THE HISTORY OF BUCKLAND AND ALLINGTON

(With special reference to Allington Millennium Green)

Updated in 2017

Section 1

William Buckland, the Dean of Westminster, died in 1856. It was apparent that his mind was very disturbed during the last few years of his life, and it has been suggested that an event which occurred only a few hundred metres from the Millennium Green contributed to his mental decline. When I mention this, some people immediately make a link between his name and the local area, but this is a coincidence, as the place name 'Buckland' has other origins (more about this in another section, perhaps).

No, Buckland was embroiled in the debate which arose after the discovery of the Maidstone Iguanodon (now to be seen on Maidstone's coat of arms) in W H Bensted's quarry off Queen's Road in 1834, as he was not only a senior clergyman, but a celebrated geologist and palaeontologist. However, he believed firmly in the Biblical Flood, and wrote a famous treatise, Reliquiae Diluvianae, or Observations on the Organic Remains contained in caves, fissures, and diluvial gravel attesting the Action of a Universal Deluge.

The Iguanodon skeleton was purchased for £25 by another fossil hunter, Dr Gideon Mantell, and became known as 'the Mantel-piece'! It was only the second dinosaur to be given a proper Latin name; the first, named by Buckland, was Megalosaurus. It was once suggested that the site of the Millennium Green may have been another of Bensted's quarries, but research into old maps shows that this was not the case, and that the land was put to agricultural use. However, there is no doubt that a mass of fossils underlies the Green and the whole of Allington, embedded in the Ragstone which was formed in shallow Cretaceous seas.

Buckland found that his theories about the supposed Flood were assaulted on all sides by other scientists who were beginning to realise that the Earth was far older than had been supposed: a popular assertion that it was created on 23rd October 4004 BC was inaccurate by many hundreds of millions of years! He died three years before a great hammer-blow was delivered by the most celebrated publishing event of the nineteenth century, when Charles Darwin's astonishing book startled the world: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. All churches reeled under the weight of Darwin's arguments about evolution, and have fought an unequal struggle with his ideas ever since. The Church of England took a brave stand in September this year, when it made a formal apology to Darwin, 200 years after his birth, probably to distance itself from fundamentalist Christians. These words were written by the Church's Director of Mission and Public Affairs:

'Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of "faith seeking understanding" and hope that makes some amends. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests. Good religion needs to work constructively with good science – and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well.'

What would William Buckland have thought? Isn't it interesting how close we can be to places that were associated with major events, often without ever realising their significance?

Section 2

‘Why isn’t there a water feature on the Millennium Green?’ This question was asked by a young person in a working party from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (They kindly trimmed herb bushes and pruned all of our apple trees during an activity day.) That was an interesting question, as I was able to say, ‘Well, there was water here once.’

The Green lies in a dry valley which ‘drains’ towards the Medway, and evidence of this fact is provided by the pronounced dip in London Road between Tesco and the Pippin pub, and by the topography of Little Buckland Avenue. Of course, over the years, extensive building works have made major changes to the shape of the valley. Not least amongst these were the huge efforts which must have been made in the 1920s (possibly mainly by manual labour) to create the level sports field which was the forerunner of the Green.

This valley was created by a stream which probably started to flow towards the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago, when the area had a Siberian climate and was roamed by mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, sabre-toothed tigers and Neanderthals. As the water table has dropped over the centuries, the source of the stream has shifted down the valley, and it now emerges as a spring in the grounds of Maplesden Noakes school.

Various professional archaeological studies were carried out in the 1990s, before the Green could be established, but they missed the presence of the stream, as the surveyors did not walk far enough down the valley or ask locals for assistance! This may have clouded their judgement slightly regarding the likelihood of early settlement in the Allington area; nevertheless, they came to some interesting conclusions, which I will describe in future sections.

And to answer the question which was posed by our young volunteer helper: we designed the Green without a water feature for reasons of safety, as we realised that it could have posed considerable hazards to local children.

I’ll be mentioning the Romans as well in the future, and we are very pleased that Kevin Murton of Fleet Graphic Management has just installed some digitised images of Roman-type mosaics, in the central feature of the Green. These mosaics were designed by pupils of three local primary schools: Allington, Brunswick House and Palace Wood, with the aid of a professional artist, Peter Kesteven. However, when we tried to install them as proper mosaics we ran into technical problems - hence the digitised images instead. Please go and have a look at the really creative ideas which the children produced.

Section 3

What human remains from the Prehistoric period have been found in Allington? Well, very few! However, if we look at nearby areas, there are significant human (Neanderthal) artifacts at Oldbury near Borough Green. Oldbury is an elevated hill fort, so features were much less likely to be eroded from it than from the sides of the Medway Valley, where we are situated. Some Mesolithic flint tools were discovered across the valley near Springfield, but the Neolithic is when there was probably significant human settlement in the area, as the first famers moved into Britain from the continent. There is some interesting speculation to be made about this period, in view of remains which occur further along the Medway Valley, so in the next section, I’ll do some speculating about the area around Allington Castle, and Little Buckland, where the Green is situated.

I have realised that in order to be able to make proper references to archaeological issues, I need to provide a time scale (see below). You might like to keep this to hand for future reference (and it may be useful in your more general reading as well.) I have adapted this from schemes which are in common use, but bear in mind the fact that dates can be variable, depending on the authority consulted. I have ‘tailored’ the Prehistoric dates, for example, to fit the British situation and cover only the period when the first humans are likely to have reached the British Isles.

With the use of modern scientific techniques, the dating of actual objects and fossils is becoming ever more refined, and details of these techniques can easily be found on the Internet. It’s worth remembering, however, that an error of 1% for example, equates to 5,000 years in an overall period of half a million years! And when one considers that the age of the Earth is at least 4.5 thousand million years, there is plenty of room for error!

PREHISTORIC Palaeolithic 50,000 to 12,000 /10,000 BC Mesolithic 12,000 /10,000 to 4,000 BC Neolithic 4,000 to 2,000 BC Bronze Age 2,000 to 600 BC Iron Age 600 BC to 43 AD

HISTORIC Roman 43AD to 410 Saxon /Early Mediaeval 410 to 1066 Mediaeval 1066 to 1485 Post-Mediaeval 1485 to Present

Section 4

I have long suspected that St Laurence’s church at Allington was built on an ancient site which had been used since pre-Christian times. Pagan worship and burial sites were often reused by the Romans and by Saxon church builders, and in the case of St Laurence’s a Roman villa is thought to lie next to it, under the gatehouse of Allington Castle. However, further circumstantial evidence arises from observations of some other phenomena.

Our younger daughter, Philippa, used to ride at Trottiscliffe, and I spent many happy hours with our dog, exploring the area around the village. Trottiscliffe and nearby Addington are famous for the remains of massive Neolithic burial chambers (long barrows), built by the earliest British farming communities. One of these, Coldrum Stones (where over 20 people were buried), is on a direct line which can be drawn on a map through the churches at Trottiscliffe, Snodland and Burham, and this might be a so-called ‘ley line’. Many ancient sites appear to have been lined up by their prehistoric builders, and it is thought that Trottiscliffe church itself may have been built on a long barrow, as large ‘sarsen’ stones can be seen in its foundations.

St Laurence’s church lies on another direct line with the churches at Addington and Wrotham, a burial mound at Otford, and bizarrely, ‘Allington Farm’ in Hollingbourne!

But what of the Millennium Green, and adjacent Little Buckland? Well, this is really interesting, as they both lie on yet another direct line with the long barrow remains at Kit’s Coty and Little Kit’s Coty, St Laurence’s church, Linton and Hawkhurst churches, and (almost) the two churches dedicated to All Saints in Maidstone and Loose. Moreover, it is believed that there was a Roman villa on the same orientation in Buckland Lane, and outside the old farmhouse at Little Buckland there is a large standing stone, whose origins have never been explained satisfactorily by anyone whom I have questioned, including archaeologists.

