THE SIGNPOST that is the bone of contention.

   

§POTLIGHT ON THE VILLAGES-:

24 BEKESBOURNE

  :.Village with a problem
* of its own

g

I E unobtrusive little village

'~ of Bekesbourne, some three
miles from Canterbury, has its
own peculiar problem.

Adjoining it is Patrixbourne,
and the boundary road is a
cause of contention between
the two villages and Kent
County‘ Council. . ,

Locally called Bekesbourne
Street, and ofificially Patrix-
bourne Street, it is misleading
for strangers, Bekesbourne
people claim.

The parish council and Women's
Institutes are asking the county
authority to signpost the road to
point out that one side belongs to
Bekesbourne and the other to
Patrixbourne.

At present the only signpost
indicates that the road leads to
Bridge. '

A spokesman of the county
council said this week that he
hopes to meet representatives of
thestwo parish councils to discuss
the position, “in the near future."

'GlNQUE PORTS “LlMB"

Bekesbourne was once, sur-
prisingly connected —with the
ancient Cinque Ports as a “limb” of
Hastings. For, of course. the village
is many miles inland.

As such it was compelled to con-
tribute men or money to the
Cinque Ports fleet, and in the 13th
century it provided one ship.

For the same reason, Bekes-
'bou.rne was outside the police
jurisdiction of Kent. Malefactors
had to stand their trial at Hastings.

And_.__.beeause no .other than

+1.’- u.....:....... ....u....-:o:.... ..:..—.,A

.

THE MAN IN ARMOUR in
the tower of Bekesbourne
Church, -Sir Henry Palmer.

ceased to hold his high ofiice in the
Church.

Thus Archbishop Granmer may
be claimed as one of Bekes-
bourne’s great figures of the
past.

St. Peter's Chu.rch,,p1cturesque1y
built on the summit of a grassy

hill. has a _Nprman doorway with

  

- H,\U«g-ggh-cmnrnrtgp-4-as-—,«rn b-4 n.-o-tn--r-nmo:«rn.,u;.3,n(,,_>_-,-O

are-nrnhm-rm |-In»-e—:~*.-,'{_Ig_Q:1m€."$.“%O’t1'#-rr!-U—In"n*v<v'~ "-"‘*-‘-‘-"‘*-'4

I can-'1'!-xtarvnin-:1


nlrvul. --

justice would often fly to Bakes-

bourne as a sort of sanctuary!

At last the ’Mayor of Hastings
hit on A happy idea.,He appointed
a. .leading« inhabitant of- Bekes-
bourne as his deputy. who was

uuun, nag-u-ya

 

BEKESBOURNE’S OLDESiT«
‘INI-IABITANT, .74-years—old' ‘
Mrs. F. Goodwin.

empowered to try prisoners at the
village court house now known‘ as
Cobham Court.

Administrative diflicultles again
arose when in 1597, the Lord
Warden" of the Cinque Ports ‘held
the Court of Shepway at Bekes-
‘bourne. It caused much ill-feeling
in the Kent ports.

Although not generally known;
.the modern world owes much to
past inhabitants of Bekesbourne.

PHYSIOLOGY EXPERT

In 1677, Stephen Hales, second
only to Harvey in the founding of
the science of physiology was born
here. He invented ventilating
machines and ‘processes for distil-
ling sea. water.

__Baoause he warned against the

darI_g"eF§"ef' aleohefj He can be‘

thought of as. the first popular

temperance man. .

Yet another worthy was Dr.
Charles Tilstone Beek-Beke (surely
an appropriate name!), who spent
many years of his life (1800-74) in
Abyssinia. mapping 70,000 square
miles, fixing the latitude of scores
oi’ nations, and putting on record a
dozen native languages.

Dr. Beek-Beke crossed the eastern
edge of the high tableland of East
Africa at points 400 miles apart,
and found the watershed of the
Nile and the rivers of the Indian
Ocean. 7

He was the flrst, in fact. to make
known the physical formation of
Abyssinia and East Africa.

The headstone of Dr. Beek-
Beke’s grave in the churchyard at
Bekesbourne states this his fore-
fathers lived at nearby
bourne Palace."

ARGHBISJ-i0PS’ RESIDENCE

The palace was, in fact. the old
residence of the archbishops of
Canterbury, but today not a lot of
the building survives.

Cranmer, the Protestant martyr,
here spent some of those critical
last months of his life when, on
the accession of Mary I. he had

 a shaft of oak timbers, packed with
’ flints, was found 13 It. below the

 ,1'%{ZCiQ99_Wi.n. era Bax
; ‘as listed
" we. -:iHer

“Bekes-’

-“‘i'\a was... u\.uwu\..u_u. uuu UL

existence.

The interior of thechurch is of
flint, and; fortuna.tely,, no attempt
has been made to cover the walls
with plaster. _ . '

This rugged effect is attractive-
contrasting, as'it does, with the
bright colours of “the numerous
stained glass windows.

In the tower is the efflgy of Sir
Henry Palmer, kneeling in annour.
It has been here since the days of
Shakespeare.

ROMAN REMAINS

Roman remains are common in
Kent, particularly in the Canter-
bury area, and some were dis-
covered at Bekesbourne a number
of years ago. .

when the railway was being laid,

.g1z_‘ound.
-';,_;.l_n»-the shaft. were...seven urns-
fuflihf human ashes. They were
lntobably the remains of some
'_1‘iTl1fl0'_l'tant Roman family, who
-‘lived here 16 or 17 centuries ago.
..{R'etuming to the present, the
.oide.;i;..1miabitant,.a4-_yI¢fl-s-ozd Mrs.

v-..m Ht‘. ¢

 — esnauruzrui ’,'
in Bekesbourne all her
birthplace was jhe
Ifnglcorn Inn. only
from her present cottage!
As a. girl, says'Mrs. Goodwin,_she
ked in every field in the parish.
“Weused to be paid a penny an
 you earned a smiling in a
y, you were lucky.
“In the autumn, children used to

t ke chestnuts to Canterbury
ops. They were paid 9d. a
bushel."

' lonce the rent of her cottage was

. ‘6d. a. week. This figure has now
bren trebled.

.-‘Mrs. Goodwin was married at st.
Peter's in 1905, and she and her
‘husband Fred celebrated their
ghlden wedding in May this year.

«Bekesbourne made its distinctive
contribution to the 1939-45 war
eiort by having a small R.A.F.
station. The ‘hangars are still there.
but_the land is now back again in
the hands of the farmer.

two doors awa;y"_

. rs!--‘

"""P°2‘$1:"

' H-5:! man-q

fnH'1¢‘