Heard it on the grapevine

It’s several miles from the coast but was once a powerful maritime town. Now considered the heart of the English wine industry, we take a tour of Tenterden

- Caroline Read

HISTORY

The story of Tenterden goes back many centuries but it first gained notoriety as a port and centre of trade and shipbuilding in the 14th century. Quite a surprise, considering visitors to the Wealden town today would be hard pressed to find a waterway. Once set on a wide part of the River Rother, flowing into the nearby sea, the town was left landlocked long ago.

Nicknamed the ‘Jewel of the Weald’, this area has been considered well-to-do since the Middle Ages, when it was the centre of the lucrative local wool trade. It was so important that it became part of the confederation of Cinque Ports in the 1400s, and as such became more powerful still.

Tenterden escaped much of the development that expanded many of our other Kentish towns and visitors come simply to marvel at its beauty. It’s known for its many white weather-boarded buildings and its heritage railway.

The 12th-century St Mildred’s Church is not to be missed, and a stroll along the wide, tree-lined High Street is like stepping back in time. And for more historical architecture, don’t miss the Town Hall, erected in the late 1700s.

Famous former residents include Victorian stage actress Dame Ellen Terry and pioneering printer William Caxton (see also page 28). The town’s archive contains a book Caxton published in 1482. A translation of a Latin book called Polychronicon, it was the first book to be published in English in the country.

The late great Sir Donald Sinden lived in Wittersham and the theatre in the grounds of Homewood School at Tenterden was named the Sinden Theatre in 2004.

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