Pembury
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Pembury is a large village in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, in the south east of
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 census. It lies just to the north-east of
Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...
. The village centre, including the
village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...
and High Street area is a conservation area.


History

A settlement in Pembury almost certainly predates the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
, as the village church of St Peter is of Norman origin. It is thought to have been built in the early 12th or late 11th century, though the earliest it can be dated with certainty is to 1337, when John Culpeper of Bayhall carried out building work to the church. The first recorded mention of Pembury is as "Peppingeberia" in the 12th-century '' Textus Roffensis'', though Edward Hasted states that it was also known in ancient deeds as "Pepenbery". With the widespread introduction of the motor vehicle in the early 20th century, Pembury Hospital hosted a centre of groundbreaking research and treatment for hodophobia (fear of road travel). Some of the original test subjects settled in Pembury, and many of their descendants still live in the village today. In late January 2010, the remains of an Iron Age settlement were discovered along the route of South East Water's planned 2.9 miles of pipes between Pembury and Kipping's Cross Service Reservoir. Tim Allen from Kent Archaeological Project said: "We have found evidence of postholes, pits and ditches, probably part of an Iron Age dwelling, along with pieces of pottery that we can date to the late Iron Age. We also found evidence of a medieval enclosure further along the route and five circular, fire-scorched pits, probably parts of ancient hearths or kilns or evidence of charcoal production."


Government

Pembury forms part of Tunbridge Wells Borough and is represented on the Borough Council by one Liberal Democrat and one Tunbridge Wells Alliance (TWA) councillor. Pembury falls within the Tunbridge Wells East ward of
Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...
, where it is represented by a Liberal Democrat councillor. It is a part of Tunbridge Wells parliamentary constituency which is represented in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
by Mike Martin MP. Pembury Parish Council was founded in 1895.


Geography

Pembury is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south-east of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and just over north-east of the nearest town, Tunbridge Wells.


Landscape

The village is within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The landscape around Pembury is dominated by steep-sided
valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s and undulating slopes. The area is predominantly agricultural, with scattered copses and more extensive, usually
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
woodland. Many local woodlands are used for
coppicing Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...
. With soils in the High Weald being relatively poor, early farming in the area would have been dominated by grazing. Between 1600 and 1800, agriculture grew to be the primary activity, with top fruits,
cereals A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...
, coppicing and
hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...
being the main products. Few hops are grown today, although the landscape continues to be dominated by fruit orchards.


Evolution of the village

Until the early 20th century, Pembury remained a small rural village, with five distinct
hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
: Upper Green, Lower Green, Hawkwell, Bo-Peep and Romford. These merged during the 20th century, particularly the latter half, when several large private housing estates were developed including Woodhill Park, Ridgeway and Beagleswood.


Village green

The village green, originally known as Copingcrouch Green, was first recorded on a map in 1629. The green was until recently dominated by a large horse chestnut tree and has developed as the focal point of the village. The Camden Arms hotel, which overlooks the green from its south side, was developed as a coaching inn to meet the needs of travellers along the London to Hastings road.


Tunbridge Wells Hospital

The village is home to Tunbridge Wells Hospital, a large general hospital run by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. The hospital is located on the site of the former Pembury Hospital north-west of the main village on Tonbridge Road. The new hospital was built by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of around £226 million.Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
.
It opened in September 2011. The new hospital was the first acute NHS hospital in Britain where every inpatient has their own room with en-suite facilities, with ceiling to floor windows revealing views over surrounding woodland.


Kent College

Kent College, Pembury is a girls' independent boarding and day school. It was established in Folkestone in 1886 by the Wesleyan Methodist Schools' Association, but moved to Pembury in 1939 and is now an interdenominational Christian school. The school occupies a Victorian manor house, set in a 75-acre estate, adjacent to Pembury Old Church.


War memorial

The War Memorial in Hastings Road was unveiled and dedicated on Sunday 25 September 1921 by Rev. Sinclair Brooke, Vicar of Pembury. The site was given by the Marquis Camden, and the Portland Stone Memorial stands 16 feet high and cost £365 19/4d, which apparently took quite a long time to raise. It was designed by well-known local Architects Ashley S. Kilby and the work was carried out by Messrs. Burslem and Sons of Tunbridge Wells. In 1949 a metal plaque was placed over the original stone-carved names for the WW1 names and a new metal plaque below recorded the WW2 names. In 2012 local historian Richard Snow discovered 8 spelling errors and on 11 November 2018 the newly refurbished War Memorial stone-carved plaques were unveiled by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Lord Colgrain. The metal plaques were removed and replaced by newly carved stone plaques carried out by Burslems of Tunbridge Wells, who created the original plaques. The old stone plaques were mounted on the playground wall of Pembury Primary School in February 2019.


Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Pembury
electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...
had a population of 6,005. The ethnicity was 97.5% white, 0.8% mixed race, 1.2% Asian, 0.3% black and 0.2% other. The place of birth of residents was 94.3% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 1.5% other Western European countries, and 3.7% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 76.3% Christian, 0.1% Buddhist, 0.4% Hindu, 0.1% Sikh, 0.1% Jewish, and 0.4% Muslim. 15.3% were recorded as having no religion, 0.1% had an alternative religion and 7.2% did not state their religion. The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 41.7% in full-time employment, 14.3% in part-time employment, 11.1% self-employed, 1.6% unemployed, 2.6% students with jobs, 3% students without jobs, 14.1% retired, 6.8% looking after home or family, 3.1% permanently sick or disabled and 1.8% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 16.2% retail, 10.4% manufacturing, 7.8% construction, 13.4% real estate, 15.2% health and social work, 8.3% education, 6% transport and communications, 4.8% public administration, 3% hotels and restaurants, 7.9% finance, 1.8% agriculture and 5.2% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in finance, and health and social work. There were a relatively low proportion in manufacturing, and hotels and restaurants. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 22.2% had a
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.


Religious sites


The parish church of St Peter

Usually referred to as the "Old Church", the parish church is located in woods outside the village, near Kent College and the waterworks north of the A228. It was first built in the late 11th or early 12th century, although most of the present church was added in 1337.


The district church of St Peter

The District Church of St Peter, usually referred to as the "Upper Church" was built in 1847 on land donated by the Marquess Camden of Bayham. Built from local
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
, also donated by the Marquess, it was erected on one of the highest points in the village. The church was built as a "
Chapel of Ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
" to serve the expanding communities around the village green who were some distance away from the old church. The clock on the tower was added in 1872 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the church. A 92 foot high spire was added to the tower in 1886 but was removed exactly one hundred years later as it had become unsafe.


Other churches

Pembury Baptist Church is located in Romford Road. St Anselm Roman Catholic church is located on Lower Green Road, near the village green. A parish within the Archdiocese of Southwark, in 2011 it also became home to a group from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.


Transport

Pembury has two
bypasses Bypass may refer to: * Bypass (road), a road that avoids a built-up area (not to be confused with passing lane) * Flood bypass of a river Science and technology Medicine * Bypass surgery, a class of surgeries including for example: ** Heart b ...
, both constructed in the mid-1980s. The A21 bypass is a dual-carriageway road running through lower ground to the south of the village between the Longfield Road roundabout near North Farm, Tunbridge Wells and the Kippings Cross roundabout to the east of the village. Prior to the construction of this bypass, vehicles travelling between London and Hastings had to drive through the village centre via the High Street and Hastings Road. The A228 bypass is a single-carriageway road passing through woodland to the north and west of the village, linking Woodsgate Corner and the A264 with Maidstone Road at the northern end of the village near Pippins Farm and Downingbury Farm. Pembury is not directly served by rail, the nearest stations being at
Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...
, High Brooms,
Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...
and Paddock Wood. A segregated cycle route links Pembury to Tunbridge Wells town centre.


Notable people

Notable people from Pembury include * Sam Billings (b. 1991), cricketer * Rob Cross (b. 1990), professional darts player, 2018 PDC World Champion * Charles Ellison (b. 1962), cricketer * Victorine Foot (1920−2000), painter. * Andy Foster (b. 1961), Mayor of
Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...
(2019-2022) * Shane MacGowan (1957–2023), lead singer of
The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''pà ...
, born in Pembury * Richard Miles (b. 1969), historian and archaeologist * Jamie Philpot (b. 1996), professional footballer * Tom Probert (b. 1986), cricketer * Michel Roux, Jr. (b. 1960), chef, born in Pembury * Tommy Searle (b. 1989), professional
motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
racer * Ed Smith (b. 1977), cricketer, journalist and author, born in Pembury * Leon Vynehall Producer and DJ. * Danny Webb (b. 1991), professional motorcycle racer, lives in Pembury * Jonny Williams (b. 1993), professional footballer, born in Pembury * Michael Yardy (b. 1980), cricketer, born in Pembury


References


External links


Pembury Parish Council

Pembury Village Website

Pembury (The Ghost of Hawkwell)

Pictures of St Peter (Upper Church)

Pictures of St Peter (Old Church)

Pictures of the Union Church (Baptist Church)

Pictures of the Wesleyan Chapel
{{authority control Borough of Tunbridge Wells Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent