarden is 1205, when Adam de Essex became the Rector of the parish. The area was covered by the forest of Anderida and when clearings were made, the River Beult formed the drainage channel. The local woollen industry was encouraged by King Edward III who brought weaver craftsmen over from Flanders to create what was to become one of England's biggest industries. Edward in recognition granted the village a Royal Charter in 1333 permitting them to hold a weekly market and an annual fair thus elevating the status from village to "Town". Elizabeth I, en route from Sissinghurst Castle to Boughton Malherbe in 1576, was so impressed by what she saw and ratified the previously granted Charter. A copy of the Charter hangs in the village church.

Houses

Smarden became very prosperous and some fine houses were built in the 15th and 16th centuries, many of which remain today. The Cloth Hall is an example of a fifteenth-century yeoman's timber hall house. Although built as a farm it became the central clearing warehouse for the local cloth industry; the broad-cloth would have been taken from there to the port of Faversham.
Jubilee House on Pluckley Road is a Grade II listed house built c. 1772.
During the Second World War, houses in Smarden, such as Gilletts, were used to relocate evacuees from London.

Geography

The area is drained by the headwaters of the two major rivers ultimately flowing north, via Maidstone to the west or Ashford to the east. These rivers are the River Medway and the River Stour however many of these headwaters are only seasonal. The civil parish has no A roads, motorways. It briefly has a railway which has a nearby station connected by almost straight lanes to the two major neighbourhoods, Headcorn railway station.

Amenities

Smarden has a Butcher's shop, as well as the West End House Art 'Gallery'. In 2019, Smarden's multi-purpose 'Post Office and Stores' closed. However, plans are underway to have a new post office in the village.
By the three main neighbourhoods are three mostly quite large, family-catering pubs: The Flying Horse, The Bell and The Chequers. Smaller Maltmans Hill and Haffenden Quarter are well linked and remain tied to the founding neighbourhood which bears the same name as the civil parish.
Other amenities in the village include:
The population rose by 79 between 2001 and 2011, as reported in the latest census.

Past residents

Author and artist Mervyn Peake lived in Smarden in 1950.
Dorothy Crisp, an English author, political writer, publisher, chairman of the British Housewives' League, lived here. She married John Becker in London in 1945, but retained her maiden name; they moved to the village and had two children.