Charles Dickens and Higham - A circular walk - www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent

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Charles Dickens and Higham - A circular walk - www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent
Charles Dickens
                                and Higham
                                     A circular walk

       www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent
KENT
Charles Dickens and Higham - A circular walk - www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth
                                                on the 7th of February 1812 to John and Elizabeth
                                                Dickens, the 2nd of 8 children. John was a pay clerk
                                                in the Royal Navy and the family moved with his job,
                                                coming to Chatham when Charles was 5 years old.
                                                Dickens was so inspired by what he found in Kent that he
                                                returned here for the last years of his life. Many people and places in his
                                                novels have Kentish roots. The marshland around this area lent itself to the
                                                vivid opening of Great Expectations.
                                                Dickens was a dedicated walker. 12 miles was an average daily walk. He
                                                would walk in all weathers, turning ideas over in his mind.
                                                This walk covers 6.6 miles and includes places & landmarks that Dickens
                                                would have known well.

                                              1 Arrivals                                2 Building a new life
                                              It is unlikely that Dickens would         Dickens’s early life was happy, but his
                                              have chosen to live at Gad’s Hill         father John was careless with money
                                              Place had Higham lacked a railway         and fell into debt. In 1823 John was
                                              station. Regular railway travel was       compelled to put his son Charles to
                                              vital to Dickens. Even his traumatic      work in Warren’s blacking factory near
“…walking was, perhaps,
                                              experience of the Staplehurst railway     the Strand, pasting labels onto bottles
his chiefest pleasure, and                    crash on the 9th of June 1865 did not     of boot polish for 6 shillings a week.
the country lanes and city                    curtail this.                             Dickens felt the indignity keenly.
streets alike found him a close                                                         Only a few days after Dickens began
observer of their beauties                    Dickens would often walk or ride          his factory life his father served 3
                                              down to Higham Railway Station to         months in the Marshalsea Prison for
and interests. He was a rapid                 greet visitors to Gad’s Hill Place on     unpaid debts.
walker, his usual pace being                  their arrival in Higham.
four miles an hour, and to                                                              Dickens’s intense drive for personal
keep step with him required                   From the entrance road to Higham          success was in reaction to these
energy and activity similar to                Railway Station, turn right and cross     childhood experiences. He bought
his own.” Mamie Dickens                       the railway bridge. Take the footpath     Gad’s Hill Place, not only as a home
                                              on the right which leads over open        but also to mark his achievements.
                                              fields. Follow the path until you reach
                                              a track, (The Landway.) Turn right and
                                              head uphill past White House Farm.
                                  The Knole
Charles Dickens and Higham - A circular walk - www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent
Gads Hill Place c1900
My father, seeing me so fond of it, has often said to me, ‘If you

                                                                                                                   Clerks Cottage
were to be very persevering and were to work hard, you
might some day come to live in it.

Gads Hill Place was leased to Joseph      would ensure “audibility in reading to a   5 A Writer’s refuge                            In 1859, a tunnel was built under the
Hindle (the vicar of Higham from          congregation.”                                                                            road so Dickens could cross to his
1829 to 1874.) Dickens allowed him to                                                In 1864, the actor Charles Fechter             chalet unimpeded by traffic.
remain there until Hindle’s newly built   After passing the church, turn left on     gave Dickens a Swiss chalet as a               In the 1960s, the chalet was moved
house, ‘The Knowle’ was ready.            to Forge Lane.                             Christmas present. The chalet was              to the garden of Eastgate House in
                                                                                     delivered to Gad’s Hill, via Higham            Rochester, which was fictionalised as
                                          You will find Higham Library on your       Railway station, in 58 boxes. It was
Shortly after the farm, take the path                                                                                               the Westgate House Establishment for
                                          right, next door to the Gardeners          assembled across the road from Gad’s
bearing right across the field with St                                                                                              Young Ladies in The Pickwick Papers
                                          Arms.                                      Hill Place in the area that Dickens
John’s Church in front of you. Upon                                                                                                 and the Nun’s House in The Mystery
reaching the field edge, turn left                                                   referred to as ‘the shrubbery’. In May         of Edwin Drood.
                                          4 Reading Dickens                          1868 he wrote: “The place is lovely,
alongside allotments and then right
along Hermitage Road.                     200 years since his birth, Charles         and in perfect order. I have put five          Please note that The Wilderness is
                                          Dickens remains the most popular           mirrors in the Swiss chalet (where I           private property.
3 Shrinking the Sunday walk               novelist in the English language. His      write) and they reflect and refract in
                                          books are read around the world            all kinds of ways the leaves that are           6 Dickens’s dream house
Joseph Hindle was conscious that          and the characters he described –          quivering at the windows, and the
his church was almost 2 miles away        Ebenezer Scrooge, Miss Haversham,          great fields of waving corn, and the           “A mansion of dull red brick, with a little
from the growing communities of           Mr Pickwick – full of the life and         sail-dotted river.                             weathercock-surmounted cupola on the
Mid & Upper Higham. He paid for           energy of their creator, are immortal.                                                    roof, and a bell hanging in it.”
the building of St John’s Church on                                                  My room is up among the branches               A Christmas Carol
Hermitage Road. The church was            To find out more about Charles             of the trees; and the birds and the
consecrated in January 1862.              Dickens & his written works visit          butterflies fly in and out, and the            As a boy, Charles would walk with
                                          Higham Library.                            green branches shoot in, at the open           his father to Gad’s Hill, famous as the
As residents of Upper Higham, The                                                    windows, and the lights and shadows            location of Falstaff’s failed attempt
Dickens family began to attend St         As you enter the library you will see      of the clouds come and go with the             at highway robbery in Shakespeare’s
John’s Church in preference to St         a framed large scale map of Higham         rest of the company. The scent of the          Henry IV Part I. Dickens recalled his
Mary’s. The family had a pew in the       to the left of the door. The map is        flowers, and indeed of everything that         early fascination with Gad’s Hill Place
chancel.                                  dated 1864 so the streets, buildings       is growing for miles and miles, is most        in The Uncommercial Traveller:
                                          and landmarks of Dickens’ day are          delicious.”                                        “You admire that house?” said I.
Christopher Cay, the curate of St         recorded.                                                                                    “Bless you, sir,” said the very queer
John’s Church, benefited from                                                        Here Dickens worked on Great                   small boy, “when I was not more than
Dickens’ “practice and experience”
                                          Leaving the Library, continue down         Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Our        half as old as nine, it used to be a treat
as a famous public reader. Dickens                                                   Mutual Friend, The Uncommercial                for me to be brought to look at it. And
                                          Forge Lane to the end of the road and
advised him that “reading more from
                                          turn left.                                 Traveller and The Mystery of Edwin             now, I am nine, I come by myself to look
the chest and less from the throat”
                                                                                     Drood.                                         at it. And ever since I can recollect,
Charles Dickens and Higham - A circular walk - www.kent.gov.uk/explorekent
View from Hermitage Rd
                                                                                                                                      We ascend to the monument. Stop at the gate. Moon is
                                                                                                                                      rising. Heavy shadows… Suddenly, as we enter the field, a
                                                                                                                                      most extraordinary noise responds...