There is a belief that Giddyhorn Lane and Buckland Lane are parts of an ancient trackway, as our former Rector, Alan Watson, always used to say, and there is some very interesting information available about Buckland Lane in Roman times, as I’ll explain in a later section.

So, what does all of this prove about the early origins of our ancient church, the Millennium Green area and Little Buckland? Well, nothing conclusive, as you will agree, but if anyone wants to look into the ley line issue in more depth, I would be very interested to learn of their findings. There is much more firm evidence about our local area from about 2,000 years ago, as I hope that you will begin to discover below. Section 5

‘So, do you have any idea where this cemetery is located?’ That was a question posed by a member of staff in the County Archaeologist’s department after the site of a major Roman burial ground to the south of Maidstone had been ‘lost’. I made a few suggestions, but my evidence was the same as the department’s: some detailed articles about Roman Maidstone which were published by local clergymen in the nineteenth century. (It seems that clerics had a lot of time on their hands in those days!)

These articles contained both facts about archaeological finds (many of which are now in Maidstone museum) and educated guesses about what happened here 2,000 years ago. The authors read Latin, of course, and had pored over early writings, trying to identify references to this part of Kent. They made some fascinating points: the names ‘Week Street’ and ‘Wyke Manor’ were probably derived from vicus, or town, and ‘Perry’ and ‘Perryfield’ streets may take their name from ‘bury’, or fortification. Moreover, the name ‘Stone Streeet’ provides an answer to John Cleese’s famous question, ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’

Buckland Lane figured prominently, as the Reverend Beale Post was of the opinion that it had been an important Roman road, and part of a route from London which crossed the Medway at Radford, below Springfield. He thought that Springfield was the site of a military post (hence ‘bury’), at the junction with another major road from Rochester, which went along Sandling Road, Week Street and Stone Street, and on into the Weald. Along the line of the road from Rochester, and in the general area of Maidstone, there were many villas, and Post’s view about Buckland Lane was supported by the finding of what appeared to be a Roman villa, adjacent to the Millennium Green. But, just like the cemetery mentioned above, the site of this villa was lost, so where is it?

The Millennium Green has a Roman theme: mosaics by local primary schools, and Roman herbs and sundial. These reflect its proximity to the supposed villa, but since 1858, everyone has relied on a description written by the Reverend Beale Poste:

‘… a 1/4 of a mile before [Buckland Lane] reaches the river, it passes the foundations of an apparently extensive Roman villa, which was placed on a species of terrace to the right. These foundations are in a cherry orchard on the farm of Little Buckland, the property of Mrs Seabrook. The neighbouring cottagers report that they formed a great obstruction when the orchard was planted, - now about 23 years since. Roman coins are stated to be found in the vicinity.'

Was the farm the house which became Sharp’s pavilion or that which still stands between the railway lines? Originally, Buckland Lane comprised just the lower (southern) section, which was a ‘hollow lane’ until it was filled with stone some decades ago. In 1883, the Reverend Scott Robinson placed the villa between the railway lines; in 1908, the Ordnance Survey showed it where numbers 4 to 10 Buckland Lane now stand, but a later map showed it at the corner of Hyde Road, on the left of old Buckland Lane, so this must be wrong.

Pottery and tiles were found on Sharp's sports ground in about 1930, but the Oxford Archaeological Unit found nothing in the 1990s. Later, a professional archaeologist and I found many tiny fragments of Roman tile, and we concluded that the villa was probably under the houses in Buckland Lane, but the term ‘species of terrace’ could refer to the rising land along Little Buckland Avenue. Archaeologists from Canterbury surveyed the area extensively in 2002, and their report states,

‘It seems probable that the only way to possibly confirm the presence of a Roman building… would be… to excavate a series of small trial trenches.’

