MRP: Barham Downs

Barham Downs

Editorial history

13/09/11, CSG: Created page

THIS ENTRY IS IN PREPARATION

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Barham Downs in seventeenth century

Barham Downs featured in the lives of the Oxindens of both Deane and Barham. A number of letters printed by D.K. Gardiner or available in manuscript at the British Library make reference to the Downs.

The landscape of the Downs has changed significantly since the early part of the seventeenth century, as intensive agriculture has encroached on the chalk grasslands. The crops and livestock raised by the Oxendens and their neighbours were significantly different from twenty-first century crops and livestock. Already in the early nineteenth century crops were changed compared with the early seventeenth century. For example, the hop farms of Sir Henry Oxenden of Broome on his tenanted Dene estate, as reported by his former estate manager in 1840 (CHECK), were already much reduced compared with the eighteenth century.

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Twenty-first century descriptions

Attitudes towards and the aesthetic appreciation of the Downs have also changed since the early seventeenth century. The Landscape Assessment of Kent landscape, 2004:XXX characterises the East Kent Downs in the early twenty-first century in idyllic language, stressing their peace, remoteness and beauty:

A remote peaceful area of downland, which ends in the dramatic white cliffs of Dover. Above the southern scarp, the broad back of the chalk hills is furrowed by a series of long narrow, parallel valleys running north east. In these dry valleys, the valley bottomstreams or nailbournes are underground, only flowing at the surface occasionally, during very wet winters.

The western valley systems are branching and intricate. The steep, rounded slopes are crossed by thick shaws or overgrown hedges, often swathed in the white seed-heads of wild clematis. Large arable fields on the ridge-top plateau are visually contained by long strips of deciduous, ancient woodland along the valley sides or ridge-top conifer forests, west of Elham. Towards the coast, however, the landscape becomes more exposed. There is less woodland and the strongly linear pattern of parallel ridges and valleys is more distinct.

The countryside here is criss-crossed by a maze of tiny, sunken, one-track lanes. Houses are widely scattered and many villages, traditionally built of local flint, brick and tile, are still little more than a church, a manor and a pair of farm cottages - an important characteristic of this landscape. However, the area is best known, not for its beautiful dry valleys or remote churches, but for its long association with the defence of the realm. The "White Cliffs of Dover"" and the widely scattered military remains, such as pill-boxes and gun-emplacements, still exert a strong cultural influence on the landscape.

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Nineteenth century descriptions

Hasted, 1800:358-60 was not enamoured of Barham Downs, which abutt the parish of Denton:

The parish of Denton is situated at the beginning of a very wild, dreary, and montainous country, the hills here rising on each side the valley pretty sudden and high. The soil of it is very poor, consisting either of chalk, or an unfertile red earth, mixed with quantities of sharp stones. It is but small, the village called Denton.street, lies in the valley at the northern boundary of the parish, not far from Brome, that of Barham extending quite up to it. The high road from Canterbury over Barham downs leads through the street, at the north end of which, though in Barham parish, is the seat of Maydeacon, and at the south end Denton-court and the church; hence the hill rises to the hamlet of Selsted, part only of which is in this parish, and thence the road continues over Swinfield Minnis to the town of Folkestone; in the southern part there is a great deal of woodland

In the 1830s Barham Downs were still described as a rather desolate feature of the landscape:

The ride over Barham Downs, except in the finest weather, is black and dreary. This tract, however, forms a good race-course, and is a fine open space for the review of troops. The races take place here annually, in the month of August, and there is also a spring meetîng on Easter Tuesday. Both are in high repute, and attract visitors from all parts of the county of Kent, and even from London. (Brady, 1837:118)

An amateur botanist described the wide range of flora to be seen on and at the edge of Barham Downs in the 1860s (Pamplin, 1863:18-21)

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Field sports on the Downs

The principal field sports in East Kent in the early seventeenth century were hare coursing and fox hunting. Stags were rare in this part of the country, as a writer commented in Sporting Magazine, 20th March 1804: 296 when reporting the release and hunting of a fine stag in St. Alban's Downs. A selection of dogs from the East Kent pack, together with one hundred and fifty horsemen, made a course "across the country towards Folkestone." A further stag was due to be released on Adisham Downs the following day.

Whyte, 1840:255-56 described a well established two day horse racing event on Barham Downs towards the end of August each year. By the late 1830s the races on the Downs were a significant event, with a "commodious stand," the theatre open in nearby Canterbury, together with "balls and other gaieties." However, Whyte gives no prior history to the event, and it seems unlikely that it had been established prior to the eighteenth century, when there was rapid growth in horse racing throughout England (CHECK ACCURACY AND NEED A REFERENCE)

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Oxenden and neighbours participation in field sports in the early and mid seventeenth century

ADD QUOTES FROM VARIOUS LETTERS

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Possible further research

(1) Are the Barham and Adisham Downs classified as areas of outstanding beauty, or of scientific interest?

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Sources

Primary

Brady, John Henry, The Dover road sketch book; or, Traveller's pocket guide, between London and Dover (?London, 1837)
Gardiner, Dorothy, The Oxinden letters 1607-1642. Being the correspondence of Henry Oxinden of Barham and his circle (London, 1933)
Hasted, Edward, The History and topographical survey of the county of Kent, vol. 9 (London, 1800)
Pamplin, William, The Phytologist: a botanical journal, vol. 6 (?London, 1863)
The sporting magazine for March 1804, vol. 25 (sic) (London, 1804)
Whyte, James Christie, History of the British turf: from the earliest period to the present day, vol. 1 (London, 1840)

Secondary

Furley, Robert, A history of the Weald of Kent: With an Outline of the Early History of the County, vol. 2 (London, 1874)
- Ch. 30: Includes 'Kentish mansions, &c plundered', 'Survey of the seven hundreds in the Weald'
- Ch. 31: Includes 'The clothiers and wool smuggling', 'The iron works and roads in the Weald'
- Ch. 32: Includes 'Apparel'
The Landscape Assessment of Kent landscape (Maidstone, 2004)
- Contains local and regional maps characterising the landscape
- Makes reference to previous reports on (1) The High Weald (1994) (2) The Kent Downs (1995) (3) Thames Gateway, Eastern Swale Marshes and Eastern Fruit Belt (1995) (4) The Low Weald Landscape Assessment & Guidelines (1997) (5)The Greensand Belt Landscape Assessment & Guidelines (1998) (6) North West Kent Landscape Assessment & Guidelines (1998) (7) North East Kent Landscape Assessment & Guidelines (8) Romney Marsh Landscape Assessment & Guidelines
- Makes reference to Kent Historic Landscape Characterisation Study (N/D)

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Possible sources of interest

Cross Francis William and J.R. Hall, Rambles round old Canterbury (?London, 1884)
- Includes a description of neighbouring parishes to Canterbury, such as Patrixbourne and Bekesbourne
Annals of agriculture and other useful arts (Bury St. Edmunds, 1793)
- When was this journal first published
- Look for a bibliography of seventeenth and eighteenth century agricultural literature

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Image credits

Photograph of detail of engraving of Hundreds of Wingham and Kinghamford, XXXX, XXXX. Photograph is copyright of Colin Greenstreet, 2011

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