Eddington was a village in

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 ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

to the south-east of

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government ...

, to the west of

Beltinge Beltinge is a low cliff-top suburb of Herne Bay in Kent, England. It forms the easternmost part of the urban area of Herne Bay and is just west of the small settlement of Reculver, which had an important Roman Fort and a channel which served to p ...

and to the north of Herne. It is now a suburb of Herne Bay, in Greenhill and Eddington Ward, one of the five wards of Herne Bay. Its main landmark for over 100 years until 2010 was Herne Bay Court, a former school which once possessed one of the largest and best-equipped school engineering workshops in England; it later became a Christian conference centre.

Geography

Eddington was a village and is now a suburb in the south of Herne Bay, on what is now the Canterbury Road or A291. It is in Greenhill and Eddington

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, and forms part of

Herne and Broomfield Herne and Broomfield is a civil parish and electoral ward within the City of Canterbury. The parish is situated to the north of Canterbury in Kent. The seaside town of Herne Bay is the other side of the A299 road, Thanet Way that marks the northe ...

parish.

Geology and topography

Eddington is approximately 13 metres above sea level, lying above mainly

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

with some head

Brickearth Brickearth is a term originally used to describe superficial windblown deposits found in southern England. The term has been employed in English-speaking regions to describe similar deposits. Brickearths are periglacial loess, a wind-blow ...

next to Plenty Brook; however to the east this changes to

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

deposits of the

Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...

, Oldhaven and

Woolwich beds The Lambeth Group is a group (stratigraphy), stratigraphic group, a set of geological rock strata in the London Basin, London and Hampshire Basins of southern England. It comprises a complex of vertically and laterally varying gravels, sands, silt ...

. Its northern boundary is the

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

, and its southern edge includes the

Thanet Way The A299, better known as the Thanet Way, is a major road of in the county of Kent, England, and runs from Brenley Corner near Faversham (where it merges into the M2 motorway (Great Britain), M2) to Ramsgate via Whitstable and Herne Bay, Ken ...

and Herne Bay cemetery. At its western limit is Eddington Business Park and its eastern sector contains part of Eddington

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

. This conservation area includes a small portion of the north-west of

parish, known locally as the Links. Herne Bay Golf Club is in the south of Eddington. Herne Bay Golf Club closed sometime during between 2011 and 2016 and has since been transformed into yet another housing estate. Eddington Business Park contains Herne Bay Delivery Office for the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

. Herne bay delivery and sorting office closed in 2016 and is now a children's soft play area. In the past, parts of Eddington have been susceptible to flooding from Plenty Brook and the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

has recommended the construction of upstream storage lagoons near Herne Bay Golf Course besides other measures.

Local government

As of January 2010 the local councillors for Greenhill and Eddington Ward were Roger Matthews and Margaret Flaherty, both representing the Liberal Democrats. Herne Bay councillor Roger Matthews was charged in March 2009 alongside Herne Bay Golf Club owner Julian in respect of corruption. Matthews represented Greenhill and Eddington ward on

Canterbury City Council Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of th ...

, and was suspended from the local Liberal Democrats group. The councillor denied the charge and was later cleared, but the businessman was convicted. Previously in 2008, Greenhill and Eddington ward representative Margaret Flaherty was taking on local council work herself, clearing shrubbery from road signs at Eddington. At times the

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

has chosen to remove travelling families from this area. Kent Enterprise House at Eddington hosts the annual parish meetings.

History

Much of the history of the layout and buildings of Eddington is described in the Eddington Conservation Appraisal of 2009.

Archaeology

Between August and September 1998, an archaeological dig by Houliston found evidence of early occupation in the vicinity of Eddington Farm, and a follow-up investigation by Crispin Jarman and Grant Shand found signs of occupation, farming and burial which had occurred from the later

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

period, around 3,500 BCE. The evidence for this was a polished

stone axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or che ...

found near the present

. A late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

enclosure was found near a possibly earlier monument with a

ring ditch In archaeology, a ring ditch is a trench of circular or penannular plan, cut into bedrock. They are usually identified through aerial photography either as soil marks or cropmarks. When excavated, ring ditches are usually found to be the ploughed� ...

