Tenterden is full of all kinds of history! Take a walk around our Heritage Route, found in the Heritage Leaflet. This route explores some of the key areas of local historical interest around the town.
Explore the Heritage Route:
To collect a physical copy of the Tenterden Heritage Trail Leaflet, please visit the Tenterden & District Museum, or the Tenterden Gateway: Tourist Information & Library. Alternatively, the map can be downloaded here.
If you would like a guided tour, please check here for the next available date.
1. Tenterden Town Hall
This excellent Georgian building was purpose-built in 1792, to replace the old town hall sadly burnt down in 1661. Inside are a fine set of Assembly Rooms, and the names of all the mayors since 1449.
2. The Woolpack
A “Wealden Hall House” built 1478 and originally called The Woolsack: clues to our ancient source of wealth. On record we have the name of every innkeeper since 1496. Notice the coaching entrance; from here, horse-drawn coaches could be caught to Maidstone and London.
3. St Mildred’s Church
Named for our patron saint Mildred, a beloved 7th Century Kentish Abbess. The stone church dates to the 1100s, with a 1461 tower built from unique Bethersden Marble and featuring distinctive double doors. In the churchyard, find barrel-shaped family tombs.
4. Nos. 28-40
This line of buildings originally crept in during the 1200s, illegally blocking the highway in front of St Mildred’s. Old bones may be found in these cellars!
5. Lock Up – Back of No. 50
Long before there was a police force, wrongdoers in the town got locked up in here. Disorderly drunkards would be let out once sober. The Lock-up did become the police station – spot the barred window still facing St Mildred’s.
6. Kent & East Sussex Railway
Our superb heritage railway opened in Tenterden in 1903. You could travel to London via Headcorn and to Hastings via Robertsbridge. Sometimes the local cattle travelled on it too. Following its closure in 1954, volunteers have worked hard on restoration, to make it the wonderful time-travelling experience it is today.
7. Tenterden & District Museum
Built in 1872, this weatherboard stable and coach house once housed Seaman Hook’s horse bus and served as a china store for his High Street shop. Look for the large double doors from its original use. In 1922, it became the workshop of monumental mason Arthur Hilder. Sold to Tenterden Borough Council in 1970, it has been the town’s independent, volunteer-run history museum since 1976.
8. 2 West Cross: Historic Building of Kent
This clever building technique from the 18th and early 19th Centuries is found in Kent and East Sussex. To
modernise an old timber-framed house, these mathematically fitted tiles were carefully hung; they exactly
resemble clay bricks. One of these examples is at No.2 West Cross.
9. Heronden Hall Gatehouse
A dramatic outer gatehouse, hinting at the Gothic splendour of a huge Victorian mansion situated within. Heronden is an ancient manor of Tenterden, significant enough in 968AD to warrant its great selling price: fourteen hundred and fifty pence.
10. War Memorial
Listings of the townsmen and women who lost their lives in the two great conflicts of the 20th Century. Built of Portland Stone in 1920, for the end of WW1, every name engraved here has a Tenterden story to tell. In previous centuries, on market days, these Greens would be overrun with sheep and cattle.
11. Borough Place No. 93-103
Near here once stood a Tudor House donated by Tenterden ‘Borough’, for The Poor. A better Poorhouse was built in 1724 with a buttery, brewery and laundry. In later Victorian times, a harsher regime banished the poor to a prison-like building outside the town.
12. Pittlesden Gatehouse No. 91
The oldest house in the town dating perhaps from the 1300s. Its medieval origins may be seen in the tiny size, the wide-spaced timbers and hipped roof. Legend says it was the manor gatehouse of the Pittlesden family – prominent leaders of the town whose coat of arms is on the town crest.
13. Zion Baptist Church
The strong architecture of this early 19th Century building reflects a longstanding religious feature of Tenterden: a sturdy rejection of the Church of England, embracing non-conformist Christianity. Tenterden families were among the earliest 17th Century emigrants to America, seeking religious freedom.
14. White Lion Hotel
Another fine 15th Century ‘Wealden Hall House’ much altered in the 18th Century. You could catch a horse-drawn coach here, to Cranbrook and London, 3 times a week.
15. The Pebbles No. 53-55
Apothecary (doctor) John Mace had this house built in 1777. Look for his exceptionally tall doorway: he wished to ride his high horse through to the back and not remove his impressive top hat. It’s narrow because he discouraged his sons from wanting a carriage! Another notable inhabitant of this house in the 1830s was Horatia Ward, the natural daughter of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton.
