Tudeley is a village in the

Tunbridge Wells Royal 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 geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

borough of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The village is home to All Saints' Church, the only church in the world that has all its windows in stained glass designed by

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major ...

. The East window was commissioned by Sir Henry and Lady D'Avigdor-Goldsmid in memory of their daughter Sarah, who died aged 21 in a boating accident in 1963. The other windows were added later, the final ones being installed in 1985, the year of Chagall's death. Today the church also hosts the Tudeley Festival, an Early Music event which has been running since 1985. Somerhill House, which houses The Schools at Somerhill, lies within the bounds of Tudeley.

Nature

Tudeley Woods is owned by the Hadlow Estate and managed in partnership with the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throu ...

. It comprises restored ancient wood and

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat (ecology), habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great B ...

, which have been connected through extensive

coppicing Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

to open up the woodland floor and allow the woodland flowers and butterflies to flourish. The result is that there more than 1,000 species of

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

in the woods, with

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s intermingled with carpets of bluebells and primroses in spring. The coppicing allows for charcoal burning, with the products sold locally. Free to access, car parking is restricted, whilst dogs on leads are allowed on the public footpaths and bridleways.

Future

The Tunbridge Wells Borough draft local plan published in August 2019, suggests a new town of 2,800 dwellings replacing the village and destroying 600 acres of green belt land including ancient woodland and the habitat of three European protected species. Despite vocal local concern over the destruction of green belt and agricultural land and serious transport issues the borough council have decided to press on with their plan.

Images

File:Tudeley church window.jpg, The East Window by

in All Saints' church File:Detail of Tudor gateway from Badsell.jpg, Detail of a small gateway dated 1583, inscribed TF and MF for

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

and Mary Fane, that was at Badsell until the 1920s, and is now at Fulbeck.

References

External links

Hadlow EstateAll Saints' Church, TudeleyRSPB Tudeley WoodsTudeley FestivalSave Capel campaign groupCapel History Group
{{authority control Villages in Kent