Cuxton Rectory - a history:

Cuxton Rectory, pictured in 1968 not long after completion

The current Cuxton Rectory (pictured above) is a pleasant modern-looking brick-built house dating back to 1966. For better or worse, it replaced the truly elegant late Georgian-style Rectory building that was built in 1833 by the then Rector of Cuxton, Robert William Shaw.

Cuxton Rectory, c.1919...

Built from locally-sourced yellow Kentish bricks and having a slate roof, it was designed by architect Mr. Whitehead of Maidstone and built by a Mr. Tarsell. Construction work commenced on 8 May 1832 and was completed on 17 April the following year at a total cost of £1178-14s (a project that would cost about £1.9 million today, on a commodity income value basis).

Canon Robert W. Shaw, c. 1866

Born at Yalding in October 1804, Robert Shaw was one of the ten children of Sir John Gregory Shaw, the fifth Baronet Shaw of Eltham and his wife, Theodosia. He was educated at Eton College and subsequently graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University, with a Master of Arts (M.A.). He married Sophia Cornwall on 18 February 1830 and was invested at St. Michaels and All Angels in 1831. 

The Reverend Shaw was clearly from a wealthy, well-connected background and he soon put those advantages into practical use. Nevertheless, over half of the money for the rectory had to be borrowed, which it was under the terms of the Relief Of The Poor Act (Gilbert’s Act) of 1782. 

Whilst giving government money to rich people seems a very 2021 thing to do, the Gilbert Act was intended to bring the gentry into closer involvement in poor relief administration. Canon Shaw did indeed do much to improve the lot of the local population (such as building Cuxton’s first school in 1849) in exchange for the loan that helped to fund his splendid new rectory.

South Eastern Gazette, 20 March 1832

Canon Shaw chose the site for his new rectory with good judgement. It was both nearer to the church and well above the damp valley where the original Parsonage was located (in a spot that is now occupied by the existing Scout Hall). 

His chosen site was owned by Lord Darnley, but Shaw agreed a land swop arrangement with him, exchanging some glebe land for the altogether much more agreeable location where the new rectory was to be built.

The Parsonage appears to have been a rather horrible place to live. The short six-month tenure of William Laud as Rector of St. Michael's in 1610 was largely down to him contracting the "Kentish Ague", a form of malaria very much present in the poorly drained surroundings of the time. (Happily for him, William Laud recovered from his bout of 'ague' well enough to go on to become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, a post he held until 1645, when he was executed on trumped-up charges of treason - a tale for elsewhere!)

Cuxton Rectory, 1868, watercolour by Emily
Clare Harvey (Canon Shaw's daughter-in-law)

Indeed, many of Cuxton's rectors chose to live elsewhere: Caleb Parfect, Rector from 1719 until his death in 1770, was to call the parsonage "aguish" and lamented that he struggled to find tenants that he could let the building out to as a result. The Rev. Parfect himself chose to live at his other benefice in Shorne in the summer, and at his house on Rochester during the winter.

 As Charles Moore wrote in answer to a questionnaire sent to him by the Bishop of Rochester in 1780:

“…I have expended some hundred pounds and made a considerable part of the walls brick which before were only thin lath and plaster, yet from the great indifference of the house itself and its very low, damp situation (being the very lowest spot in the whole parish, it can never be made comfortable or healthy residence at certain times of the year…”

Then as now, it seems that a nice house such as the rectory will always attract the attention of ne'er-do-wells and indeed, early in the morning of 6th December 1849, a 19-year old by the name of Thomas Godden from Strood broke into the rectory and stole a variety of small trinkets. He was soon apprehended by Robert Sampson, the local constable, and the stolen goods recovered. Godden was sent for trial and in March 1850 was sentenced to seven years' transportation.

It was during Shaw's tenure that the Rectory and its grounds became a centre for social events, initially to raise funds for the Rector's ambitious plans for the rebuilding of the church (which were to come to fruition in 1866). These events were, however, initially very much for "the elite", which is how the attendees of a "GRAND FANCY BAZAAR for the sale of LADIES' WORK" (which was held in the Rectory grounds on the 15th and 16th of June 1853 and which was to raise £150) were described in one local newspaper report at the time.

In 1858, Canon Shaw spent another £600 on the Rectory, enlarging the drawing room and adding a kitchen and over-room extension, as well as enlarging the stables and the coach house. The stable block was situated alongside the old Parsonage in Bush Road. The Rectory had an extensive garden and in 1875, the Rectory stable was converted into a gardener’s house at a cost of £162-11s-2d.

Canon Colson, c,1900...

Canon Shaw’s successor, Canon Colson, was also a keen gardener, fencing off the Rectory Garden in 1875 when he took office and building a heated greenhouse alongside Rectory Cottage at a cost of £140.  In 1876 he founded the Cottage Gardener’s Society, being of the opinion that:

“Few things add more to the temporal comforts and well being of a labouring man’s family than his taking pride in his garden. It may help lead him to better things – certainly keep him from worse…”

If only the robber barons who build our modern houses thought like Canon Colson.

The first cottage garden show was held in that year and the subsequent shows, held in the Rectory grounds, became an established fixture in Cuxton’s social calendar with Canon Colson’s hothouse plants (arranged by his gardener, Mr. Wilson) being a centre of attraction for many years. 

Unlike Canon Shaw's events, these were much more egalitarian affairs, with a large and enthusiastic attendance from the villagers of Cuxton. A report in the Tonbridge Wells Standard from 29 August 1884 depicts a lively afternoon, with large displays of fruit, vegetable and flowers, prizes for the best of them as judged by Lord Darnley's gardener, with the Lord and Lady Darnley themselves gracing the occasion with their attendance and all to musical accompaniment by a band from the Royal Engineers.  

The Cottage Garden Society, c. 1900.

A map from 1867 shows the extensive garden of the Rectory and the associated glebe land that stretched from the churchyard down to Bush Road. The map shows the area laid out as a park, with groups of trees and with Arrow Cottage, another cottage (now 35 Bush Road) and Rectory Cottage and stables forming the northern boundary along to the corner opposite the White Hart. 

Behind Rectory Cottage was a small pond, to the west of which was the main vegetable garden and an orchard.  Around the rectory were formal gardens and trees. There was even, right up until the 1930s,  a tennis court, located at the top of May Street. Canon Colson himself was an enthusiastic tennis player in his younger days, perhaps overly so: a report in the Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser from 30 August 1880 tells us that he "broke the small bone in one of his legs" while playing.   

OS Map of 1869, showing the Rectory and the glebe land...

Canon Toone, Canon Colson’s successor, continued in the tradition of gardening Canons. He employed Jack and Charles Cogger as gardeners, helped by Walter (Wick) and Jim Cogger. The Cogger family had a long association with the church dating back to William, who was the church clerk in 1850, and continued to maintain that involvement until quite recently (when Colin Cogger finally retired as a church bell ringer in 2022).

Canon Toone also used the rectory as a social centre for the village, particularly during and after WW1.

Convalescent soldiers from Cobham Hall military hospital attending a party at the Rectory. They were presented with gifts of cigarettes
and sweets by the two young girls, Lily Peters (left, to become Lilian Bennett, landlady of the White Hart until 1969 and wife of
landlord Bill) and Enid Symons (daughter of the manager of the Clinkham cement works, latterly Rugby Portland at Halling). 

As was the case with so many of Cuxton’s historic buildings, neglect and the passage of time sadly took its toll on the Rectory.  In 1935 some glebe land and Rectory Cottage was sold to Mr. George Cogger (which was to become Cogger's farm shop) to fund modernisation of the rectory. 

The Cogger family, tree-felling in the Rectory Garden, 1958. Looking on is Mrs. Rae, wife of Rector Charles Rae...

The Rectory gardens and remaining glebe land were still used regularly by the village as a community asset. As recently as the early sixties, the Scouts used to hold their annual jamboree - 'Scoutana' - on the Bush Road glebe land next to the scout hall (where the Glebe mini-estate is now) and the Rectory grounds and basement were used by the local youth club.

By 1961, when the Reverend Richard Allington Smith came to Cuxton, the building was in a sorry state, its roof timbers riddled with rot and according to the Reverend himself, draughty and difficult to heat. 

In January 1964, the Reverend Smith decided to sell off Rectory Meadow - no more Scoutana events there - to fund church repairs and to "prevent his own salary being a drain on parish resources". 

'Scoutana', 1961 - the White Hart is in the background...

It was around then that plans for a new rectory also began to emerge. It would doubtless have cost a lot of money to repair the rectory and it seemed the good rector didn't favour that option. Sure enough, a survey from the diocese confirmed that view. Only a cynic would suggest that the demolition of the rectory was driven by the likelihood of it (along with many old buildings in Cuxton that also happened to get demolished at the time) being given listed building status (as were both St, John's and St. Michaels churches in 1966), which would have prevented such an act of vandalism.

There was some suggestion from the diocese that the old Rectory be sold, the garden sub-divided and a new rectory built there, a plan which may have saved the building. The incumbent rector was having none of that.

"I made a counter-suggestion that the present house be demolished, a new rectory built nearby and the entire garden retained in its present state as a venue for fetes and similar functions and as a site for possible parish buildings," wrote the Rev. Allington-Smith in the March 1965 edition of the church magazine, claiming that his new rectory would be "a work of architectural equal, if not superior, to the old..."

The Rectory, 1964, just two years prior to demolition...

I feel that not many people would agree with that sentiment. The new rectory was built just to the north next to the old one and was completed in September 1966. In October 1966, the last meeting of the "Cellar Club" (the youth club that ran its regular activities in the rectory basement) was held and the Rev. Allington-Smith moved into his nice new rectory in November 1966, with the building being blessed on the 23rd.

Despite opposition from the Parish Council, the old rectory was demolished on November 14th 1966, leaving the smaller and undoubtedly more practical but far less elegant structure we see today. 

The Rev. Allington-Smith did not get to enjoy his new rectory for very long: he was appointed to St. Margaret's at Rainham in July 1967 and was replaced by the Rev. Ernest E. Turner in September 1967 (who was formally inducted in December that year).

Canon Shaw’s Rectory, possibly above all other buildings that have been lost from Cuxton, could and should have been saved. It seems staggeringly short-sighted to have allowed its destruction, even by 1960’s standards.

And now it seems that the history of the rectory may be coming to a close. In November 2024 Roger Knight, the Rector of St. Michaels since 1987, was compelled to retire at the age of 70 under arcane church regulations. The diocese seem in no hurry to replace him and instead have (so I understand) decided to sell off the rectory instead. 

Cuxton rectory, September 2025

About 3,500 churches in the UK have closed since 2013, while more than 900 places of worship are on Historic England’s “heritage at risk” register. I fear for our little church of St. Michaels, especially since the advent of the church hierarchy's plan to strip all decision-making powers away from local PCCs (GS2222) in its bid to accelerate the closure of all those pesky unfashionable little village churches that have supported them for the past 500 years. The C of E is not a business and churches surely do not have to make a profit. These closures seem morally wrong.

The church is not short of money. The Church of England's endowment fund alone generated a 10.3% return of a staggering £1.1 billion in 2024, while the total value of the fund grew to £11.1 billion. The income for the Church of England is much larger, encompassing parish income, investments and other contributions.  Sure, the church want to divert resources to churches in poorer or deprived areas and that's just fine. Cuxton wouldn't be classed as 'poor' or 'deprived'.

But the C of E are far from impoverished. They could easily support its loyal little churches like Cuxton as well as doing all of its trendy evangelical-seeming stuff. One hopes that the ecclesiastical powers-that-be will try and reinvigorate the parish with a new appointment in a bid to increase congregation sizes and local community involvement in our two churches, instead of running or shutting either of them down. 

We await developments - hopefully not of the housing variety...

References:

1)  Cuxton: A Kentish Village by Derek Church (published by Arthur J Cassell Ltd, 1976, ISBN 0 903253 12 7), Chapter 4, pp35-38, Chapter 6, pp59-60.

2) Church magazines and vestry/PCC records, Medway Archives Centre.

3) "FindMyPast" online newspaper archives.

A Comet From Peter's Village...

I took a walk over Peter's bridge and down to the river front there, to try and get a clear western horizon so that I could catch Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS...

Comet Tsuchinshan in the autumn twilight from Peter's Village...

This is an average of 10 x 10 second exposures: I could not convince myself that I could see it with my own unaided eyesight, though the head of comet could be seen in binoculars. 

I thought it would be good to make an effort to photograph it as it won't be coming back for another 80,000 years...

Halling Riverside....

 Some views from a sunny autumn day on the Halling riviera...

Mist clearing from Grey Pit lake (now called St. Andrews lake by the Redrow estates marketing folk...)

Grey Pit looking north-west

The River Medway from Halling riverside, looking south...

View towards Wouldham...

Looking north along the Medway...

St. John's at Halling...

The riverside path...

View across the river towards Wouldham...

View south down the Medway,,,

Rowan at Low Meadow....

Auroras Over Halling...

Just before midnight, the skies were lit by the brightest show of the Aurora Borealis that I personally have ever seen.  I rushed to grab a camera and managed to catch a few shots before they faded...

View north from my back garden, about 11pm

I had managed to photograph some aurorae back in May, but these were much brighter and I rather overexposed the shot. Rays of red light could be seen gently undulating, something I'd never seen before...

View north-east, about 11.30...

The bright show faded quite quickly. This picture shows the fading aurora against the background constellations of Auriga and Perseus. The Pleiades can be seen to the right...

Leicester University put their magnetometer readings online, giving some advance warning of auroral displays. This is the plot for the night of October 10/11th. It can be seen the auroras were on display all night, although they faded quite a bit after midnight.

The Sun's 13 year sun-spot cycle is now close to its maximum and sun-spot activity is expected to cause more bright auroras that can hopefully be seen from the south of England.

Out to Luddesdown...

Much as I would like to avoid the subject of the wretched vineyard these days, it occupies such a vast area that it is difficult to skirt around it if you are walking anywhere near Cobham or Luddesdown...

Hatch Hill...

Hatch Hill (above) has been in the clutches of the winery since its inception, and it shows. These days, I'm really past caring whether or not Vineyard Farms build their billionaire's concrete pleasure dome at Upper Bush. I hear they are quietly lobbying councillors once more and will be giving presentations to our elected representatives on their latest and undoubtedly still vainglorious and wholly unnecessary (at least from a community and national perspective) plans. What really gets me down is the weed-strewn neglect of any land that isn't under vines. It seems such a waste. Doubtless they will claim it's all for the benefit of wildlife blah blah and maybe it is, but to me it just seems like they have too much land to manage with not enough staff...

Late autumn view over Luddesdown valley...

View from Wrenches Shaw towards Cobham...

I know late autumn isn't a good look for any agricultural land but vineyards, with their exposed metalwork and miles of wire that make the fields look like war-zones, are especially ugly during autumn, winter and much of spring. They will look like this until May and the return of a welcome covering of leaves for a few short months.

Grapes left to rot on the vines...

As if to emphasise the waste, it seems that much of this year's bumper harvest is being left to rot on the vines. Whether this is down to a lack of labour, a lack of processing capacity or just quality issues, I don't know...

Starlings trying to sleep off their feast..?

...but at least the glut has attracted some wildlife back to the otherwise silent and empty fields. Flocks of starlings have been attracted to the bounty of waste and are gorging themselves insensible on the fermenting fruit. Normally they would be chattering away and squabbling amongst themselves on their perches, but this lot looked too squiffy to do anything much. Stragglers struggled to land first time and some on the ground seemed too woozy to even take off. Sad piles of feathers here and there suggested that perhaps local foxes had been taking advantage of the starling's state of apparent inebriation. I went back the next evening just before sun-set to see if I could catch a murmuration (something I haven't seen for a few years given declining starling numbers) but this lot were still perched quietly on the overhead wires, seemingly too stuffed or hungover to do anything...

Winery plant at Court and Brooker's farm yard...

The amount of kit at Court and Brookers Farm had certainly increased since the last time I bothered to look. The rotary wine presses were new additions and seemed to be quietly whirring away, so obviously something was being processed. I was surprised to see the open nature of the hoppers, but perhaps a bit of starling poo is all part of the unique flavour of the Silverhand brand...

Steel industrial vats for wine manufacture at Court and Brooker's Farm...

All these tanks (41 of them) were put in on the back of a RETROSPECTIVE planning application. This does seem to be the way Vineyard Farms work - act first, then seek permission later.  It's not the first time either. You really wish Gravesham Council's planners would just "grow a pair", refuse it all and insist the tanks were taken down, but I guess VF just have too much financial clout to be denied. Permission has been granted on a temporary basis, with the tanks having to be removed by 22 June 2026. I dare say Gravesham Council will cave in and grant an extension come the time...

As I made my way past the Golden Lion I became aware that the air was filled with a powerful, sweet, sickly aroma. At first I though it was coming from the wine factory behind the pub, but as I walked down the Luddesdown Road towards Cobham it got stronger and stronger....

Compost Corner...

It seems that what I once thought were piles of fly-tipped chalk were now being used to contain the (and perhaps neutralise the acidic) "pomice" (unwanted grape residues from pressing and juice extraction) for composting purposes. The stench was quite overpowering and I hope the wind keeps it away from Luddesdown village (and the Golden Lion) while it all rots down. I thought maybe VF might have given their proposed anaerobic digestion plant idea a whirl, but perhaps that wasn't really anything but a sop for planning purposes after all...

A "fly-tip here" sign...?

Given the amount of fly-tipping that goes on in the vicinity, this sign almost seems like the classic "kick me" joke but Vineyard Farms (always ready to throw money at problems they themselves create) have deployed a battery of security cameras in the area to keep an eye on things.  

The road, as usual, is also the subject of a retrospective planning application.  But hey, Vineyard Farms are very big and very rich, right? Why should planning laws apply to them? I see they've had their plans for a 40 space car park just up the road from the pub turned down, however.  They are also thinking about building a barn extension at the wine factory to act as an off-licence. There's already been a few accidents up the narrow lane due to winery traffic (roads signs knocked down, an HGV hitting a house, a mini-digger crashing while being towed - and these are only the ones that have made into the VF accident book, by all accounts...). I can't see these developments improving matters, but I have no doubt the Gravesham Council's planners will eventually roll over and let VF do just what they want. 

Apparently (according to VF's tardy tank application documentation), all of this development is part of a "Brexit Good News Story". Tells you all you need to know, really...

Warren Hill, looking west across Winterham Hill towards Cobhambury Road...

I had originally planned to walk up into Cobham but the cloying stench of VF's compost heap had clung to my clothing and left me feeling rather nauseous, it being one of those stinks that insists on following you everywhere. I therefore decided to head for home and walk back towards Cuxton along Warren Road. The land to the north of the road has been part of VF's empire for about three years now. It was planted out with rapeseed a while back, which was then just left, seemingly forgotten. It has finally been cut back and things look a bit tidier, if still a bit bleak and depressing...

The Warren, looking east...

I was cheered up to find out that Vineyard Farms/Silverhand Estate had finally attempted a bit of local outreach, with the "What's On" bit of their web-site (a thing of beauty, if not information) advertising a (free!) "community harvest day". More places were made available to accommodate a sudden interest from numerous Cuxton residents. This can only be a good thing (though I would be surprised if such things became a frequent and regular occurrence. We really aren't "their sort" after all...).

After having a play at picking a few grapes, the punters went back to the Golden Lion and a good time was had by all, so I hear.

The pub has long been known as "The Vineyard Farms' Social Club", by all accounts being oft-frequented by estate workers and patronised by VF's management alike. They have now cemented that close relationship by buying the lease of the pub, so I understand. Quite how long the Golden Lion will continue as a "local's pub" now is anyone's guess. Perhaps its long-term fate will to become rather like Chapel Down's The Swan at Tenterden, given the "high-end" aspirations of the new leaseholders.

(And that would be a pity because it is already the perfect pub - according to its landlord and landlady, at least. Go to their "TripAdvisor" page and you will see that anyone who leaves anything less than a four-star review must simply be a liar, an idiot or a chancer. And you can't argue with evidence like that...)

And all of this is why I dislike the vineyard so much. They just do what they want and even local councils run scared of them. 

I know it's "their" land but in effect, they have stolen the bluebells, the orchids and the butterflies from us and are reserving them for paying tourists at a price. We can't even stand and admire the view across Bush Valley without "trespassing". They have turned huge swathes of once beautiful, varied and productive ancient farmland into a bedraggled-looking, semi-industrial, sterile monoculture of grape production. They are still buying up or leasing property all around us. Luddesdown Court, the oldest house in the country, has been bought up by them and is now an AirBnB. (It would cost a family of four ELEVEN THOUSAND POUNDS to rent for just one week in summer, which shows you who the vineyard is really for - and it ain't us!). They've got all of this history in their possession and yet they feel they need to even hijack that, monetise it and churn out made-up bollocks for marketing purposes instead. 

Now you have pay for "vineyard tours" of  bluebells, orchids, wildflowers etc. But (as the innocent, early posts of this blog show) these were all things I used to enjoy at my own pace, on my own and for nothing until Vineyard bloody Farms came along. Now they've curtailed free access to "their" property, employed surly, swaggering "rangers" to tell us to "get orf our larnd" and are keeping it solely for the benefit of their wealthy paying customers.

As Joni Mitchell once sang:

"They took all the trees/Put 'em in a tree museum

And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

They paved Paradise/Put Up a Parking Lot..."

Wealdway to Cobham...

Today I followed the North Downs Way to the ridge above Buckland Farm, and then walked down the hill to pick up the Wealdway through Luddesdown and into Cobham...

Stonyfield...

Much of the farmland owned by our feudal overlords at the "Silverhand Estate" winery has been left to revert to wilderness. It was therefore good to see that the weeds at Stonyfield were being hacked back... 

View towards Buckland Farm from the Weadlway...

View north towards Cobham in the distance from the Wealdway...

Vines from the Wealdway...

Grapes awaiting harvesting...

The vines in this area appear to have delivered a bumper crop of grapes. Vineyard Farms are going to have to put some hard work in to harvest them all...  

View north through the vineyard from the Wealdway...

View east across the vineyard from the Wealdway...

More grapes for the harvest...

View looking south from the Wealdway back towards Buckland Farm...

Not sure whether this is to deter livestock or unwanted ramblers...

View towards Cobham...

Luddesdown Church...

Court Lodge Farm through the vines...

Hawthorn berries have also benefitted from the favourable conditions...

View across Luddesdown cricket ground from Henley Down...

Panorama looking south from Henley Down...

More farmland reverting to wilderness under vineyard "management"...

I hadn't walked from Luddesdown to Cobham this way since last year. I was saddened to see that Vineyard Farms appear to have extended their tentacles to encompass Cobhambury Farm. The cereal crops that were once grown here were a welcome change from rows upon rows of dreary, weed-infested vines. Alas, all that seems to be growing now are weeds, a sight common across much of the "Silverhand Estate" that is not under vines. 

It seems incredible that in these globally uncertain times in terms of food supply, we can allow a company owned by a billionaire tax-exile to sequester vast areas of productive arable farmland that is then allowed to revert to wilderness...

The remains of another Cobham windmill? Lord Darnley's one was in the village and is now a private house...

Vineyard Farms checking out their new barbed wire fence along Lodge Lane in Cobham...

New barbed wire fencing seems to be springing up around much of the land that is constantly being added to Vineyard Farms' estate. These fences seem to be doing far better than the "hedgerows" that the vineyard boasted about planting a year or so back. The tiny hedging twigs (bought with public-funded grant money - times are tough for billionaire tax-exiles after all...) were shoved in the ground at the start of last year's drought and unsurprisingly, most of them seem to have died...  

View across the valley from the Darnley trail...

View south from the hill above Warren Road...

Warren Hill wilderness...

The farmland to the north of Warren Road came under the tender care of the vineyard a couple of years ago. It was deep-ploughed, dragging up the unsightly chalk substrate, and has since been left to the weeds. Once again, productive farmland seems to be neglected and is reverting to wilderness...

View towards Cuxton across Forge Field...

A small oasis of managed land still exists above Forge Cottage....

Barrow Hill, view across Bush Valley...

...and still Barrow Hill remains weed-strewn. This, of course, was intended to be the site of Vineyard Farms' vainglorious winery, plans for which were finally rejected by the Planning Inspectorate a few months back. The time window to appeal to the High Court against that decision has long since elapsed. Both the Medway Council and the Planning Inspectorate websites give no indication that Vineyard Farms/MDCV UK Ltd have lodged an appeal, nor can I find any evidence of one on the High Court schedules to date.

Whisper it quietly, but I think VF may have finally abandoned their grandiose scheme, at least in its original design. 

We await their next throw of the dice...