16. Millennium Garden
Take a break at the Millennium Garden at The Pebbles. Re-planted and re-wilded to mark the year 2000, this quiet spot is a great place to pause and enjoy a moment of rest along the trail.
17. Milestone beside No. 53
Spot the milestone on the pavement outside No.53, where the Town Gate stretched across the road. In the 1700s all traffic was stopped here to pay a Turnpike Toll. On the wall of No.50 opposite you may see a small historic plaque featuring a crossbar gate. The townspeople gleefully put the gates on a bonfire when the tolls were ended.
18. Jacksons Lane
Walk along here, look up for a sign “Soup Kitchen 1875”. Hard times in farming brought poverty to the town. Free soup was tastily brewed up – in an ancient candle-making cauldron of immense proportions.
19. Bells Lane
In Napoleonic times, Tenterden was a hot spot for the soldiers stationed at Reading Street barracks. In this lane was the town’s theatre, and lively scenes took place beside these quaint weather-boarded cottages. Find some clues in the house names
20. Wealden Hall House No. 29-33
In the 1400s this superb building was home to a wealthy merchant. The ground floor had a central hearth, with smoke venting straight up; 200 years later the upper floor was jettied on, and a tiled roof added. It became a butcher’s shop in the 19th Century with raw meat hung outside; the hooks are still visible.
21. Corn Warehouse No. 19-21
Clad not in bricks but in mathematical tiles! Look up to see the doors and pulleys, which is how the merchant hoisted the milled corn to store safely on the upper floors.
22. Wine Cellars No. 5
Down the stairs to find a basement wine cellar, once a public house ‘Ye Olde Cellars’: proud to be the most basic and dustiest pub in the town, with old casks and barrels as furniture. Although full of character it was closed down for health reasons in the 1970s.
23. Embassy Cinema
An attractive Art Deco building opened 1937 in the golden age of cinema. The business flourished until the 1960s when the growing popularity of television closed its doors.
24. The Picture House, Oaks Road
The town’s first cinema opened here in 1912 with electricity and state of the art air conditioning. It closed in 1937 and became shops known as the Fairings.
25. The Old Grammar School No. 18-20
500 years ago it cost £10 to build this Tudor house. For three centuries the better-off children of Tenterden were taught here. In 1843 the Church of England opened a new ‘National School’, in Church Road. Many Protestant families refused to send their children there and immediately opened an alternative ‘British School’ instead. This rivalry persisted until the 1950s.
26. Dr Cliff’s House No.22
The sophisticated Dr Jeremiah Cliff, also known as “Dr Death”, was fascinated by the process of dying. He avidly recorded 1,245 deaths around the town 1713 – 1740, his notebook is now a nationally valuable record of the times. Very kindly, he was the main doctor for the poorhouse too!
Tenterden Blue Plaques
As you stroll along Tenterden High Street, look out for the blue plaques adorning shopfronts – each one marking a fascinating moment in the town’s history. From renowned local figures to remarkable events, these plaques reveal hidden stories of Tenterden’s past.
But history isn’t only found on the plaques! Many buildings without them have equally rich tales to tell – such as those on the High Street, recently explored as part of the Heritage Trail Leaflet.
Take a walk, spot the plaques, and uncover Tenterden’s incredible past one building at a time!
This project was made in partnership with the Tenterden and District History Society.
Tenterden Family Fun Trail
For an alternative walking route, check out the Tenterden Family Fun Trail. This self-guided walk through the town features quizzes, photo challenges, and historic points of interest, making it a great way to explore Tenterden’s rich past. Along the route, you’ll discover landmarks like the Town Hall, the Woolpack Inn, and St Mildred’s Church, as well as fascinating facts about the town’s maritime history and medieval buildings.
There are also fun activities along the way, including a Spotters Quiz where you can earn a Wheels of Time badge at the Tenterden & District Museum. It’s a free activity suitable for all ages – just pick up a leaflet from the Tourist Information racks in the Tenterden Gateway or click here to download a PDF and start exploring!
Tenterden Wildlife
Tenterden Wildlife are working to protect and restore local nature through education, community action, and conservation projects. From supporting endangered species to creating vital habitats, they’re helping turn the tide for wildlife in our area. Watch their video below to learn more about what they’ve been working on, and visit their website to find out about upcoming events, and ways to get involved yourself.
