Hamstreet, Kent - An Objective View
- Smugglers, Stamps and the Saxon Shore
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Hamstreet,
Kent
Smugglers,
stamps and the Saxon Shore
"Hamstreet
is 'interesting' and retains the characteristics of a traditional
and proud working village, something
that is increasingly rare"
-
Kent Life Magazine
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PHOTOS
OF HAMSTREET
WALKING/CYCLING
ROAD
JOURNEYS
INTRIGUING
PAPERBACKS
BY A LOCAL AUTHOR
(lighthouse
challenge travelogues)
Get
the latest news on the parish council's official site here
Check
out Hamstreet's original
village site here
TRAIN
TIMES
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NEWSFLASH
- The Olympic Torch will be stopping in Hamstreet on route from
Rye to Ashford on July 18th 2012 - the only village stop in the
Ashford area!!
Introduction
to the Village
The
Kentish village of Hamstreet is affectionately known as ‘the gateway
to the marsh’, being located six miles south of Ashford where the
ridge of clay hills meets the flat expanses of Romney Marsh,
an area once awash with smuggling. The village was bypassed in 1994,
but remains an important junction and is twinned
with the little town of Therouanne (link
here)
in France. Therouanne was once a city with a cathedral which
was sacked by the troops of Henry V. The stone canonball near the
flagpole in Hamstreet was a gift from the mayor of the twin town,
presented with the words 'You can have your cannonball back!' More
local history can be perused on the Forge Gardens noticeboard and
at the station.
Traditional
weather-board buildings and a generally unspoilt appearance make the
place well worth a
detour from the beaten track. Three long distance footpaths pass through
the village; one follows the
peaceful banks of the Royal Military Canal - the
UK's third longest defensive structure,
and two
pass through the expansive deciduous woodland that is Hamstreet Woods.
A walk incorporating
both the canal and the woods was featured in the 'Top
50 best summer walks in Britain'
in the Independent newspaper. A second area of public woodland is
located northeast of the
village at Orlestone Forest.
To
get a reasonably accurate population for the village, add together
the populations of Orlestone and Warehorne, for the ancient boundary
runs through Hamstreet itself. This amounts to roughly 2,000 people.
Orlestone is the original location of the village - now just a hamlet
a mile to the north centred around the eleventh century parish
church of St Mary. The Church
of the Good Shepherd is
a more modern place of worship in the village's High Street and the
ancient church of St Augustine's in Snave also comes under Hamstreet
and holds one service annually at harvest festival. The church in
Warehorne is dedicated to St Matthew..
Hamstreet's
Claims to Fame
H
E Bates who wrote the Darling
buds of May
would have known the village well, and both Noel Coward
and the writer Joseph Conrad resided at nearby Aldington. Within a
five mile radius of the village,
we have seen the likes of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, Paul O'Grady,
Julian Clary, the actress
Jan Francis and international golfer, Peter Mitchell. Hamstreet has
also been featured in futuristic
writings by Sir Peter Hall and David
Boyle.
But what of the village itself?
Mountain
Farm in Hamstreet once featured in Blue
Peter
as a base camp for an expedition up the 'Marsh
Mountain’. Romney Marsh is of course completely flat, so this humorous
concept involved presenters
turning a map of the area upside down and crawling along the road!
Hamstreet
had its real moment of fame in the early 1990's, with maps of the
village appearing on postage
stamps all over the UK. John
Craven even
did a 'Countryfile' special on the village. This was
to mark 200 years of the Ordnance Survey. Hamstreet was chosen because
the area was the first
to be mapped and the changes to the village over the years showed
up very well on a series of
stamps.
The
village is also on the route of the Tour
of Britain cycle
race which passed through in September
2006. The village was also filmed in 2007 as a case study of a community
undergoing change
for a DVD to be studdied by geography students countrywide.
Facilities
Visitors
enjoying the huge potential for walking and cycling around Hamstreet
will find that villagers enjoy
a good range of amenities:
The
Post Office/supermarket remains open until 10pm daily and includes
meat and fresh vegetables in its range. There is a paper shop, a garage,
a dog grooming centre,
a DIY/joinery store, a hardware and cycle shop, a
garden centre including a cafe, school
and a doctor’s
surgery
which the Government declared the best
surgery in Britain
for customer care in 2005. In Warehorne Road you will find a hairdresser,
estate agent, dentist and antiques dealership.
A
fish and chip van visits on Saturday evenings and there is a youth
club (Thurs - Hall) as well as Scout
and Guide
associations (shared with Ruckinge). Other local organisations include
the Royal British Legion, village history society, mountain biking
club (Weds), children's football coaching (Sats - Pound Leas), fitness
circuits (Thurs - Hall), bowls club (Fri in summer), baby and toddler
group (Weds - Hall), Margaret Morris exercise (Mons - Hall), Zumba
fitness (Mons - School), Jo Jingles children's classes (Mons - Hall),
dog training (Thurs - Hall), coffee mornings (Fri - Church), lunch
club (Weds - Church), over 60s (Hall), cell groups (church), WI (Mons
- Hall) and much more.
Events
and festivals
There
is a local farmer's
market
for Hamstreet and the surrounding villages - in Warehorne village
hall on the fourth Sunday each month.
