High Halden is a village 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 authorit ...

in the Ashford District of

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 village is on the

A28 road The A28 is a trunk road in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in south east England, connecting Margate, Canterbury, Ashford and Hastings. Starting at the seaside resort of Margate at the north-east point of Kent, the A28 runs inland and we ...

between Ashford and

Tenterden Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...

, 3 miles (5 km) north of the latter town. The Tenterden suburb of St. Michaels is included.

History

A very large quantity, fifty

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 ...

s, of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

was used as the material to build the

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

and

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

of the 10th–14th-century church, St Mary the Virgin, in 1470–1490. The church was restored in 1835 through funds donated by Mrs. Amy Kynaston Sutton, widow of the former vicar Evelyn

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

Sutton and sister and sole heiress of her brother Sir John Roger Kynaston, Bart. The large

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

''The Chequers on the Green'', circa 1620, is known to have been used by

smugglers Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

and the various gangs such as the "

Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Na ...

and Cranbrook gangs" that were active in the mid-18th century. The parish is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

and parts of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

can be seen at ''Tiffenden Farm''.

St Mary's Church

This Grade 1 listed church was built before 1286 (this being the first date for which there is a recorded name of a priest at the church, Richard de Halyngleghe). Church website
/ref> Although the church has been extended over the years, its most remarkable feature is the timbered tower which was probably constructed in the late 13th Century. It consists of an octagonal ground floor and a square upper story above which rises an 80-foot octagonal shingle-clad spire. The whole structure is braced and strengthened by a system of massive oak pillars, beams and trusses. The 14th Century South porch has an entrance which is a natural arch made of two halves of a colossal oak trunk and inside the church there is a 13th Century font.

RAF High Halden

RAF High Halden Royal Air Force High Halden or more simply RAF High Halden is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground in Kent, England. The airfield is located approximately west-southwest of Ashford; about southeast of London. Opened in 1944, ...

is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground in Kent, England

References

External links

St Mary's churchFriends of the Parish Church of St Mary the VirginStatistical civil parish overview – map
{{authority control Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent