Holly Hill to the Luddesdowne moonscape...

I started this walk from Holly Hill House in darkest Snodland. Heading north along the main path leads down the hill through Punish Wood and onto Wrangling Lane.  At the bottom of Lockyers Hill, the track of the Wealdway can be taken.

The Wealdway, towards Luddesdowne...

This heads northwards towards Luddesdowne, and used to offer spectacular views of the lush arable farmland across the Luddesdowne valley.  However, the new landowners have completely transformed the nature of the valley in their quest to convert this centuries-old arable farmland into a modern vineyard.

The full extent of this work can be seen from the top of the hill by Round Wood...

The moonscape of Luddesdowne Valley...

What would normally be lush green farmland has been replaced by something resembling the former chalk quarries of Halling.  The deep ploughing (presumably for the benefit of the vines that may eventually be planted) has not only brought the underlying chalk to the surface in great ugly, dusty swathes, but has also obliterated many of the public footpaths.  That is not to say that access has been blocked, but the old pathways that had been worn smooth by the passage of walkers have been roughly ploughed up, and only vaguely reinstated by driving a tractor up and down them a few times...

What's left of footpath NS214 from Cutter Ridge Road to Wrenches Shaw...

These deep ruts in no way replace the original paths. Using them is now a slow, hip-grinding, knee-wrenching, ankle-twisting experience. That, combined with the desertification of the valley, has removed any pleasure from walking in the area for the moment, which is a great shame.  I shall be taking other paths this summer, I think.

Another act of "land management" has been the flailing of the hedgerows to within an inch of their lives. The old hedgerows were around six to eight feet high and were probably overdue for a bit of a tidy-up. Instead, they have been crudely hacked down to about three feet. Mercifully, Hawthorn hedges are tough old things and these are already recovering from the brutal treatment given to them. Still, the hack-back should stop the wild birds from nesting in them for a while, or providing cover for all those Gatekeeper butterflies that used to patrol Cutter Ridge Road in the summer...

Hacked hedgerows...

Ironically, one of the things to have survived these activities is the sign proclaiming the area to be a "Roadside Nature Reserve"...

Towards Luddesdowne Church from Wrenches Shaw (10)...

At the top of the path above, just behind where this picture was taken from by the edge of Wrenches Shaw, can be found a memorial bench, to the memory of the late Ray Bassett and his wife Eiley.  I understand that Ray used to be a champion of the footpaths around Luddesdown and did much to ensure they remained clear and open over the years. I wonder what he would have made of all this?

Still, I suppose these things are all part of the great cycle of change that these lands are forever subjected to. I had not envisaged the mechanics of preparing a vineyard to be quite as destructive as it has turned out to be, but I assume that the current mess is merely transient. The land, paths and hedges are likely to recover in time and (unlike most of North Kent) we can be thankful that the area is unlikely to be Redrowed, Bellwayed or Persimmoned in the forseeable future.

But surely this cannot have done the soil fertility any good at all.  The soil in the valley wasn't great, but deep ploughing it has surely removed what little fertility there was.  It'll be interesting to see if any soil remediation work takes place before planting.  I can't imagine anything growing on this will be commercially viable otherwise.

Fortunately, I have kept some memories and records of how things used to look.

Stonyfield Wood

I am sorry to relate that Stonyfield Woods (at the top of the slope to the north of Court Farm in Halling) has undergone a brutal bout of coppicing. Stonyfield is (sorry, was) largely chestnut coppice, but there were some mature single specimen trees in their absolute prime that have been taken down as well as the coppice stuff.  A few mature but rather twisty oaks and beech (the non-coppicing trees) have mercifully been left behind as might be expected.

Yes, coppicing was long overdue, but I always thought that single specimen trees got left. You can see the size of some of the trees taken out by the size of the logs in the picture below. A ring count showed some of them to be over 90 years old.  Why the sudden demand for timber after all this time?

I was puzzled by this as Cemex (or at least, their tenants) have been pretty good at looking after the extensive swathe of SSSI woodland (the Halling and Trottiscliffe Escarpment) that runs to the north of Pilgrim’s Road across the top of the hill and down either side of Bush Valley to Warren Road.  They kept the footpaths and farm tracks clear and the brambles under control and pretty much left the trees alone.

But it seems it doesn’t belong to Cemex any more.  After some tortuous dealings with the Land Registry, it seems that Cemex have sold their land holdings off, mostly to the same people who have just bought Court and Brookers Farm: Vineyard Farms a.k.a. MDCV Ltd). It seems that, not content with ploughing up that wonderful valley for their vineyard, the Vineyard folk are now attacking the woods as well. 