Any Roman remains could be buried quite deeply, but everyone in the area might like to watch out for coins, jewellery, mosaic tesserae, stone foundations, etc.: we might be living on an archaeological treasure trove!

Section 6

The ‘Dark Ages’ lasted from AD 410 to 1066, and information about Allington during that period is almost non-existent. A vast number of events would have taken place locally during those 650 years, but we don’t know anything about them! The name appeared for the first time as ‘Elentun’ in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Saint Augustine landed in Kent in AD 597, and the cathedrals in Canterbury and Rochester were founded just afterwards. Many ‘Saxon’ churches were built a little later, and even today, some local churches, like those at Bearsted and Leeds, show evidence of Saxon architecture. So, was the church of Saint Laurence originally Saxon? No one seems to know. Some people have suggested that the name Buckland originated in the Dark Ages, and that it derives from ‘bookland’, meaning land owned by the church; however, the use of this name in a charter from AD 898 may have referred to East Farleigh. Others have suggested a Roman origin for the name, but we know that the Buckland estate was owned by Allan de Bocland in about 1270, so he might have brought the name with him from elsewhere.

‘Strip farming’ is a term that sunk into my consciousness at primary school. Before the Norman conquest many peasants farmed strips of land, partly because that was all that they had, but also because terraced strips on a hillside might help to prevent soil erosion. Ploughing still caused soil to ‘creep’ into long mounds, and one archaeologist suggested that the high bank between the two parallel sections of Buckland Lane is one of these ‘strip lynchets’. This is nonsense: no such lynchet would be three metres high and formed of solid rock! Much more likely is that this was the result of erosion by the lost stream and the wearing down of the old lane through countless centuries. This must all have happened before the late fourteenth century, as Little Buckland Cottage dates from that time.

In the next section we’ll move into the Mediaeval period, about which much more is known.

Section 7

When William of Normandy invaded Britain in 1066, the ‘Mediaeval’ period began. ‘Elentun’ appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086, which said that the parish had a church, but the modern spelling did not appear until 1579. Allington was owned for a time by Bishop Odo, William’s half- brother, and it seems that a motte-and-bailey castle replaced an earlier Saxon fortification. There followed a series of owners of the manor, with various buildings on the site, until the castle as we know it began to emerge at the end of the 13th century, thanks to Sir Stephen de Penchester, and it dominated Allington until comparatively recent times. (Full details of its complex history can be found in an excellent and well- researched publication by the present owner, Sir Robert Worcester.)

Notably, the Mediaeval period ended in 1492 with the death of Joan Moresby, the last lineal descendant of Sir Stephen de Penchester to live in Allington.

The chapel of St Peter, which still exists in St Peter’s Street, was founded as part of a hospital, possibly in 1261, but like so many early churches, it was ruined by Victorian ‘improvements’. It was attached to the Manor of Allington for part of the Middle Ages, so perhaps it was appropriate for it to merge with the modern parish of Allington towards the end of the last century.

Among the Saxons bocland, in contradistinction to the fockland occupied by the common people, was devisible by will, and might be shared in equal portions among the children of the holder. The estate was in the time of King John granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to Allan de Bocland to hold in frank fee. It was then described as one yoke and ten acres of land, with appurtenances in Maidstone. In the year 1270 it was in the occupation of Walter de Bocland, and a dispute as to its possession arose between him and his brother Allan, who brought the question before the Justices Itinerant, and sought to obtain a moiety of the estate, the tenure of which had been changed by the archbishop without the consent of the Chapter of Canterbury. The plea, however, was overruled, and judgment was entered for the defendant. Buckland, of which four hundred acres were in the parish of Maidstone, was, in Henry the Fourth's reign, merged into the demesne lands of the College of All Saints, and on the dissolution of that house it passed to the Crown. It was granted by Edward VI. to George Brooke, Lord Cobham, whose grandson in 1603 forfeited it for treason. His wife was, however, permitted to enjoy it for her life; and after her death it became the property of Robert, Earl of Salisbury.

