Capel is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

and

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

borough of Tunbridge Wells The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. It takes its name from its main town, Royal Tunbridge Wells. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the municipal borough of Royal Tun ...

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 parish is located on the north of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

, to the east of

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) 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 Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. The southern part of the parish lies within the

High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is in south-east England. Covering an area of , it takes up parts of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex. It is the fourth largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England ...

, whilst most of the land also falls within the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

. As well as Capel itself, the parish includes the communities of Castle Hill, Colts Hill,

Five Oak Green Five Oak Green is a village near Tonbridge, Kent in the Civil Parish of Capel. The village was a centre for hop growing. In the 19th century, The Rose and Crown public house was converted to a hospital to treat the many hop pickers who resided ...

, Postern,

Tudeley Tudeley is a village in the Tunbridge Wells borough of Kent, 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. The East window was commissioned by ...

and Whetsted.

History

The name Capel may have derived from its church being a ''chapel ''of the nearby church at Tudeley. The parish Church of St Thomas à Becket is now redundant, and in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. Services are held there four times a year, and the church is open to visitors daily. It contains some lovely 12th century wall paintings depicting

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hāb� ...

, and Christ's entry to Jerusalem, originally there to help those who could not read learn the stories of the Bible. Outside is a yew tree under which

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

himself is supposed to have preached. The church tower was partly rebuilt following a fire in 1639. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

is now known as Tudeley-cum-Capel with

Government

Capel falls within the jurisdiction of

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Tunbridge may refer to the following places: * Tunbridge, Illinois, United States * Tunbridge, North Dakota, see Locations in the United States with an English name#North Dakota * Tunbridge, Tasmania, Australia * Tunbridge, Vermont, United States ...

. Capel ward is currently represented by a Liberal Democrat councillor, Hugh Patterson.

Geography

Capel hamlet is west of the nearest town,

Paddock Wood Paddock Wood is a town and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 8,263, falling marginally to 8,253 at the 2011 Census. Paddock Wood is a centre f ...

, where there is a railway station, and north-east of

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 Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

. There are two main clusters of buildings, one around the church, Church Farm and Tanners Farm, at the junction of Alders Road and Church lane; and another around the Dovecot Inn, on Alders Road. Hasted described Capel in the late 18th-century as being in: It has changed little since.

Culture and Community

Capel also sports the Dovecote Inn, a fine traditional Kentish pub which received an award from CAMRA, The

Campaign For Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is th ...

on 14 February 2009, marking the pub's inclusion in every edition of the Good Beer Guide for the previous 10 years.

References

External links

Capel Parish Council WebsiteTudeley-cum-Capel with Five Oak GreenCapel History Group website
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent