Hextable

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Hextable is a village near the town of Swanley in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies to the north of Swanley, between there and Dartford. The origin of the village name goes back to Saxon times. Its first documented appearance is in 1203 when the land is referred to as Hagestaple. Staple is from the Old English (O.E.) word "stapol," or boundary post. This makes perfect sense as the land was on the boundary of the Saxon settlements of Dartford, Bromley and Sutton at Hone. The word Hage is less clear. One theory is that it is descended from the O.E. word for high: "Hey." But the land on the Birchwood side of Hextable, where the post would have been, is not high, at least compared with nearby Rowhill and Swanley Village, and it is hard to see how Hage would have derived from Hey. The O.E. word "hage" meant a hedge, an enclosure or hawthorn, any of which could have been a means of uniquely delineating the boundary post in some way. The means by which Hagestaple became Hextable is in contrast well-documented:

13th Cent. Hagestaple (1203 Roll of Rents)
14th Cent. Hegestaple (1315 Bill of Sale of Highlands Manor of which Hegestaple was a part)
18th Cent. Hackstaple (Various maps, including Hasted's History of Kent)
19th cent. Hackstable (1868 Ordnance Survey Map)
20th cent. Hextable (1895 OS map and many other documents).

The village grew up in late Victorian times with the selling off of Hextable Farm in 1870 (prior to this there were only three houses on the land that now comprises the village). It was originally set up as an area for the well-to-do to live in fine villas. Many of these villas are still standing, although two, Southbank and Newbank in College Road, were recently torn down to make way for flats and townhouses. The village's to-date most famous resident, Arthur Mee, he of Children's Encyclopedia fame, lived in one such villa, St David's. His most famous utterance on his home village was the withering, although a little inaccurate, statement "Hextable has no history!"

The village quickly grew beyond being just a retreat for the upper middle class with the coming of the railway at nearby Swanley Junction coupled with the fertility of the land and the mild climate. Nurseries were established in the area with their produce being quickly sent to London via rail. Many of the names of these now long-gone nurseries still resound in road names such as Emerson or Plantain. Emerson Road was built upon "The Rec," an old recreation ground left by a resident in Victorian times "for the use of the children of the village in perpetuity." It is consistent with the fast-changing nature of Hextable that perpetuity only lasted 100 years. The railway drove the expansion of the village in the 20th century as a convenient dormitory village for North West Kent and London, and this is its main purpose today.

Much of the initial development of the village in the early 20th century was memorialized in a collection of photographs from a village resident, Christopher Casstine. He was an orphan bought up in the Homes For Little Boys (opened in Hextable by the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIIth, in 1883 and still standing as Furness School) who stayed on in the village opening up a photography studio on the main road to Swanley. His photographs were used for many of the local postcards as well as for Mee's Children's Encyclopedia. His name lives on in the road Casstine Close.

The disorderly growth of the village explains the rather jumbled and unattractive architecture that dominates the village. Hextable House, which was the only house in the village for much of its life, was bombed in the Second World War and wantonly torn down. However, the Avenue of Limes which was planted in Elizabethan times as a magnificent entranceway to the House still remains linking New Barn Road and College Road. Unfortunately there has been some re-planting of the trees in recent years and its full beauty can only be appreciated for half of its length. The gardens of the old House, as would have been seen in its final role as an agricultural college, are kept up with the aid of Lottery money at the Hextable Heritage Centre.

The village has three churches:

• Anglican - St Peter's, part of the united benefice with St Paul, Swanley Village
• Methodist - part of the Kent Thameside Circuit
• Pentecostal

Notably, there are no pubs within the village due to restrictions placed by former landowners in the late 19th century.

Hextable the new Parish A number of residents applied for Hextable to become a Parish. This was agreed by Sevenoaks District Council, which supported the democratic vote by the Electoral Reform Society (approximately 70% in favour out of the 24% who responded) and is now with the DCLG for ratification.

Hextable School almalgamation Kent County Council are trying to push through the amalgamation of Hextable Infants and Junior Schools.

What is it really like Hextable is considered a small village and a quiet place to live. For the most part it is but at time of writing a number of residents are politically active and we have a Residents association which also tries to make positive changes. Overall it is a quiet place to live in with good Schools. Transport is bus or Car. Work with the local youth is thriving with a local Scout group and large Boys' and Girls' Brigade Companies at the Methodist Church.

[edit] External links

• St Peter‘s church

view • talk • edit  The town of Sevenoaks in Kent, South East England with the surrounding suburbs, villages, towns and parishes:
Ash • Ash-cum-Ridley • Bough Beech • Brasted • Brasted Chart • Chartwell • Chevening • Chiddingstone • Chiddingstone Causeway • Chipstead • Cowden • Crockenhill • Crockham Hill • Dunton Green • Edenbridge • Eynsford • Farningham • Fawkham • Fawkham Green • Fordcombe • Four Elms • Halstead • Hartley • Hever • Hextable • Hodsoll Street • Horton Kirby • Horton Kirby and South Darenth • Ide Hill • Kemsing • Knockholt • Leigh • Markbeech • Marsh Green • New Ash Green • Otford • Penshurst • Ridley • Riverhead • Seal • Sevenoaks Weald • Shoreham • South Darenth • Sundridge • Sundridge with Ide Hill • Swanley • Swanley Village • Toys Hill • Underriver • Westerham • West Kingsdown
The district of Sevenoaks List of places in Kent