William, Earl of Salisbury, about the year 1618, broke up Buckland into three portions and sold them. That portion since called Great Buckland was purchased by William Horsepoole, who married a daughter of Lawrence Washington, of Jordans Hall, and in the reign of Charles II. it was sold to Sir John Banks, bart., from whom it descended to the Earl of Aylesford, in whose family it remains. The old mansion, which stands on a hill overlooking the Medway, is a good specimen of the style of country houses in the beginning of the seventeenth century. South Buckland was in 1720 alienated by Heneage Finch, fourth Earl of Winchelsea, to Lord Romney. Little Buckland, which comprised fifty-two acres, belonged to John Fletcher in the reign of Charles II., and it has since passed through many hands. (Russell, 1881, 337 - 339)

The Buckland estate was separated from that of Allington, possibly when it was granted to the de Bocland family by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the early 13th century. Great and Little Buckland farms may have arisen in the mid-13th century (or later: see above), but the name ‘Great Buckland’ disappeared when the house was demolished in order to build Maidstone Grammar School for Girls in the 1930s. There was often confusion in various writings about Little and Great Buckland, and the Victorian writer, the Reverend Beale Poste called them ‘North’ and ‘South’ Buckland respectively. (It seems likely that South Buckland is synonymous with Little Buckland.)

‘The Cottage’ which still stands at Little Buckland between the railway lines, and ‘Little Buckland Cottage’ in Buckland Lane, are two of the oldest domestic buildings in the Maidstone area, and probably date from at least the late 14th century.

It has been suggested by one commentator that the Mediaeval Buckland farms consisted mainly of pasture land. The 20 inhabitants of Allington at the time of the Domesday survey would have a shock if they visited the area today!

Section 8

‘O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day; If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me.’

An appropriate prayer for our busy modern age? Certainly, but it was written in 1642, just before the Battle of Edgehill, by an owner of Allington Castle, Sir Jacob Astley. He was a staunch Royalist, living in the Old Palace in Maidstone. He may have owned Great and Little Buckland, but although they are mentioned from his time onwards, few details appeared in historical records until the 19th century. A map from 1769 shows a road passing from Allington Castle, through Little Buckland to Great Buckland, but this is not printed on a map from 1819.

Allington is not just a pleasant place in which to live, but it has seen its share of the historical dramas of England. Sir Jacob inherited the castle from Sir John Astley, Master of the Crown Jewels; Sir John had previously received it from Queen Elizabeth in 1570. Prior to this, local life was overshadowed by events at the castle, when famous visitors included Henry VII, Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Parr.

The castle had been purchased by Sir Henry Wyatt at the start of the Renaissance, in 1492. He had previously been held in the Tower of London by Richard III, and during his incarceration, a cat is supposed to have brought pigeons for him to eat. As a result, cats became Wyatt’s mascots and some brown pigeons (the Red Carneau breed?) were brought to Allington Castle from Italy in 1526. Their descendants are said to breed there still.

Sir Henry’s son, Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, was a famous poet who introduced the sonnet into England, and he was distinguished in many other ways. He was a favourite of Henry VIII, and a close friend (perhaps lover) of Anne Boleyn before she became queen: a book of his poems was the last thing to be read by Anne before her death. He was imprisoned in the Tower at the time of her execution, and from the scaffold she sent him a jewel with the one word, ‘Remember’.

Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger became involved in the Kentish rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554, for which he was executed. Lord Tennyson also knew Allington, and set one scene of his play, Queen Mary, in the castle, giving these words to Sir Thomas as he leads the rebels to London:

'Ah, gray old castle of Allington, green field Beside the brimming Medway, it may chance That I shall never look upon you more.'

The executions of more humble inhabitants in the Buckland area are hinted at in a map of 1884, which referred to what is now the playing field of Maplesden Noakes School as ‘Hanging Close’.

