Words | Betty Harrison
History of Kilndown
Kilndown is a village with a strong, rural character and a remarkable history. The surrounding landscape is one of hidden woodland, gentle valleys and rambling orchards. “Coming into Kilndown through the country lanes it feels very hidden, even though we’re very close to larger towns. There are communities around, but it’s more of a retreat,” says Will Devlin, co-owner of The Acre Group.
Over the centuries, the area around what is now known as Kilndown has been a focal point for many rural activities — including cloth production, hop picking, and iron production using charcoal kilns. Early maps refer to the settlement as Gildendown and Down Kiln before the village first appeared on a 1778 map as Kilndown.
The Cloth Industry
The cloth industry changed the landscape of the High Weald and the area surrounding Kilndown. In the fourteenth century, Flemish weavers immigrated to Britain to escape French rule. Edward III asked them to come and ‘teach the people of this land to work the cloth'. This established the cloth trade in Cranbrook and nearby parishes such as Goudhurst. The local area was rich in resources; it had wool from Romney Marsh and water to drive the fulling mills. It also had supplies of fuller’s earth, an essential raw material used to remove the lanolin from sheep’s wool.
The industry brought work for shearers, spinners, weavers and cloth merchants. The term ‘spinster’ comes from the female spinners who worked at home. As skills flourished in the community, the area became known for weaving Kentish Broadcloth. The Weavers’ Cottages in Church Road, Goudhurst were built in 1350 with the cloth industry in mind; the cottages still have long narrow roof spaces constructed to hold the looms.
The Charcoal Kilns
Kilndown takes its name from the ridge or ‘down’ it sits on, from Old English dūn (hill). Woodland has covered the hilltop for centuries; this is a secluded and hidden landscape. The ‘kiln’ of Kilndown may refer to the hop drying kilns used in the brewing industry or the charcoal kilns used to make iron, both of which have a long history in the area.
As with the cloth industry, the area had the necessary raw materials for iron production. The High Weald was the main iron-producing region in Britain, and the industry lasted for 2,000 years. Kilndown, when still a hamlet in the 16th century, produced charcoal for the local iron furnaces, including the local Bedgebury estate. At Bedgebury, weapons were cast for the fleet of British ships that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The Windmill and the Church
A windmill was built in the Kilndown area in the sixteenth century, where it stood for two centuries until it disappeared from the records around 1710. For a hundred years, there was no record of it but in 1817, a similar windmill appeared at Nutley. It is rumoured that the Kilndown and Nutley windmills are one and the same. Dendrochronological dating, using tree rings, showed that the timber used in the construction of Nutley Mill came from a felling in the mid eighteenth century and the main post came from a felling of the mid sixteenth century.
In the early nineteenth century, a committee of local landowners came together to build Christ Church in Kilndown. The church has a vibrant history and it is an integral part of village life to this day. After the church was consecrated in 1841, the village became a civil parish of Goudhurst in 1843. The building includes sandstone from the Kilndown quarry and timber from the Bedgebury estate. Great care was taken to create a beautiful building that still stands despite bombs destroying the stained glass windows during World War Two.
Hop Picking
Since our neolithic ancestors first started to grow crops, the south east of England has provided perfect farming conditions. Farming is an ode to the beauty of our environment, and a practice which is rooted in Kent’s heritage.
Until the mid twentieth century, the Kent countryside would come alive each summer with hop pickers. The Flemish weavers who settled in Goudhurst in the fourteenth century brought brewing knowledge and new varieties of hops. By the late nineteenth century, hop plants covered the Kent countryside. Entire families from London’s east end would be paid by the bushel to pick hops, and many of them treated the time spent as a working holiday. During this time, a single-line steam railway called the ‘Hop Pickers’ line linked local villages such as Paddock Wood, Goudhurst and Hawkhurst.