. It is thought that late Bronze Age tree-clearance and consequent soil

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

may explain a subsequent period of abandonment of this farmland. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...

then laid out a field system and made

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a Cadaver, dead body through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India ...

burials. There is some evidence of local habitation occurring at the end of the Roman occupation. At the north of the Eddington Farm site in the early- or mid-

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

period, a farmstead was built. In October 2003 Crispin Jarman investigated apparent concentrations of early to middle

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

activity and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

activity on land adjacent to the old Thanet Way at Underdown Lane. It is thought that the 4–8 Iron Age roundhouses there are part of a larger settlement, along with a possible cremation burial. A possible northern edge of a medieval farmstead was discovered in the south-west corner of the site, along with pottery from the 13th and 14th centuries. In April 2007 there were archaeological investigations at Talmead House, Mill Lane, and on land to the west of Mill Lane, Eddington. Features including Roman cremation burials were found, including one adjacent to Talmead Pond.

Later history

15th century to present: summary

Eddington, of which ''

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

'' means a small settlement or farmstead, is first mentioned in 1466 CE. Between the 16th and 19th centuries it was a hamlet set among fields, with farms, tracks and roads. By 1800 it had become a junction between roads to Sea Street (Upper Bay), Underdown, Greenhill, Blacksole, Beltinge Fostal and

. There was an old track which turned sharply, linking Parsonage Farm and Badcock Farm, and this track was upgraded to a

turnpike road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

joining Herne Bay and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in 1814. In 1860 the

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

railway (now

Chatham Main Line The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London VictoriaQuail Map 5 – England South ages 2–13Sept 2002 (Retrieved 14 December 2011) and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is ...

) cut through the roads to Sea Street,

and Blacksole, but the Canterbury Road had its own bridge under the railway

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

, and at that time it was realigned to fit.

Terraced housing In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

was built on Canterbury Road in the 1890s, and Parsonage and Badcock farmsteads were demolished around 1900. Parsonage Road was developed by 1930, but there was no more development until the 1950s at Eddington Lane. Between the 1950s and the 21st century, most of the remaining open land was built up, except for The Links. For example, in the 1990s Nurserylands housing estate was built to the north of Eddington Lane and facing onto Plenty Brook; however Vincent Nurseries to the south of the development retains a rural aspect. One of the more recent developments in 2001 was St Augustine's Court housing estate on the junction of Canterbury Road and the Old Thanet Way ( A2990).

19th century: spotlight

In 1800 Edward Hasted described the parish, which included Herne, as follows:

A wild and dreary country; there is a great deal of poor land in it, covered with broom, and several wastes or little commons, with cottages interspersed among them. The soil of it is in general a stiff clay, and in some parts mixed with gravel, the water throughout it is very brackish. The southern part of it is mostly coppice woods, a considerable quantity of which belong to the archbishop. and are in his own occupation. There are thirty-seven teams kept in this parish. There are about seventeen acres of hops in it, and not long ago double that number, and these are continually displanting. It also produces much canary-seed, of which it has sometimes had one hundred acres ... Northward from (Herne) is Underwood farm, and opposite to it the parsonagehouse, formerly the residence of the Milles's. These are within the hamlet of Eddinton, in which, further on upon the road, is a new-built house, belonging to Mr. Edward Reynolds.

Hasted also mentions Underdowne Farm in Eddington, owned in 1800 by the Oxendon family who had rebuilt the farmhouse. Underdowne Farm was once part of the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Makinbrooke in the north-west part of the parish of Herne. This manor was originally owned by the

See of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

for the benefit of knights who served their country. After Edward III's reign the manor belonged to Adam le Eyre of London, then to Thomas Wolton of

Eastbridge hospital Eastbridge Hospital, also known as The Hospital of Saint Thomas Becket the Martyr, is a Hospital in the old sense of the word short for Hospitality and was founded in the 12th century in Canterbury, England, to provide overnight accommodation fo ...

. By 1528, Robert atte Sea of Herne was renting the land. It was subsequently inherited by the Crayford family, and then the aforementioned Oxendons. By 1858 Eddington and Underdown were separate districts of Herne parish. In Eddington, Edward Collard was a farmer, William Evans was the surgeon in Herne Street, Eddington, William Johncock was the blacksmith, and Thomas Taylor was running the Blacksmiths' Arms Inn. By 1891, Eddington was still a hamlet in the parish of Herne. It had a post office, a blacksmith, a builder and a maltster. Residences included Prospect House, The Priory and Eddington House.

Landmarks

Herne Bay Court

Herne Bay Court Evangelical Centre, known locally as Herne Bay Court, was a

local landmark from around 1900 to around 2008, situated near Talmead. Around 1900, James Thurman MA bought part of Parsonage Farm at Eddington from Joseph Gore who had leased 165 acres between Herne and the sea at the end of the 19th century. Gore kept the 15-acre field which still exists at the end of Parsonage Road, and kept a herd to supply The Creameries in Herne Bay, but sold up in 1914. Meanwhile, on the site of the old farmstead Thurman built New College, known locally as Eddington College, as a school in competition with Herne Bay College which at that time occupied numbers 6–8 St George's Terrace, Herne Bay and was run by Captain Eustace Turner. Both schools were evacuated in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and were requisitioned by the military. Thurman retired and after the war Eddington College was taken over by Captain Turner who ran it as Herne Bay College until 1939. The college specialised in engineering, and in the 1930s "the College possessed one of the largest and best-equipped school engineering workshops in England, and was remarkable for its many engineering examination successes." However the building and its engineering equipment were requisitioned for the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

war effort. After the loss of the engineering equipment, the school could not reopen after the war and the building was sold. It reopened in 1949 as Herne Bay Court: a Christian conference centre. By 2006 it had closed and was standing empty for several years, with the

discussing development plans. Between 2007 and 2010 there was a local movement to save or reopen Herne Bay Court. This building is locally

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

in respect of its use as army headquarters in World War II. The trees at Herne Bay court are subject to a

tree preservation order A tree preservation order (TPO) is a part of town and country planning in the United Kingdom. A TPO is made by a local planning authority (usually a local council) to protect specific trees or a particular area, group or woodland from deliberate d ...

Eddington Farm (demolished)

Eddington Farm was on Eddington Lane and next to Plenty Brook. It originally occupied the site of the present Herne Bay sorting office and business park. It was recorded as a 40−acre farm in 1661, stretching as far as Parsonage Farm, along what is now Canterbury Road and Mill Lane. Past owners and tenants included Richard Constant, Jarvis Dadd, John and Mary Sole and Richard Reynolds. By 1841 it was an arable and pasture farm owned by Edward Collard.

Pear Tree House (now The Priory)

This was at Pigeon Lane, later named Priory Lane. This road joined with Canterbury Road and Underdown Lane, and at the junction there was a hamlet including a smithy, letterbox and guidepost. A ladies' seminary occupied Pear Tree House from the 1830s to 1880s, run by Mrs Sladden and then by sisters Jane and Mary Baskerville. During this period the building was called Pear Tree House until around 1887 when the school closed and it was occupied by Charles Lethbridge and was renamed The Priory. It was a care home for some years, then became a residence. As of 2011 it is a

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

establishment.

Eddington House (demolished)

This Georgian house of around 1790 was built as a country residence in spacious grounds on the site now occupied by the Beaumanor housing estate, on the corner between Canterbury Road and Eddington Lane. In the early 20th century it became the preparatory school for Herne Bay College, being renamed Eddington College. It continued as a prep school, changing its name to Bramdean in 1957 and then Beaumanor in the 1960s. It was demolished in 1968 by developers, and the subsequent housing estate was given the name of Beaumanor.

Listed buildings

All the nationally

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s in this area are Grade II or II*. Some of these are listed as groups: Underdown House Eddington Kent

;Underdown House group: Underdown House is in Underdown Lane and the associated group includes The Cottage, the Tithe Barn to the south-west and the Old Coach House. The L-shaped Underdown House has a 17th-century west wing and an 18th-century frontage; it has original casement windows with small leaded panes at the back on the west side and at the west end of the southern frontage. Unfortunately the originally rural setting of the house has been compromised by recent contiguous housing estates, St Augustine's Court and Wye Green. The Cottage is mid-19th-century with a hipped slate roof and original cambered

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s. The Old Coach House is late-17th- to early-18th-century, and is

weatherboarded Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern America ...

with a tie-beam roof. The Tithe Barn dates from around 1500, and is weatherboarded over a red brick base, with a thatched roof which was once tiled. On the east side the roof has a projecting thatched hip which contains a few original tiles. The Priory Eddington Kent 002

;Priory (The) group: The Priory is at 203 Canterbury Road. The group includes numbers 1 and 2 Laurel Cottages (numbers 195 and 197 Canterbury Road), and Little Cottage.

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...

is an early-19th-century brown-brick house in

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, including a pointed doorway with moulded

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

. Laurel Cottages date from the 18th century and they have since been

pebbledashed Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the wor ...

, but contain original sash windows. Little Cottage is

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

and was re-faced with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

in the 18th century; it has a tiled roof and original sash windows. Canterbury Road Eddington Kent 2011 001

;Forge Cottage (The) and sewer vent column: The Forge Cottage is at 250 Canterbury Road. It is an 18th-century, weatherboarded and timber-framed building with a

half-hipped A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

, tiled roof. The doorcase is 18th-century, but the 6-panelled door has been moved to another location on the building. Also on Canterbury Road but not grouped with The Forge Cottage is a listed, cast iron sewer vent column with

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, dated 1870 and made by W. Macfarlane and Co. in Glasgow. Among locally listed World War II monuments are the Warden's Post at Eddington House Junior School, Canterbury Road, and the Army occupation of Avonleigh, Parsonage Road. Also relating to World War II is the pillbox near the former crossroads of the Thanet Way and Canterbury Road. Dating from the 19th century or earlier is the Maltings at Eddington Farm.

Cemetery

Herne Bay cemetery lies at the southern end of Eddington and is controlled by

. The earliest burials date from 1871. In 1880 interments were officially ended at Herne church and other local graveyards.

Edmund Reid Detective Inspector Edmund John James Reid (21 March 1846 – 5 December 1917) was the head of the CID in the Metropolitan Police's H Division at the time of the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper in 1888. He was also an early aeronaut.' ...

, the head of

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

who investigated the

Whitechapel murders The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the largely impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven unsolved murders of women have ...

in 1888, is buried in plot J62. Scattered among the plots there are war graves from World Wars I and II. The cemetery contains an elaborate monument to

Lydia Cecilia Hill Lydia Cecilia Hill (20 July 1913 – 11 October 1940), known as Cissie Hill or Cecily Hill, was an English cabaret dancer notable for being a favourite of Ibrahim, Sultan of Johor and for being briefly engaged to him. A new Art Deco house, Mayf ...

, known as Cissie Hill, a cabaret dancer and close friend of

Ibrahim Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...

Sultan of Johor The Sultan of Johor is a hereditary seat and the sovereign ruler of the Malaysian state of Johor. In the past, the sultan held absolute power over the state and was advised by a ''bendahara''. Currently, the role of ''bendahara'' has been take ...

who funded the building of Mayfair Court and the associated servants' quarters in Grand Drive,

for her. In 1938 there were rumours of an engagement between the "glamour girl" Sissy and the 64-year-old divorcee sultan, whom she had met in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1934, but the sultan promptly denied this. Sissy was killed in a daylight bombing raid aged 27 while shopping in Canterbury on 11 October 1940, and was identified by her jewellery, said to be a gift from the sultan. Eddington Canterbury Road 1908

References

Bibliography

* Fishpool, J. and Turner, P., ''Schools and Colleges in the Herne Bay Area'': Herne Bay Past series no.4 (Herne Bay Historical Records Society, 2010) * Fishpool, J, ''A Town at War: Herne Bay in the Second World War'': Herne Bay Past Series (Herne Bay Historical Records Society, 3 December 2010)

External links

Herne Bay Historical Records SocietyGreenhill and Eddington WardEddington conservation area appraisal 2009
{{authority control Villages in Kent Herne Bay, Kent