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Matfield | |
---|---|
Matfield Post Office | |
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 | |
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]
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.
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.
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 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.
Sir William Hamo Thornycroft was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, in 1882, the same year the bronze cast of Teucer was purchased for the British nation under the auspices of the Chantrey Bequest.
Paddock Wood is a small town and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, about 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Maidstone. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 8,263, falling marginally to 8,253 at the 2011 Census. Paddock Wood is the centre for hop growing.
Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 Census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Horsmonden is a village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located in the Weald of Kent. It is situated on a road leading from Maidstone to Lamberhurst, three miles north of the latter place. The nearest railway station is Paddock Wood.
Brenchley is a village in the civil parish of Brenchley and Matfield, in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.
Mary Thornycroft was a British sculptor
Rotherfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is one of the largest parishes in East Sussex. There are three villages in the parish: Rotherfield, Mark Cross and Eridge. The River Rother, which drains much of the county and discharges at Rye Harbour, has its source on the south side of the hill on which Rotherfield village is built.
George Thornycroft Sassoon was a British scientist, electronic engineer, linguist, translator and author.
Dennis Raoul Whitehall Silk was an English first-class cricketer and a public school headmaster. He was a close friend of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, of whom he spoke and wrote extensively. In the 1990s he chaired the Test and County Cricket Board.
Thornycroft, Thorneycroft, or Thornicroft may refer to:
The New Beacon Preparatory School is an independent all-boys preparatory school, located at Sevenoaks in the English county of Kent. It admits both day students and boarders aged between 4 and 13. The school also now offers a co-educational nursery for children 3 years of age and over. The school was founded in 1863, and has been on the current site since 1900. It had 62 students in 1913, and had grown to 400 students by 2008.
Plaxtol is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The village is located around 5 miles (8 km) north of Tonbridge and the same distance east of Sevenoaks. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,117.
Thomas Thornycroft was an English sculptor and engineer.
Herbert (Bertie) Farjeon was a major figure in the British theatre from 1910 until his death. He was a presenter of revues in London's West End, a theatre critic, lyricist, librettist, playwright, theatre manager and researcher.
Theresa Thornycroft was an English sculptor and painter.
Matfield House is a Grade I listed Georgian house in the village of Matfield, Kent, England.
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