Section 9

The term ‘Dark Ages’ could well be applied to both the Allington and Buckland areas during the eighteenth century, when they almost disappear from the historical record. However, there were some notable burials in St Laurence’s churchyard, including that of Mr Drayton of Maidstone, ‘a most ingenious person and an excellent botanist’. Allington lock was built in the 1790s, and the river ceased to be tidal above the castle: this altered for ever the historical pattern of fords, which were ancient in origin.

The castle fell into ruins and became farm dwellings, and its previous fame was all but forgotten. Various maps showed the castle, and Little and Great Buckland, but there is little documentary evidence, although we know that Lord Romney purchased the Allington estate in 1720. He and his descendants neglected the castle, and it was saved from demolition by Lord Conway, who acquired it in 1906. Exactly forty years previously, the ancient church was rebuilt, but there is a little information about its original appearance. There is a complete list of the incumbents of the parish on a board in the foyer of St Nicholas’s church.

More information about Buckland begins to emerge from nineteenth- century records, and we know that a farmhouse adjacent to what is now the Millennium Green was present in 1779, and then replaced between 1869 and 1908 by the building which later became the Sharps sports pavilion. In the 1870s, the main crops in Allington were cereals and hops, but Little Buckland had many orchards, probably of cherry trees. The position of a road marked on maps from 1870 and 1908 implies that the area was not flat as the Green is today: this appearance is due to the creation of the Sharps sports field.

Nineteenth-century Roman discoveries and speculations have been described in an earlier section, but two major events whose impact has not been recorded were the building of the railway lines. Was the huge amount of excavated spoil spread on adjacent areas, for example?

In the next section, we’ll move into the twentieth century, which saw many local developments, including the restoration of the castle to its former glory.

Section 10

It seems that a Mr R Doe owned the Millennium Green site towards the end of the nineteenth century, but the history of the Little Buckland area during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century appears to be shrouded in mystery. I have found no concrete information dating from before about 1926, when both Little Buckland Avenue and Sharps’ Sports Ground were built. The deeds of my house show that it was constructed on land owned by ‘F. W. Ruck, Esq.’: he was the County Architect, and he probably lived in a house on London Road called ‘Westcombe’, which was demolished when Sweet Briar Court was built. His neighbour, who may have lived in what is now ‘The Pippin’ restaurant, was W. H. Bensted, from the famous quarrying family (see my first section in this series). No doubt they were two of many land owners who sought to make a profit as Maidstone expanded.

The land which became the sports ground, and then the Millennium Green, may have been owned by a J. C. Hubble, but at present I know nothing about him. It could be difficult to find out whether he sold the land to Sharps, as it appears that the company’s archives were dispersed or destroyed when its St Peter’s Street factory was closed during the 1990s. However, perhaps Hubble owned the farmhouse which subsequently became Sharps’ sports pavilion; if so, was he cultivating orchards on the adjoining land, or had he already installed his own sporting facilities? When our contractors started to prepare the Millennium Green, they found a tarmac surface under the old cricket pitch! Hardly what one would expect in these days of highly-cultivated playing turf, but perhaps it was the remains of a tennis court which was simply grassed over.

The Sharps contractors must have had a major civil engineering job on their hands, but who they were, or what equipment they used is not known. They constructed Ragstone walls along three sides of the sports ground, providing a very boring appearance to the edges of the proposed Millennium Green. This fact presented the Trustees with a conundrum, but I’ll explain in a future section how it was solved.

On a final note of speculation, I’ll return to F. W. Ruck. He was president of Maidstone Grammar School’s Old Maidstonian Society in 1908, and his sons attended the school. When a new school building was required in the 1920s, there is some evidence that a site in London Road was considered, and I have always wondered if it was on the land owned by Ruck. If so, and if the school had been built here, our area would now look very different. And by the way, such a school might have covered ‘our’ Roman villa, just as the present school hall in Barton Road covers another villa, demonstrating how common Roman remains are in the Maidstone area.