                                                                                                                                      8 Dickens the man of the world              From The Larches continue along
                         my father, seeing me so fond of it, has      foot-races and rustic sports in my field
                         often said to me, ‘If you were to be very    here… As I have never yet had a case of                             (& ghost hunter!)                       Hermitage Road. Enjoy the great views
                         persevering and were to work hard, you       drunkenness, the landlord of The Falstaff                                                                   to either side.
                                                                                                                                      Dickens paid attention to current
                         might some day come to live in it.’          had a drinking-booth on the ground…                                                                         Take the footpath on your left just
                                                                                                                                      affairs and as a young man worked as
                                                                      We had two thousand people here.                                                                            before Mill Barn. You can see the base
                                                                                                                                      a parliamentary reporter. He would
                         Dickens paid for the house on the                                                                                                                        of the old windmill. Follow the well
                                                                                                                                      have been familiar with the reforms
                         14th of March 1856. His son Charley                                                                                                                      defined path straight and cross the
                                                                                                                                      introduced in 1832 by Rochester
                         recalled the purchase: “We inspected
                                                                                                                                      auctioneer Charles Larkin giving the        road to take the restricted byway.
                         the premises as well as we could
                                                                                                                                      vote to every householder owning            Follow the track straight ahead to
                         from the outside – my father, full of
                                                                                                                                      property worth more than 10 pounds.         another road. Turn right towards
                         pride at his new position as a Kentish
                                                                                                                                      The monument on Telegraph Hill was          Lillechurch and take the footpath
                         freeholder…and we lunched at the
                                                                                                                                      erected to commemorate Larkin after         opposite the farm entrance.
                         Falstaff Inn opposite, and walked to
                                                                                                                                      his death in 1833 and has since been        Head across the field passing through
                         Gravesend to dinner, full of delightful
                                                                                                                                      renovated twice.                            kissing gates, when you reach the
                         anticipation of the country life to come.”

                                                                                                                  St Johns Falstaff
                                                                                                                                                                                  road, take the track opposite through
                                                                                                                                      In 1860 rumour spread that the hill
                         Please note that Gad’s Hill School is                                                                                                                    Oakleigh Nursery & Farm.
                                                                                                                                      was haunted. Dickens took his young
                         private property.                                                                                                                                        When the track splits, take the left-
                                                                                                                                      sons ghost-hunting as he wrote to his
                                                                                                                                      friend the author Wilkie Collins:           hand fork with St Mary’s church spire
                          7 A merry man                               Among the crowd were soldiers, navvies,
                                                                                                                                                                                  directly in front of you.
                                                                      and labourers of all kinds…There was
                         Dickens’s guests often stayed at the                                                                         “We ascend to the monument. Stop
                                                                      not a dispute all day, and they went
                         Falstaff Inn when Gad’s Hill ran out of                                                                      at the gate. Moon is rising. Heavy          9 Dickens & daughter
                                                                      away at sunset rending the air with
                         room. The landlord was called Trood,                                                                         shadows… Suddenly, as we enter
                                                                      cheers…”                                                                                                    At St Mary’s church in Higham on
                         which may have given Dickens the                                                                             the field, a most extraordinary noise
                                                                                                                                                                                  17th July 1860, Katey Dickens married
                         name of Edwin Drood for his                                                                                  responds ­terrific noise ­human noise ­
                                                                      Immediately after The Sir John Falstaff                                                                     Charles Collins, the brother of Wilkie
                         last novel.                                                                                                  and yet superhuman noise… “Did you
                                                                      Inn, take Telegraph Hill, and follow up                                                                     Collins. The Reverend Joseph Hindle
                                                                                                                                      hear that, Pa?” says Frank. “I did,” says
                                                                      and down hill to the end of the road.                                                                       conducted the ceremony. Katey’s
                         Dickens loved organising elaborate                                                                           I. Noise repeated ­portentous, derisive,
                                                                      Turn right along Hermitage Road.                                                                            mother Catherine did not attend
                         entertainments and wrote to his                                                                              dull, dismal, damnable. We advance
                                                                                                                                                                                  the wedding. Dickens had separated
                         friend William Macready in 1866:             To visit the Larkin monument turn                               towards the sound. Something white
                                                                                                                                                                                  from his wife in 1858. (He had begun
                          “You will be interested in knowing that,                                                                    comes lumbering through the darkness.
                                                                      right into The Larches, taking the gate                                                                     a secret relationship with the actress
                         encouraged by the success of summer                                                                          - An asthmatic sheep!”
                                                                      at the end of the road.                                                                                     Ellen Ternan the previous year.)
                         cricket-matches, I got up a quantity of
The strain of this personal upheaval        10 “Curious little public-houses -
                   was felt by the whole of the Dickens
                                                                   and smithies”
                   family.
                                                               When writing Great Expectations,
                   In later life Katey Dickens hinted that     Dickens may well have used Lower
                                                               Higham as part of the model for Pip’s

