Tonbridge Castle

Hand a child a crayon and ask them to draw a castle, and they might etch something not dissimilar to the gatehouse of Tonbridge Castle. Its symmetrical facade, with round towers jutting from the corners (complete with arrow slit windows), its battlements, all ooze bulk, rigidity and, well, medievalism.

Tonbridge Castle: a medieval gatehouse, straight from a picture book

As well it might. The gatehouse was just one part of the original Motte and Bailey castle, built on land at the Medway Crossing granted by William the Conqueror to a supporter following the Norman Invasion. The castle we see today is mainly from the 13th century. After many centuries as a setting for conflict intrigue – both political and familial – the most recent few centuries, not unusually, saw the gradual dismantling of the structure for its stone, and at one point in the 18th century it was described as an ‘ancient castle and vineyard’. This was all rectified in the past decade. Missing floors were reinstalled, a spiral staircase repaired, roofing replaced. The newly created rooms continue to play a civic and entertainment role, for marriages, exhibitions and so on.

What remains of the castle complex now sits near the shopping street, housing a Tourist Information office, retaining an air of grandeur, but of a somewhat contentedly quiet nature, particularly when compared with the proud bulk of Tonbridge School nearby. The mound is minus its keep, but offers fine views down to the gatehouse, over the town, and across the countryside around.

On the day of our visit, the castle grounds housed a mediaeval fayre in full swing. The juxtaposition of tracksuited youth and court jester bemused – but crucially amused too, and everything and everyone exuded relaxed Sunday afternoon charm. And so a once mighty fortress steeped in centuries of bloodshed today finds itself the setting for family days out; it’s a pleasant enough spot for a genteel retirement.

Tonbridge Castle

Bignor Roman Villa

Rather than ‘off-the-beaten-path’, Bignor Roman Villa is more ‘in-the-middle-of-nowhere’. Today, that is. But in the third century AD this substantial courtyard complex stood alongside Stane Street, the main road between London and Chichester (as it is now known, or at least has been since Saxon times). Here, in a scenic south-facing area beneath the South Downs, a wealthy family farmed around a 65-roomed villa.

Lucky strike: exquisite mosaics, discovered nestling beneath the South Downs at Bignor Roman Villa

The complex was discovered in 1811 when a plough belonging to one George Tupper (whose descendants still farm the area) hit a stone, which later turned out to be part of the villa’s summer dining room. Subsequent excavation over the next few years revealed some astonishingly detailed mosaics, including a head of Medusa, a depiction of Venus, Gannymede being carried off by the eagle, and rather characterful Cherub Gladiators. All are wonderfully preserved and presented. Less aesthetically astonishing, but still of interest, are the illustrated remains of a hypocaust, or heated floor.

The relatively lonely location still lends the site the quiet, slightly surreal air of an unexpectedly-discovered relic, of a past grandeur which had since regressed to a more modest tranquility, now disturbed from its slumber. But visiting Bignor Roman Villa is also to step into a multi-layered historical experience, as the 200 year-old thatched buildings raised upon the foundations of the Roman walls (you can see where one era stopped and the next started) are as redolent of the enthusiasm of Georgian heritage tourism as of Roman life, perhaps more so. Finally, mention must also go to the fine cream teas served at tables alongside the mosaics, complete with locally-made jam. More Georgian than Roman that bit, I’d have thought.

Bignor Roman Villa