Pluckley
Pluckley maps (2 available)
Map of Kent
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Pluckley books (30 available)
- 4 photos on Pluckley appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Pluckley
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Pluckley and Kent
Pluckley memories
Read and share memories of Pluckley and Kent inspired by Frith photos
Hop Picking
I used to go to Little Chart Farm, Pluckley as a child, being born in the East End in 1946. My memories are of freedom and adventure, long, happy carefree days spent in the beautiful Kent countryside, for a few weeks each summer. My aunt and uncle Ivy and Tom Smart had a wooden hut on the farm and my parents and I used to join them for a holiday. The picking of hops was a hard, thirsty and dirty job, their hands were stained green and smelt strongly of the hops. We kids used to explore, the surrounding area, scrumping apples from the orchards, and being chased by then farmer, visiting the spooky ruined church, of which there was supposed ...read more here
Contributed by alexandra mustin
Kent memories
Hop Picking
I used to go to Little Chart Farm, Pluckley as a child, being born in the East End in 1946. My memories are of freedom and adventure, long, happy carefree days spent in the beautiful Kent countryside, for a few weeks each summer. My aunt and uncle Ivy and Tom Smart had a wooden hut on the farm and my parents and I used to join them for a holiday. The picking of hops was a hard, thirsty and dirty job, their hands were stained green and smelt strongly of the hops. We kids used to explore, the surrounding area, scrumping apples from the orchards, and being chased by then farmer, visiting the spooky ruined church, of which there was supposed ...read more here
A memory of Pluckley contributed by alexandra mustin
Lovelace family
I am searching for any references or memories relating to the LOVELACE family
I am told there was a Lovelace Place and a Lovelace Chapel in the Roman Catholic church. If any person has any such knowledge, please contact me via this site.
A memory of Bethersden contributed by Joyce Wightman
Flying Horse
My parents Bryan and Margaret Hills-Johnes had the Flying Horse pub for a couple of years after he left the Navy 1958-60, I was around 6 yrs at the time and used to play with the Tilleys and Blacks. The car park across the road was a vegi garden where fresh produce was included in Mum's food. Eating lunch at the pub was a novelty because of the stigma about the 'wife's' cooking! but it was soon very busy. I learnt to write and spell on the dart board's blackboard, I went to the kindy at Headcorn by local M&D bus every day on my own, the school was behind what is now the Post Office /store and I still have ...read more here
A memory of Smarden contributed by Rod Hills Johnes
Extracts From Pluckley & Kent books
The 13th-century church of St Nicholas is one of several of its kind presiding over the villages of east Kent. It is situated in Britain's most haunted village, and the 'lady in white' has been seen at midnight throwing herself from the bell tower. Nearby is the 15th-century Black Horse Inn. For centuries the land here belonged to the Dering family, whose properties have unusual round-topped windows.
An extract from from"Kent Revisited Photographic Memories".
This is one of Kent’s most haunted villages. Ghost hunter Andrew Green recently looked into these tales for a new book, and found only one haunting still allegedly occurring. Apparently, a lady dressed in red is sometimes seen drifting around the graveyard of the church we see here. A barmaid from the Black Horse (we can see the sign) saw the figure pass clean through a gravestone! Recently Pluckley has become well-known and much-visited for another reason: the H E Bates story ‘The Darling Buds of May’ was filmed in the village.
An extract from from"Villages of Kent Photographic Memories".
Standing on a steep hillside north-west of Ashford, and with commanding views of the Weald, this charming village was near the seat of the Dering family. It is their black horse insignia which is displayed on the pub sign of the Dering Arms.
An extract from from"Kent Living Memories".
The church is close to
the photographer, yet he
is obviously in a rural
location. This shows how
comparatively small
Ashford was a century
ago. Will growth on a
similar scale take place
over the next hundred years?
An extract from from"Hythe, Romney Marsh and Ashford Photographic Memories".
This photograph was
taken a century ago, and
a world away from the
same road today, which
seems at times like a
public motor-racing
circuit - it is now part of
the Ashford ring road.
Again we see attentive
pedestrians, and manure
going to waste in the roof!
An extract from from"Hythe, Romney Marsh and Ashford Photographic Memories".