The
village hall committee and ‘sports and leisure association’ run
many local events, the ultimate aim of the latter being to
construct a modern pavilion to augment the flood-lit 'multi use
games area' and football field. Particularly good is the Country
Show and Festival of Transport weekend.
This takes place every
June and includes an evening dance to live bands. 2009's event has
been featured in a Life
TV (Sky) documentary programme. There
are also regular 'bikejumble' events on the same field for petrol
heads. Also look out for posters for Hamstreet bonfire
and fireworks on
Pound Leas each November. One month later the houses in Carters
Wood put on an array of Christmas lights for charity.
Public
Transport / Accomodation
As
well as daytime bus services to Ashford and New Romney (Mon to Sat),
Hamstreet has a railway
station on the Ashford to Hastings line - one
of only two remaining diesel lines in the Southeast.
You will find the station master to be very helpful and may be surprised
at the improvements
in information, comfort and reliability.
Trains
now run direct to Brighton and are half-hourly to Ashford and Rye
at peak times. Surprisingly,
a return or season ticket from Hamstreet to London doesn't cost a
penny more than one
from Ashford. Timetable
here.
Sadly
the guest rooms at the Duke's Head are currently not in public use
but visitors can find accommodation at The Railway Hotel at Appledore
Station - just a five minute train journey away (01233 758253). Those
seeking a longer stay will be pleased to know that The
Old Stores House in the heart ot Hamstreet is available for holiday
letting.
Campaigns
This
is an opportunity for visitors to see the kind of challenges that
villages face, as being studied by geography students courtesy of
Pumpkin
TV's DVD on Hamstreet's challenges.
The author of this site has actively campaigned for many
issues, including the following:
**
Successes
A
request for staffing of Hamstreet railway station after six months
of closure in the late 1990s, suggestions for an annual village
bonfire and a regular farmers market (made with many other villagers),
a request for more (not less) trains to operate from Hamstreet during
a review of the line in 2005, support for the Indian takeaway and
increased pub licensing hours (in line with other local rural pubs),
the suggestion of a plaque depicting points of interest on village
sign, support for Hamstreet Surgery to expand and promotion of the
village locally as a rural tourism destination.
**
Failed Ideas
A
request for the authorities to act to save Hamstreet's final filling
station from closure in 2001, a suggestion for brown 'local services'
signs on the bypass to encourage greater use of amenities (as found
at many other Kentish villages), a request for Hamstreet to be linked
to the national cycle network with an official route to Ashford (currently
in limbo due to lack of Sustrans funds), a request for tax discs
to be made available at the village Post Office, a suggestion of
improved road signage for the village, plus suggestions for a review
of parking to reduce opposition to new amenities and a questionaire
seeking the views of the whole village about what they would like
to see.
1)
Villagers: There
is a tendency in Hamstreet for individuals and organisations to
oppose new and expanded services on grounds such as parking, noise
and litter. Yet, matters such as these should be enforced by the
police and are not the fault of businesses and services who need
to expand to survive in the modern world. In fact the feared situations
rarely materialise at all.
This
site wishes to promote Hamstreet as a living village and not a museum
of closed businesses. All villagers who want to see more in Hamstreet
should pen their supporting views to Ashford Borough Planning
Department, Civic Centre, Tannery Lane, Ashford, Kent whenever
they read of applications such as the expansion to the doctor's
surgery, creation of new commercial premises or diversity of services
(such as applications for takeaway licenses, etc.)
2)
Councillors / Authorities:
Because the 'no' voices always say their piece, the authorities
are being given an unrepresentative view of what the village wants.
We have the houses; now let's have the services! The village will
not survive if it doesn't embrace change. This site urges those
who represent the village to realise that the objections of a few
presiding over the wishes of the majority is undemocratic.
3) Committees
/ Businesses: This
site also urges amenities to support one another. There is nothing
more alienating to new villagers than local 'politics'. We want
to support all aspects of village life and see less 'us and them'..
**
To campaign for a Sustrans cycle route from Hamstreet to Ashford,
avoiding the dangerous A2070 and busy Ashford Road, email: info@sustrans.org.uk
- The
Royal
Military Canal Path would also provide a great link to Ruckinge
as a proper cycle route.
**
To campaign for better road-signing of Hamstreet, which used to appear
on roadsigns in Tenterden, New Romney, Lympne, Appledore and all the
way from Newenden (thirteen
miles away)
but now receives only the most basic level of signage, write to: Road
signing policy, Kent County Council, County Hall, Maidstone, Kent
**
To campaign for tax discs to be made available at our Post Office
(as is the case in most villages of this size) write to: Royal
Mail Customer Services, FREEPOST, RM11 1AA.
Conclusion
All
in all, there is much to be positive about in Hamstreet and it is
clear that campaigning CAN work if more villagers speak up. So please
BE VOCAL and SHOP LOCAL.
And
if you don't live here, why not pay us a visit and perhaps try some
of the walks and quiet country
cycle rides.
Original
site copyright 2002. Hamco Publishing, Hamstreet, Nr Ashford, Kent.
Last updated July 2011.
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Want
more from your village
shop?
If
McColl's aren't stocking
the items you need,
please write to Customer
Services, Martin
McColl Ltd, Ashwells
Road, Brentwood,
Essex CM15
9ST and
be prepared
to be persistent.
This is a far more
pro-active approach
than taking your
custom out of the village.
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