Matfield

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Matfield
Matfield Post Office.jpg
Matfield Post Office
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Matfield
Location within Kent
OS grid reference TQ655415
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Tonbridge
Postcode district TN12
Dialling code 01892
Police Kent
Fire Kent
Ambulance South East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent
51°08′56″N0°21′53″E / 51.1488°N 0.3648°E / 51.1488; 0.3648 Coordinates: 51°08′56″N0°21′53″E / 51.1488°N 0.3648°E / 51.1488; 0.3648

Matfield is a small village, part of the civil parish of Brenchley and Matfield, in the Tunbridge Wells borough of Kent, England. Matfield was awarded the title of Kent Village of the Year in 2010. [1]

Contents

Buildings and amenities

St Luke's Church, Matfield, is a Grade II listed building, constructed in the years 1874–76. [2] The churchyard contains the grave of the sculptor Theresa Sassoon. [3] Mrs Sassoon planted a tree on Matfield green to commemorate the end of World War I; the tree was blown down in the hurricane of 1987 and had to be replaced.

Matfield currently has a butcher's and grocery store. Following the closure of The Wheel Wright's Arms in 2017, the village now only has two pubs, The Star and a gastropub, The Poet at Matfield, which was formerly known as the Standing's Cross. This unusual name lasted for over 150 years from the earliest days of the pub. It was so named as, in the 1840s, John Standing ran an alehouse in his cottage and served his customers homebrew from barrels in his front room. However, he had problems with his cellar which flooded whenever it rained. So, he sold his house and moved across the road into a bakery – converting it into Matfield’s new alehouse. The pub was creatively named to celebrate this event, hence ‘Standing’s Cross’. [4] More recently the pub was renamed to ‘The Poet’ in commemoration of the World War One poet, Siegfried Sassoon, who was born in the village.

Geography

Matfield is located around 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Paddock Wood.

The village grew up around its village green, which is the largest in Kent. [5] The village green features a large pond at its northern end. Overlooking the green is the grade I listed Matfield House, a Georgian building with a stable block and coachhouse at the rear. [6] The green is used for events such as the annual village fete and by Matfield Cricket Club for home matches.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

Siegfried Sassoon English war poet and writer (1886–1967)

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital; this resulted in his forming a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy".

Edmund Blunden British poet, author and critic (1896–1974)

Edmund Charles Blunden was an English poet, author and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong. He ended his career as Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature six times.

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Paddock Wood Human settlement in England

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Pembury Human settlement in England

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Horsmonden Human settlement in England

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Brenchley Human settlement in England

Brenchley is a village in the civil parish of Brenchley and Matfield, in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.

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Thomas Thornycroft was an English sculptor and engineer.

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Matfield House

Matfield House is a Grade I listed Georgian house in the village of Matfield, Kent, England.

References

  1. "Matfield is Kent Village of the Year!". Brenchley Parish Council. 16 September 2010. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  2. "About Us". St Luke's Church. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  3. "Theresa Georgina Thornycroft Sassoon". Find a Grave. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  4. "Standing's Cross". DOVER KENT ARCHIVES. Paul Skelton. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  5. "Brenchley & Matfield – Villages in the Weald of Kent". Brenchley Parish Council. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  6. Historic England. "MATFIELD HOUSE (1250644)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 16 March 2015.