Why now, I wonder? Any tree felling works in an SSSI require a licence from the forestry commission (though I guess Cemex simply transferred that to the new owners as they are good for 10 years). But Natural England also have to grant permission for tree felling as well. The work is being done by Tilhill, who check out as a pretty responsible company (no Environment Agency prosecutions, anyway), so one assumes all is in order.  (Update: it was. I checked with the Forestry Commission and there is a felling licence in place, although Natural England said they could find no record for permission for SSSI woodland tree work "at the moment." But NE are pretty hopeless, to be honest, and I actually trust Tilhill, after talking to their guys doing the work in the woods.)

It doesn’t really matter. The trees will quickly grow back. But Stonyfield was home to a thriving colony of White Admiral butterflies. Their larvae feed on honeysuckle on which they hibernate over the winter, and have doubtless been destroyed along with the trees.

They are pretty fussy about the condition of the honeysuckle they lay their eggs on. They like straggly stuff in the shade on a stand about 10 feet high but with the bottom couple of meters free from nearby brambles etc, as that's where they lay their eggs. The larvae aren't hard to find at this stage as they sit on the tips of the centre stem of the tip of honeysuckle leaf and nibble either side away. In September they fold a honeysuckle leaf over themselves and settle down to hibernate until around late March. A couple of years ago I found four of these "hibernacula" on a big stand of honeysuckle on a tree that had blown over in a storm. I was able to raise the caterpillars through to adulthood in the spring, releasing them back at Stonyfield, which was very rewarding.  

In July on a sunny day you could often see as many as a dozen of these beautiful insects (and that's a lot, for this species) flying through the dappled sunlight on the main path, with their powerful wing-beats followed by a characteristic glide. 

But no more. White Admirals are not a protected species (though they should be - they are scarce) and the coppicing of woodland in SSSI areas is not illegal assuming the right licensing and permissions are in place, so Vineyard Farms have broken no laws.

But they are not endearing themselves to anyone at the moment, or at least, not to me. 

Upper Halling: Cottages, Courts and Farms...

OS map of 1938, showing detail of Upper Halling...

A walk southwards down Pilgrims Road in Halling takes you past Prings Cottage (2)  Parts of the Grade 2-listed timber-framed Wealden hall-style house date back to 1450 but it was allowed to fall into disrepair by the cement company that came to own it.  

Prings Cottage today...

Fortunately, in the 1960's, a private owner (a Mr. Arthur Harrison) bought and restored the cottage, much to his credit and to the benefit of our surroundings...

Newspaper clip, c.1964, about Mr. Harrison and Prings Cottage (credit Frank Smith)

Prings Cottage, 1959, before restoration

In the above photo, the timber frame of the original wall can be seen. A third bay of the cottage used to exist on the left-hand side of the cottage as viewed above, which was probably demolished around 1600.

Looking east from above Court Farm, 1955 and 1973...

The above pair of pictures show the countryside around Prings Cottage as it was before the extension of the Grey Pit chalk quarry up to just south of Pilgrims Road. The edge of the original quarry can just be seen on the far left of both pictures.

On early Ordnance Survey maps, Court Farm (1) is referred to as Upper Halling Court, but I believe this may be an error: from notes I have with the photo below, I think Upper Halling Court is the row of cottages that used to be further along Pilgrims Road.

The 1955 version of the picture above shows the old Upper Halling Court (3) on the left of the picture, down from Prings Cottage on the far right.  A larger building than Prings Cottage though of the same lineage, it was sub-divided into cottages (1-4 Pilgrims Road) which were sadly demolished in the late fifties. The footings can still just be seen in the 1973 view above.

Old Upper Halling Court, c.1947, before demolition...

Court Farm (1) is another place with a long history dating back to the fifteenth century, when it appears that the old Manor House (cited in many histories of Kent) was called "Langridge". The interior contains substantial remains of a timber-framed Elizabethan open hall house. A later brick-built wing was added at the southern end in the seventeenth century and incorporated part of the original hall house and gallery.

Court Farm, c.1900...

Old photographs show the outstanding feature of this "new" wing, a massive chimney stack topped with a set of four brick chimney shafts (Tinnoth House, at the other end of Pilgrims Road, has similar-looking chimneys, although this was a much later Lord Darnley build). Internally, this wing contained the remains of three fireplaces of moulded brick skimmed with mortar and ornamented, one having a typical Tudor four-centred arch.

Oddly, given its magnificence, this wing was eventually relegated to a store for farm equipment. The northern wing was probably not built at the same time, but appears to be a later copy of the southern wing. Early photos show the round type of oast in front of the building, these dating from 1839. 

View from above Court Farm, c.1920...

By 1966, the south wing had badly deteriorated and was in poor condition. The chimney shafts had already been partly demolished and the remainder of the stack was shored up. Two of the three round oasts had already been decapitated and were being used as stores.

The chimneys finally collapsed in 1973. In 1975, the Dutch Barn burned down. Further damage to outbuildings occurred during the Great Storm on 1987.

The present building has had much rebuilding, including restoration work after the chimney collapse in 1973.

View over Court Farm, c.1973: see c.1920 view above...

Court Farm, c.1973, same view as the c.1900 photograph above...

Court Farm, c.1973...

In 1840, title deeds show that a Mr. William Holding took over the tenancy of the farm. Around this time, between 1838-47, the property became known as Court Farm. 

Since 1871, Court Farm has been run by the Lingham family, who still farm the surrounding area today. Andrew Lingham also works closely with Plantlife, using his skills and unrivalled local knowledge to help maintain Ranscombe reserve over the hill in nearby Cuxton. Without the Linghams' involvement, I suspect the local countryside around Cuxton and Halling would look very different, and not for the better. 

Court Farm today...

The current farm shop opened in 2003, and has established a good reputation as a high-class butcher offering local and often farm-produced products. 

Update: On September 1st. 2021, the Cuxton Bakehouse moved their bakery operations to Court Farm, offering a local home delivery service (by bicycle!) for fresh-baked bread and cakes, with a small selection also available in the farm shop.

Tim Bedford, the Cuxton Bakehouse baker, at the door of his new premises on opening day...

Second Update: In April 2023 (after suitably cleaning up one of Andrew Linghams's old barns), the Moot microbrewery and tap room opened its doors to the thirsty of Upper Halling, who have had a 20 year wait to regain a local watering hole...

Team Moot (photo stolen from here...)

References:

Across the Low Meadow - A History of Halling in Kent, by Edward Gowers and Derek Church, 1979.

April showers...

Dodging the showers to get to Cuxton library, where the ornamental cherry is in full blossom...

Just at the entrance to library driveway, I noticed a pretty covering of Ivy-Leaved Toadflax...

The heavens opened just as I was walking through North Halling...

To Luddesdown Church...

The usual route from North Halling...

The woods are just starting to green up in the warm Spring sunshine...

Mays Wood

Wingate Wood

Wood Anenomes...

The deep ploughing of the fields for the planting of vines has started.  It is not pretty...

Luddesdown valley - view from Wrenches Shaw

Luddesdown Church looks rather splendid at this time of year...

Luddesdown Church...

Luddesdown Church...

Taken from the above web-page: "St Peter and St Paul is still a focal point of the scattered community of Luddesdown and its surroundings, little larger than it was when the Domesday surveyors of 1086 recorded 'a church here'."

"The history of Luddesdowne Church, post-Conquest, is poorly documented and has to be read against the fate of the Norman knights and their successors who acquired the manor. Following the church reforms of Henry III, many noblemen rebuilt their own small, cramped manorial churches, and this probably happened in Luddesdowne, where the earliest verifiable fabric, seen in the north and west walls, dates from the thirteenth century.

The tower and south aisle were then added in the 14th century, and so the church acquired the basic form in which it stands today. However, in 1865 the nave roof fell in requiring a major rebuilding. The reconstructed church was consecrated in 1867. Over the course of the next three decades the rector the Revd Alfred Wigan and his family furnished and decorated the church in accordance with their high church Oxford Movement tastes. Notably, they employed the firm of Heaton, Butler and Bayne to install stained glass windows and the fine set of wall and ceiling paintings which survive to this day.

Other historical features of note surviving in the church include a 14th century log ladder in the tower, three medieval bells, a 15th century brass, and a fine Caen stone reredos depicting the Last Supper installed in 1873 and designed by Ewan Christian."

I decided to walk back along Warren Road.  The venerable oak on the corner of the junction with Cobhambury Road has yet to strike leaf, but is surrounded by a carpet of yellow Celandines...

Oak, Warren Road

Celandines...

The hawthorns were in full blossom...

Hawthorns, Warren Road...

This young oak tree appears to be arising out of the ruins of its ancestor...

Dog Violets were putting up a good display nearby...

Dog Violets...