BRiDGE VILLAGE

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The village of Bridge, i you have time and inclination, is worth

further study. A small distance to the south of the church is the house

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'built oy Sir Arnold Braems of which only the wing remains of the original

structure; recently drawings of the original house were discovered in
Amsterdam museum and after Chilham Castle it was the largest country

house in East Kent in the 17th century and had a large deer park and
aviary. At a later date it belonged to the Reverend Edward Taylor of
Bifrons who was a friend of Geroge 1V and J'1e iusten. Much of the house
is built with hand—madt Dutch brick which was brought over from Holland
and landed at Sandwich. A little further up the road from the church
towards Ebver lies "Englands Old Hole" which-is reputed to be the place
where the seventh Roman legion captured and slew the Britons in their

last attempt to stem off the Roman invasion. In 1829 when excavations
were made, a number of Roman arms and skulls were discovered at a depth

of five feet. The circular earthwork of the redoult still remains in

very good preservation after a lapse of more than 1900 years. The

village main street has not changed a great deal since the middle of the
19th century. There is a fine example of a Tudor cottage in the middle
and the White Horse public house is the scene of the flamous brawl of
Christopher Applegate, a friend of Ghristoper Marlowe who became famous

in the English army in the early 16th century. This incident is mentioned
in th“CaEterbury'C6urt records 6f‘T598Ts‘hurtherrup-the—street<a$rthe~—e~;e. ; .:—=ee——+~
post office is the place where Field Marshal Lord Kitchener sent his first
despatches at the beginning of the First world War. A little further up
the road is Bering Road named after Colonel Dering who raised the Duke

of York's own Regiment in 1794. He subsequently bought Howletts, a fine

ladian villa between Bridge and Littlebourne which was sold in 1816 to

 

ueorge Gipps a founder of the Canterbury Bank. In Union Road is an old
workhouse founded in 1335 now maintained by the Kent County Council as
an old age home. In 1793 Zechariah Cozens wrote: "the parish of Bridge
is but small and the soil in general is but chalky and barren, producing

several places heath and coppice wood, though throughout the whole

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eitent of the parish there is a beautiful variety of hill and dale.
From the woods around Bridge we have a most delightful View of the Vales
which are adorned with many gentleman's seats" and in 1815 Mr. Haddy James

Assistant Surgeon to the lst Life Guards returning from the Battle of K

Xjt3;loO wrote that "The neatness of the farms and the mode of

avriculture much impressed him between Dover and Canterbury".

The Dover noai 3har;es H. Harper Chapman & Hall 1885
Canterbury unier the Anaevin Kings. Dr.W.Urry Cathedral ArchiViSt
Kent Maccus Crouch

History of Kent 1793 Zechariah Cozens

Topographical Survey of Kent 1792 Hasted

England Arthur Mee 1936

Surgeon James Journal 1815 Joan Vasittart