So, making for Kenardington church, I passed a nearby farm
I was sitting in the churchyard, coffee in hand and musing on that farm's name, watching a man mowing around the many ancient gravestones. As he drew closer I called out a "good morning". Which resulted in him stopping the engine for a chat. "Any idea why the farm down the road is called "Battle Hill Farm", I enquired. He settled beside me on the seat. "Well you've come to just the right person. I own the farm and, for my sins, am the churchwarden - all the work and little thanks.
" Close to where we are now was once an Alfred the Great era Saxon fort. My farm has been so called for centuries from, I suppose, a folk memory. But I have done a lot of research and the reason is that this was once on the edge of an estuary inlet from the river Rother, you can see where it was looking over to the valley over there.
"Well Viking longships rowed up there, attacked the half finished fort, established a base here and went along to ravage Appledore,, then a seaport, about three miles away.King Alfred had established other forts at Newenden and Lympne and soon got reinforcements along the coast to deal with the Viking camp and smashed the lot!"
Seeing my interest and answering my questions had obviously established that I was not just a chance tourist. "I have often picked up stuff from that battle site, bits and pieces of armour and a couple of swords, whilst ploughing over it. I keep them in the farm office, do you want to pop back down the hill to see them?"
Of course I was interested! When he had put the mower away we went down a footpath to the farm. He had quite a collection and I was reaching for my camera when he requested no photographs and did not want to tell me the exact field where he had made the finds.
"I don't want it shared around or I shall have metal detectorists and the county archaeologist all over the place. But I felt your interest and I don't often get the chance to show off my hobby."
Well the half hour coffee stop turned into over an hour's involvement, but a leisurely life on a bike is possible when you are a retired 80 year old!
12 comments:
I would have liked to see those swords. It's a good job you asked him!
You never know where a chat will lead...lucky you!
Tom:
They were extremely rusty and bent, with the wooden hilts all gone, of course, but recognizable if you knew the period. He had some bronze horse harness fittings too. He thought those were probably from King Alfred's mounted troops as the Vikings would have been on foot.
Helen:
Welcome to my blog. As you say, it pays to say "hello".
A valuable chance meeting indeed.
gz:
Good morning! I note you and The Pirate are still very busy and cycling often.
I was pootling along through your post until I reached the point where your informer went all secret. Didn't want the county archaeologist smiffing him out, or detectorists. He may own the land but does he own its history? Don't his finds deserve wider circulation pro bono publico? Might he not accept that British citzenship brings with it certain moral obligations?
Then I went back and re-read, "...for my sins (I) am the chuchwarden - all the work and little thanks." It sounded as if he'd taken the job expecting to be thanked. And was now whingeing. Yes, I'm well aware that that usage ("little thanks") tends to be used unthinkingly, thus as a cliché. Not meant to be taken seriously. But that's the trouble with clichés isn't it?
Wonder how he feels about disappearing EU subsidies. It's a tidy looking spread he's got down there. Feel free to delete this comment if you like. It's just RR digging up his old trade.
I think you may be reading into it points that weren't apparent to me at the time. Many farmers are taciturn, but he was a friendly character, especially when talking about his farm's special history, which had obviously become quite a hobby. The point about "for my sins" was meant good humorously.
Metal detectorists are the bane of most farmers' lives around that area, rich in Saxon era artifacts. Looking up the history afterwards (see links) it is obvious that the "Viking" activity is known pretty well by the archaeological authorities and the stuff he has found has little real value, except for his special interest. There were no Saxon crown jewels in the collection of what, to many, would be old rusty bits of metal and brass.
Yes, the farm looks very tidy and neat which, I think, reflects the manner he projected. That main entrance photo is also the entrance to his small caravan site (5 vans only) so I guess he wants to make it look welcoming and neat.
It would seem our Farmer has other iron in the fire
https://battlehillfarm.co.uk/
I take it the new Autumn photo of the Claud Butler is from years past
MGS
Mysterious "Anon";
Yes, he seems to have a thriving little camping and caravanning business.
Perceptive of you about the Autumn photo. That Claud Butler (you even got the spelling of Claud's first name right!) was my well used town commuter which I self converted to my first ebike.
Who are you, MGS?
Its always good to have a chat when out on the bike. His campsite is part of the Caravan and Camping Clubs Certified Sites which are only available to members. I can understand him not wanting metal detectorists wandering around but it would have been good if he had shared the finds with perhaps a loan to the local museum.
Dave:
Yes it looks a good site to go to for caravanning/camping. I should know as we caravanned for over 25 years until I had that damned stroke. All very clean and neat.
Talking to the owners of a small Appledore cafe I frequent when out cycling (Miss Molletts) that Saxon site is well known in the locality and no doubt the Kent museum at Maidstone is well aware of it too.
Avus: Didn't your blog carry a working analogue clock-face a little while back? I'm assuming you may have also carried the clock on your computer desktop. Why the disappearance? I ask because I used to carry a similar clock on my desktop. However I've just switched from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and am having to re-customise the OS. Adding a clock, once so simple, has become far more complicated and is fraught with advertisement concerns. A Windows forum recommended 8Gadget, said to be advertisement-free (it includes features other than the clock). I installed it but there are other disadvantages and I have had to uninstall. Did you also run into these bugbears?
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