East Peckham

East Peckham is a village in Kent, England, made up of nine hamlets and situated about 5 mi east of Tonbridge on the River Medway. It was the centre for the hop growing industry in Kent and is still home to the Hop Farm which has the world's largest collection of Oast Houses.

History
The Domesday entry for East and West Peckham reads:-


 * ''The Archbishop himself holds Pecheham, In the time of King Edward the Confessor it was taxed at six sulungs, and now six sulungs and one yoke. The arable land is ten carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixteen villeins, with fourteen borderers, having four carucates and a half. There is a church, and ten servants, and one mill, and six acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of six hogs.
 * ''Of the land of this manor, one of the archbishop's tenants holds half a sulung, and was taxed with these six sulungs in the time of King Edward the Confessor, although it could not belong to the manor, except in the scotting, because it was free land.
 * ''Richard de Tonebridge holds of the same favour two sulungs and one yoke, and has there twenty-seven villeins, having seven carucates, and wood for the pannage of ten hogs. The whole value being four pounds. In the time of King Edward the Confessor, the manor was worth twelve pounds, when the Archbishop received it eight pounds, and now what he has is worth eight pounds.

Part of the manor of East Farleigh lay within what is now East Peckham.
 * Ralph Fitz Turold holds of the bishop (of Baieux) half a sulung in Estockingeberge. In the time of King Edward the Confessor, two Freemen held it, and then like now, and it is valued at twenty shillings.

There is a persistent myth that the village was originally sited a few miles away towards Mereworth although there is no evidence of this. St Michael's church stands on high ground two miles to the north of the village, and is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust and open daily. In the mid-nineteenth century the new parish church of the Holy Trinity was built in the village. The architects were Whichcord and Walker of Maidstone, and the foundation stone was laid on 24 October 1840.

The River Bourne flows through the parish, and formerly powered a watermill (Little Mill) before joining the River Medway. There was another watermill on the River Medway at Branbridges.In the past, East Peckham has been flooded many times. The East Peckham Flood Relief partnership was formed in 2003. A dam has been built on the Coult Stream at Bullen Farm. It is 160 m long and 4 m high and has the capacity to hold 80000 m3 of floodwater. The scheme cost just over £1 million.

In 2012, a local amateur theatre group, The Russett Players, was formed in the village.

Notable persons

 * On 28 January 1896 Walter Arnold, of East Peckham, was fined for speeding at 8 mph, thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit for towns of 2 mph. He was fined 1 shilling plus costs, the first speeding fine in England. He was the first person to be convicted of speeding in the UK. Arnold had been caught by a policeman who had given chase on a bicycle.

Twinning
East Peckham is twinned with Chéreng, Nord, France.