Since the days of 'Weland the Smith', the blacksmith was, until quite recent times, among the most important members of the rural community. Edenbridge and most of the villages in the valley each had its own smithy. Before World War II Edenbridge had at least 3 smiths.
From the 15th century until 1974 leather production - tanning - was a major Edenbridge activity. Tanning consumes large amounts of water, which the River Eden could provide. Tanning requires the tannin produced from oak bark, which the woodlands of the Eden Valley could provide. Indeed local oak bark contains exceptional quantities of tannin.
Tanning of cattle hides is very hard work, so the men of Edenbridge needed to be tough. But during the two world wars labour was in short supply and so the women of Edenbridge proved their resilience.
Our valley has 3 stately homes. Were it not for the Civil War we should have 4, but Starborough Castle was demolished by the Parliamentary army so that it should not become a nest of Royalist vipers.
Of the 3 that remain, two, Hever Castle and Penshurst Place, are of medieval origin. The third, Chiddingstone Castle, was formerly known as High Street House, belonging to the Streatfeild family. They extended and converted their late 17th hipped-roof house into a castellated sandstone mansion c.1805.
Doggetts Farm alias Church House TOP
In medieval times the museum building, a farmhouse, was part of the manor of
Stangrave. It is one of a number of timber framed buildings in Edenbridge dating
from before 1400. Over the centuries it has been modified for greater comfort
and to keep up with fashion. In 1575 it belonged to Robert Seyliard, a man whose
main property was at Delaware. From then until 1912 it was known as Doggetts.
The lands of the farm, some 125 acres, lay behind it and round to the north. The
lands were sold off at auction at the Crown Inn next door, in 1909. A Miss
Geraldine Rickards changed its use to a church house in 1912.
Yes! Cricket is part of our history. Between 1760 and 1994 bats and balls were made in Penshurst and Chiddingstone Causeway. Dukes balls are still in play, though no longer made in the Eden Valley.
Timothy Duke was making cricket balls in Penshurst before 1841 when he moved to Chiddingstone Causeway, where he added bats, stumps and pads to his output.
Cricket balls have stitching round them. It is pressed to the correct level by means of an instrument called a 'squeezer'. Many of Dukes' ballmakers came daily from Tonbridge, walking along the railway. Some had a habit of 'borrowing' bolts from railway sleepers to make their squeezers!
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