Section 11

The ‘Sharps Toffee’ Company was a major employer in Maidstone for much of the Twentieth Century. Sports clubs and teams were important features of many large companies, and Sharps was no exception. Its cricket team existed from about 1910, and in the mid-1920s, a fine playing field was laid out on the site of the present Millennium Green. In May 1927, the facilities were opened officially, and a crowd of over 2,000 watched the Sharps team (captained by Harold Sharp, and including the England player, Freeman) lose to a team captained by Captain the Hon. W. S. Cornwallis. As his team included the England test cricketers Ames, Chapman and Woolley, this was no surprise. The crowd was also entertained by the band of the Royal Marines, so this was quite an occasion.

There was a large sports pavilion as well, and this appears to have been converted from a Victorian farmhouse. Its stables were turned into accommodation for a steward, who ran the establishment. Its roof was adorned by a famous landmark: a giant version of the Sharps parrot symbol, and the Millennium Green Trust’s logo commemorates this (by kind permission of Cadbury Schweppes, who still own the copyright of the Sharp’s parrot).

The Sharps sports ground was considered by some people to be one of the finest in Kent, but had they known that old tarmac lay under parts of it, their opinions might have been changed! It had a busy life for about 50 years, but by the 1980s, many corporate sporting clubs were on the decline, and the Sharps company itself was taken over and then absorbed into Cadbury Schweppes, with the loss of its Maidstone factory. The pavilion became semi-derelict, its parrot disappeared (and has never been located), the last steward became too elderly to live on his own any longer, and the ground was superfluous to the owners’ needs. The prospect of a housing estate loomed large in the minds of local people, and the Buckland Lane Association was formed, under the chairmanship of Frank Good, partly to try to influence future developments.

Fortunately, Dan Daley, one of our councillors, realised what could happen, and I received a telephone call from him which changed the destiny of the old sports ground. More information about Dan’s brilliant idea will follow. In the meantime, if any cricketing buff would like to analyse and collate some old newspaper cuttings about the early Sharps team, I have some in my possession. I have seen a few photographs of the 1920s teams, and they show one very interesting point: cricketers of the period appear to have been built like rugby players or all-in wrestlers!

Section 12

So what was Dan Daley’s brilliant idea? In 1997, he realised that the old Sharps sports ground might be suitable for one of the ‘Millennium Greens’ which were to be created all over the country under the auspices of the Countryside Commission, using lottery funding from the Millennium Commission. Cadbury Schweppes were amenable to the concept, providing that planning permission was obtained for the houses that now line Cloudberry Close. Everyone thought that this was an offer which was too good to refuse, partly because the derelict pavilion area was to be replaced by four of the houses. Together with another five houses, we could see that these would form an attractive ‘village green’ development, with the bulk of the land forming the Green itself.

The generosity of Cadbury Schweppes was matched by that of Antler Homes, who carried out the housing development. People of a cynical nature may find this difficult to believe, but Antler gave us the site for a pittance, considering the huge value of building land. The company bent over backwards to help us, and built the whole bank system at almost no cost to the trust; this involved a massive earthmoving task, so we all owe Antler a debt of gratitude.

Allington Millennium Green Trust came into being on 18th March 1999, but that was only the beginning of a legal and financial process which was so daunting that there were times when we thought that we might fail. Dan Daley, Frank Good and I spent what seemed like countless hours with solicitors, planning officials, civil servants and representatives from numerous organisations, all of whom had a hand in the exceedingly complex process of creating what some people will see as just a ‘piece of land with some grass and trees’. That piece of land was the result of a huge combined effort. If you think that buying and renovating a house is difficult, multiply the effort by a factor of about 100, and you will get some idea of the scale of the operation!

