THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



17 



THE COUNTY OF KENT 



IN 



THE PRESENT AND THE PAST. 



BY THE LATE JOSHUA TRIMMER, F.G.S. 



[The following article was written and finished, 

 for the proprietors of this work, by the late Mr. 

 Trimmer, just previous to his decease. On the eve 

 of the capital of Kent receiving the great national 

 society of the country, it is thought that such a 

 paper, or rather such a series, will come peculiarly 

 appropriate. It will be found further, that ample 

 opportunity has been afforded Mr. Trimmer, from 

 his researches in the district, to dwell on his 

 favourite study — that of geology. In this respect, 

 indeed, the history of Kent, as here written, will 

 have more than ordinary value, both from the ma- 

 terial it ofFeis and the authority of him who has 

 had to deal with it. Very few alterations have 

 been made in the original manuscript : — ] 



"Kent," says Shakespeare, "in the Com nacntaries 

 Caesar writ, is called the civilest spot of all the isle;" 

 and certainly, if, with tlic general advance of civiliza- 

 tion since the days of its naked and woad-painted 

 inhabitants, it no longer maintains that proud pre- 

 eminence, it can still boast of being one of our most 

 beautiful and interesting counties. There is none 

 whose geological structure — of which more here- 

 after — has given rise to such varied and picturfesquc 

 scenery, or such a variety of agricultural produce. 

 There is none more fertile in historical recollections 

 — none wliich has been the scene of more stirring 

 events since the days when Roman, Saxon, and 

 Dane landed on its shores, and William the Norman 

 marched through it from Hastings. 



What can be more lovely than the sight which 

 gladdens the heart of the traveller, whether his 

 journey be made in the spring or the autumn ; whe- 

 ther along the northern or central line of communi- 

 cation with our eastern coast ; whether, in the days 

 of post-chaises and stage-coaches, he took the 

 Rochester or the Maidstone road ; or whether, in 

 these days of rapid and restless locomotion, he is 

 whirled a'ong the North Kent or the Loudon and 

 Dover railway ? We will take the former line as far 

 as it goes, stopping as anything presents itself 

 worthy of notice ; and when the railway fails us, we 

 will trust to our legs. What can form a fairer and 

 more varied country than that which we shall tra- 

 verse ? What an ever-varying succession of copse 

 and corn-field, meadow and orchard ! In the 

 spring, where shall we see hedges richer in primroses 

 and orchises, harebells and violets — violets both the 

 blue and the white — the white the most abundant, 

 the largest, and the sweetest of the two ? We have 

 seen violets elsewhere ; but nowhere do they appear 

 in such profusion as in Kent, unless in some parts 



of its neighbour, Surrey. And then its nightingales! 

 We have heard them elsewhere ; but nowhere do 

 they appear to sing in such numbers, and with such 

 energy, as in Kent. We have been told the same 

 of Devonshire ; but there it was never our fortune 

 to hear them. The nightingale is essentially a 

 southern bird, and near its northern limits even in 

 the South of England. A few have been heard, or 

 are supposed to have been heard, in Norfolk ; but 

 north of Trent the nightingale is unknown. There, 

 the chief herald of the spring is the ubiquitous 

 cuckoo, which ranges even to the Highlands of 

 Scotland; and it must be owned that a cheerful 

 herald ot the spring he is. 



Do we make our journey in the autumn, the 

 orchards, which in the spring were a sheet of purple 

 and white with the blossoms of the apple aud the 

 cherry, are now bending beneath the weight of their 

 fruit. Wc pass fields waving with corn, and hop- 

 grounds more beautiful than any vineyards except 

 those of Italy, amidst boweriug hedges, festooned 

 with the graceful and white-blossomed clematis, well 

 named the " traveller's joy." Well does it deserve 

 that name, for its beauty, apart from the popular 

 tradition (to which we do not subscribe) tliat it is 

 never seen a mile from a dwelling, and is therefore a 

 welcome sight to the weary wayfarer. What is cer- 

 tain is, that it is only an inhabitant of a calcareous 

 subsoil, aud is not seen on the clays even of Kent. 

 Let us uot forget the beautiful large campanula, the 

 Canterbury bell, associated with Kent even in 

 name. 



xVnd then the buildings which give life aud ani- 

 mation to the landscape ! Where else shall we see 

 such a succession of venerable churches, snug par- 

 sonages, and comfortable farmhouses, meet abodes 

 for the wealthy yeomen of Kent ? Where such a 

 succession of lordly halls and mouldering castles and 

 abbeys, with two hoary cathedrals of Canterbury 

 and Rochester, which have survived both castle 

 and abbey ? What historical recollections crowd 

 upon the thoughts as we jouruey on ! They ac- 

 company us at sta-ting ; they follow us as we 

 advance. We leave the great Babel by the ma- 

 jestic bridge wliich bears its name, the triumph 

 of engineering skill and science. What a contrast 

 does it present, in its simple, majestic grandeur, to 

 its picturesque old structure, which many of us can 

 remember, with its steep ascent, its narrow road- 

 way, its massive sterlings, with their foaming cata- 

 racts, to shoot wliich was an exploit scarcely less 

 formidable tlian to descend the Palis of Niagara ! 

 Even that old structure, as we remember it, with 

 all these deformities, spoke of modern improvement, 

 compared with that which we know only from tra- 



