Why Sevenoaks is flourishing

Above: Deer at Knole, Sevenoaks (Kent Life Magazine)

Above: Sevenoaks town centre (Kent Life Magazine)

Above: The cricket ground, Sevenoaks (Kent Life Magazine)

Above: Deer at Knole, Sevenoaks (Kent Life Magazine)

Recently voted to be the happiest town in the country, Sevenoaks was the site of Jack Cade’s Kentish rebellion, the place where H G Wells wrote the world’s first science fiction novel and where Diana, Princess of Wales, attended school.

The town has one of the oldest cricket pitches in Britain and is home to Knole, arguably the most magnificent stately home in England. Dickens, Jane Austen, John Donne and Vita Sackville-West were all residents and the literary tradition lives on in the town’s vibrant High Street, where the Sevenoaks bookshop was listed by The Guardian as one of the best bookshops in Britain.

A bit of history
Sevenoaks was originally called Seouenaka, Saxon for Seven Oaks, referring to a settlement beside a group of such trees where there was a hospital dedicated to St Nicholas, built to protect travellers from the forest’s wild beasts.

In 1114, the hospital was expanded to become the church of St Nicholas, and the hamlet was considered part of the Great Manor of nearby Otford, held by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who founded the market at Sevenoaks in 1200 to capitalise on trade passing along a newly formed road; this market’s success established Sevenoaks as a manor in its own right.

The fortunes of the town were inextricably linked to Knole, the great house latterly held by successive archbishops of Canterbury until it was annexed by Henry V111 (see below).

Sevenoaks was originally called Seouenaka, Saxon for Seven Oaks

Jack Cade’s Kentish revolt occurred in 1450, inspired partially by disaffection with the local Lord of the Manor, John Fiennes of Knole. Initially successful, the rebels ambushed the King’s army in Sevenoaks and executed Fiennes, but their invasion of London was short lived, and Cade perished in the rout.

Sevenoaks’ importance increased in Tudor times with Archbishop Morton’s ascendancy. In 1554, Sir John Isley rallied the men of Sevenoaks to reinforce Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion against Mary Tudor’s proposed marriage to Philip of Spain.

This episode led to defeat, as did the Kentish civil war insurrection during 1643, when 4000 men gathered on the Vine waste ground in support of the monarchy, but were defeated by the roundheads. At that time Sevenoaks was dominated by puritan London, with Knole as the headquarters for parliamentary rule in Kent.

During the 18th century, the town became an important stage coach stop, spawning a number of good coaching inns. In the Regency era Sevenoaks grew fast and it became fashionable and a desirable address for those who were ‘genteel and refined.’ The arrival of the railways in 1862 made the town a commuter centre for workers in London, and it has been growing ever since.

What to see and do
There are six car parks in the town centre, much of the area is pedestrianised, and the main parts of Sevenoaks are all within walking distance. The High Street is packed with interesting shops, cafés and restaurants and the impressive new library/gallery/museum and Tourist Information Centre (01732 450305) is in Buckhurst Lane, conveniently situated just off the High Street and adjacent to the Bus Station and a large car park.

The famous architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner claimed that the southern end of the High Street had ‘more worthwhile buildings than in almost any other street in the country.’ There’s The Old Vicarage, The Chantry and the Manor House, as well as St Nicholas Church. Six Bells Lane, near the church, has an impressive row of old cottages. On the corner of Rockdale Road is Outrams, the 15th-century residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s agent.

The Old Market House (1700), between Bank Street and Dorset Street, is the site of the original market and its upper floor was used as a corn exchange and court house. To reach The Shambles you pass under an ancient timber beam spanning the road to a cobbled alleyway, which used to be flanked by slaughterhouses: some timber-framed tile-hung houses are still there.

Artist enclosure
At the end you’ll find a large enclosed yard, where in 2000 local artists produced murals and a three-dimensional sculpture set into the side of a building, the theme of this impressive art work being the medieval trades that once flourished in Sevenoaks.

Nearby Blighs is now a pub restaurant, beside the new retail unit Bligh’s Meadow Development, but this was once an isolated Tudor farmhouse, known prior to 1882 as Bedlam Farm as it used to house the insane.

At the northern end of town is the renowned Vine Cricket Ground, with its weatherboarded cricket pavilion, next to the Vine Gardens. There are two excellent golf clubs: Wildernesse (01732 761199) and Knole Park Golf Club (01732 452150) as well as a riding school, Sevenoaks Riding Centre (07922 092009). In the centre of Sevenoaks there’s a swimming pool, fitness suite and multi-purpose sports centre.

