- published: 20 Nov 2014
- views: 210
Coordinates: 51°16′17″N 0°04′12″E / 51.27134°N 0.07005°E / 51.27134; 0.07005
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres (2320ha). It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a Norman form, Oistreham (compare Ouistreham in Normandy). Ham is Old English for a village or homestead, and so Westerham means a westerly homestead. The River Darent flows through the town, and formerly powered three watermills.
There is evidence that the area around Westerham has been settled for thousands of years: finds such as a Celtic fortification (c 2000 BC) and a Roman road are close by, along with the remains of a Roman encampment just past the ruins a of tower south of the town at the summit of Tower Woods.
The tower dates back to the 18th century, and was originally constructed by an ancestor of the Warde family, the present owners of Squerryes Court as a folly for their children's amusement. A romantic, if erroneous, theory is that the folly is in fact a medieval watchtower, a tale which has been further embellished by a few fanciful locals who insist that it may have been the holding place for Anne Boleyn on her journey from Hever Castle to London for her trial and execution. (Anne Boleyn's family originally hailed from Chiddingstone and then, later, owned and lived at Hever Castle. King Henry VIII is reported to have, on Anne Boleyn's execution, confiscated Hever Castle and kept it as his own). No evidence for this theory exists, and indeed it conflicts with the knowledge and belief of the Warde family themselves.
Es git sehr vieu schöns uf dr'Wäut,
Aber uffaue tuet nur ds'Böse;
Eigentlich schad.
Die schöne u die Riiche, dass si Lüt!
Aber vilech hei o die angere o öpis ds'säge,
Los ne doch mau zue!
So vieu Mönsche git's wo Angscht vor de Grosse hei
U es geit so witt, dass me nüme weiss,
Wär me überhoupt isch
U nume no uf die Grosse lost!
Bueb oder Meitschi, du muesch d'Schue binge,
Schüsch gheisch um bim loufe!
La dir d'Haar la schniide, was dänke o die angere
(d.h. die Grosse) vo dir.
E gute Bruef muesch ha, de bisch guet aagseh.
D'Chleider a de Grosse entschprächend u schön
Muesch sii,