                                                                                                         St Mary’s Church
                   her first marriage was motivated by

                                                                                                                                                  Lower Higham
                   a need to escape from an “unhappy           home village. It has a “lonely church,
                                                               right out on the marshes” and, in

                                                                                                                                                                                       Gads Hill
                   home.”
                                                               Dickens’s day, it was a working class
                                                               village with smithies and pubs. The
                                         Dickens arranged
                                                               former Chequers Inn was the hub
                                         for a special train   of Lower Higham, as the Three Jolly
St Mary’s Church

                                         from London to        Bargemen seems to be in Pip’s village.
                                         Higham to bring
                                         in the wedding        Continue on Chequers Street, over the
                                         guests. Local         railway bridge, and back to Higham
                   villagers made floral tributes and
                                                               Railway Station.
                   crowded round the church yard to
                   cheer the married couple.
                                                               1 Departures
                   Yet Gladys Storey, the author of            On Tuesday morning 14th June 1870                                            Kent Libraries, Registration & Archives HQ
                   ‘Dickens & Daughter’ recorded this          a special train left Higham railway                                             The Kent History & Library Centre
                   anecdote: “After the last of the guests     station for Charing Cross…                                                             James Whatman Way
                   had departed, Mamie went up to her                                                                                                 Maidstone ME14 1LQ
                   sister’s bedroom. Opening the door, she     Dickens had always enjoyed reading

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Design: astonesthrowdesign.co.uk. Cover photo: St Johns’ Church ,Higham
                   beheld her father upon his knees with       his work to an appreciative public and                                                       Tel: 08458 247200
                   his head buried in Katie’s wedding-         from the end of 1868 until 15th                                                          Email: libraries@kent.gov.uk
                   gown, sobbing. She stood for some           March 1870, gave a series of “Farewell
                   moments before he became aware of           Readings” Dickens poured all his
                   her presence; when at last he got up and    energy into the performances and
                   saw her, he said in a broken voice:         put terrible strain on his health. On                        The Library is situated in Villa Road, and offers a wide range of services,
                                                                                                                            including books, CDs, DVDs and free internet use. It is easy to join the
                                                               the 8th June 1870 in the dining room
                   ‘But for me, Katey would not have left                                                                      library, and it is free. See the Kent Libraries & Archives website for
                                                               at Gad’s Hill Place, Charles Dickens
                                                                                                                                            further details: www.kent.gov.uk/libraries
                   home,’ and walked out of the room.”         suffered a stroke. He died the next
                                                               day leaving his final book ‘The Mystery                      There is access to Higham Library through a courtyard from both the
                   After leaving St Mary’s Church, head        of Edwin Drood’ unfinished. Although                                            Forge Lane and from Villa Road.
                   down Church Street. Shortly after the       he wished to be buried at Shorne
                   Black Cottages, take the footpath on        near Gad’s Hill, he was laid to rest in
                   the left. Turn right into Bull Lane and     Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
                   left on to Church Street/Chequers
                   Street.
                                                                                                                                                                                                   This guide is printed on
                                                                                                                                                                                                   55% recycled paper
9
                                     10
                                Start/Finish
                                                   1
                            2
                                   3
                4
                                               8
                    5
                        7
                                                                            6.6 miles (10.1 km) walk
                                                                            Diversion - 0.4 miles return
            6
                                                                            Train station
                                                                            Take care
                                                                            Gate
    KM
0
    Miles
0               0.25                 0.5               Crown Copyright and database right 2012. Ordnance Survey 100019238
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