Sevenoaks holds an annual festival at the end of June, when events are staged all over town. Sevenoaks Literary celebration 2008 begins on 26 September with a talk by Victoria Hislop, followed by Penelope Lively on 27 September, continuing with nine other writers' talks until 28 October, when Sir Roy Strong will speak at Knole. Tickets on sale at Sevenoaks Bookshop (01732 452055).

Shopping and dining
The town centre has four major supermarkets and there’s a wide range of general and specialist shops and many pubs and restaurants, as well as the newer retail units in Bligh’s Meadow Development and another shopping area to the north of town, around St John's Hill.

Typical of Sevenoaks quality shops is the Sevenoaks Bookshop (01732 452055), listed by The Guardian as one of the country’s best bookshops. Four traders who’ve been in business for around a century are Williamsons butchers (1875), almost all of whose produce is sourced from local farms, Fielders Photographic (1920), Horncastle’s traditional men’s outfitters (1889), and shoe shop C F Hoad and Sons (1889).

The excellent House on the Hill (01832 450120) restaurant (see Kent Life, June 2008, page 167) has a warm and friendly ambience and features English dishes complemented with eclectic Mediterranean flavours. The Vine restaurant (01732 469510) offers views out across the historic Vine cricket pitch, and was runner up in the top-rated and best service categories of the toptable Dining Awards 2007, and offers a frequently changing menu.

No small beer
The Chequers (01732 450144) is an atmospheric 16th-century Grade 11 listed building in the High Street, and offers a varied range of dishes, including an excellent Sunday roast, and is mentioned in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Also in the High Street is Gavin Gregg restaurant (01732 456373), which has been awarded two AA rosettes and prepares modern British cuisine with an international flair, and The Spice Club (01732 456688) is a fine Indian restaurant with attractive stylish decor. In Dorset Street you’ll find Strada (01732 461706), which has the feel of a local neighbourhood Italian restaurant, serving fine, freshly prepared fare.

Did you know?

• The town’s motto is “May the seven oaks flourish”. These have been replaced several times, notably in 1902 when seven were planted on The Vine to commemorate the Coronation of Edward V11.
• Six of the 1902 oaks were blown down in the 1987 hurricane, but seven were planted as replacements, meaning that the town should really be called Eightoaks!
• William Sevenoke was named after the town where he was found abandoned as a baby. He subsequently became Mayor of London and in 1418 he founded Sevenoaks School and some almshouses.
• The Vine Cricket Ground is one of oldest clubs in England, the venue for the first nationally reported cricket match in 1734. The pitch was given to Sevenoaks in 1773 by John, 3rd Duke of Dorset, owner of Knole.
• The Vine derived its name from the time when the land was used as a vineyard by the various clerical owners of Knole.
• William Pett, leading cricket bat maker of the 1700s, supplied bats for the above, and there is a ‘Pett’ bat in the Sevenoaks museum in the library.
• John Frith, England’s first protestant martyr burnt at the stake, spent his childhood in the town.
• Diana, Princess of Wales, attended West Heath School in Sevenoaks.
• Sir Thomas Jackson, an eminent Victorian architect, built a row of houses in Lime Tree Walk, and also The Children’s Hospital for the treatment of Hip Diseases on Eardley Road, founded by his sister, Emily Jackson, who was a pioneering nurse.
• Lady Margaret Boswell, philanthropist and wife of William Boswell, endowed Lady Boswell’s School and provided scholarships to Jesus College, Cambridge.
• Jack Cade, leader of the Kentish rebellion of 1450, defeated the King’s troops at Solefields before he was caught and executed in London.

Future plans
The Bligh Meadow shopping centre, to the east of Blighs, was erected in the late 1990s and, building on this retail success, Sevenoaks District Council in association with the Kent Architecture Centre has developed a proposal for the possible redevelopment of the western side of Blighs.

This design concept was approved by the council on 15 May 2008. The area currently has two car parks and a sixties office building occupied by Sevenoaks Club and District Council. The idea is to have five main buildings, up to five storeys in height, 100 residential dwellings, commercial and retail units, communal courtyards and public green spaces, 90 underground car-parking spaces with this area used as a weekly covered market, plus new accommodation for the Sevenoaks Club.

Planning studies and a public consultation are scheduled for the autumn and a Master Plan should be complete at the end of 2008.