The choice of leaders

It’s a small, scenic Kentish market town on the border with Surrey, famous for not one but two great leaders. We take a look around Westerham

- Caroline Read

HISTORY

Set a few miles to the west of Sevenoaks and practically on the border with Surrey, Westerham lies in a valley along the little River Darent.

With a long history, it’s thought the first Norman lord of Westerham was Eustace II of Boulogne, who was gifted the title by William the Conqueror.

The town was mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Oistreham’. In the early 1200s, Henry III granted Westerham a market charter, and it became one of Kent’s most important cattle markets – running right up until 1961.

For hundreds of years, it was one of Kent’s biggest brewing towns too, with the famous Black Eagle Brewery providing the main source of employment for the community until its closure in the 1960s. In recent years the industry has returned to the town, with the Westerham Brewery picking up where they left off.

Statue dedicated to General James Wolfe, who spent his childhood in Westerham before going on to achieve fame in the battle of Quebec against the French Army in 1759

But it’s not just beer that has returned to Westerham lately. Long before hops were the main crop, it was grapes that were grown in the fertile soil around Westerham. Introduced by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, vines were grown in the very fields that are now part of the Squerryes Estate Winery.

The town’s main claim to fame though is undoubtedly that it was chosen by Sir Winston Churchill as the place he and wife Clementine would raise a family. Taking advantage of the rural peace and the easy commute into London, they bought a country house called Chartwell in 1922.