I’ll finish this section by saying more about the earth banks. The concept came to me in flash of inspiration, when I was wondering what to do about our old Ragstone walls: I realised that if we buried them behind earth banks, the site would be made far more interesting than a flat field. However, banks have to be constructed correctly, so the expertise of a civil engineer was called upon, and then Antler worked to his plans. However, the banks, as well as the whole Green, needed to be aesthetically pleasing, and that is where Brian Smith of the Medway River Project came into the picture. I’ll tell you more about Brian’s design skills in the next section.

Section 13

It would be easy to assume that the Medway River Project could have little to do with Allington Millennium Green, but its new name of ‘Medway Valley Countryside Partnership’ tells us that its remit extends beyond the river itself. After all, the Green is in the valley, so it was appropriate for the Project’s Brian Smith to act as our designer. He had already been responsible for a huge number of environmental projects, and he was a wonderful person with whom to work. He quickly conceived the idea of the sunken area (a ‘central feature’ was required by the Countryside Commission), and it was exciting to watch his plans being carried out by a host of contractors and enthusiastic volunteers.

Brian’s partner, Dr Annie Hood, is a medical herbalist, and she advised us about how we could create beds containing plants which would have been used by the Romans: greater periwinkle, hyssop, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, spearmint, sweet briar and wormwood. (Much to our amusement, the suppliers added curry plant by accident, but this gave an interesting aroma to the vicinity!). Our idea was to link the Green with the Roman heritage of the immediate area, but Brian also wanted to create links with more recent times.

Allington grew a great deal of fruit in the past, so Brian added a small apple and cherry orchard, containing old varieties, together with some Kentish cobnut ‘plats’ (plantations). The latter have thrived on two of the banks. Other areas were planted with alder buckthorn, crab apple, dog rose, dogwood, English oak, field maple, guelder rose, hawthorn, holly, rowan, spindle tree, whitebeam and yew, with a woodland glade grass and flower seed mix. Our aim was, and still is, to try to maintain native (or very long-established) species. Over decades, the balance of plants will shift, of course, but at least we have given Nature a helping hand by establishing plants with a local history.

Brian and Annie moved to the West Country a few years ago, where Brian took up a post as a wetlands officer, but things came full circle in 2008, when Mark Pritchard of the Medway Valley Countryside Partnership produced a professional management plan for the Green.

In addition to our environmental work, we have held some interesting public events on the Green, and I’ll say more about them in the next section.

Section 14

One function of a Millennium Green is to provide an open space where the local community can meet together. The types of activities which can take place are limited by covenants (no ball games or model aircraft) and insurance considerations (no fireworks, for example); however, we have held a number of successful events.

Saturday 1st July 2000 was the day when the Millennium Green was inaugurated by the Mayor, Councillor Dan Daley. We employed a commercial craft fair company to organise various stalls, and our aim was to publicise the Green as widely as possible. It was still in the early stages of its creation, but we needed to encourage local people to become involved in its management. Dan planted a commemorative oak tree, but unlike others on the Green, it failed to flourish, and has been replaced three times. The most recent replacement has been put in a slightly different location, as we think that we must have chosen a site which is blighted by underlying rubble.

The Queen’s 50th Jubilee in 2002 provided an opportunity for a community barbeque, complete with a bouncy castle, and the Green was officially opened on this occasion, as by then it had been fully constructed. We still didn’t have a parrot sign, and it was felt that we needed one in order to display the Trust’s symbol. Dan came to the rescue yet again, and he commissioned a sign from a student at KIAD (now the University for the Creative Arts). Its installation was celebrated on 1st May 2005, when the previous Rector and Trustee, Jim Perryman, blessed the sign (after making references to Monty Python’s Norwegian Blue) and Kettlebridge Clogs led the festivities. Free beer, courtesy of Goacher’s Brewery, helped to move things along.

Many other smaller events have taken place on the Green, and we have participated in the ‘Garden Safari’ schemes, so the trust is doing its bit to encourage community involvement. If anyone has ideas for future initiatives on the Green, please let us know!

References

Russell, J M (1881) The History of Maidstone. Reprinted in facsimile, 1978. Rochester: John Hallewell Publications.