Tudeley is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Capel, in the Tunbridge Wells borough of

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 ...

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

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

. 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. In 1881 the civil parish had a population of 549. On 25 March 1885 the parish was abolished and merged with Capel. 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_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

. It comprises restored ancient wood and heathland, which have been connected through extensive

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 ...

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

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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

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. The plan was the subject of the issue evaluation for the

AQA AQA Education, trading as AQA (formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds Test (assessment), examinations in various subjects at Genera ...

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

Geography Paper 3 exam in 2024.

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

References

External links

Hadlow EstateAll Saints' Church, TudeleyTudeley FestivalSave Capel campaign group
{{authority control Villages in Kent Former civil parishes in Kent Borough of Tunbridge Wells