00:17Hello and welcome to Kent Chronicles live here on KMTV and we turn back time on all of Kent's
00:24history from the Mesolithic era to the Industrial Revolution and everything in between. I'm Lucy
00:29Keane and join me as we turn back time and discuss all things history. This week we will be exploring
00:35the county's rich history of pub, grubs and recipes from all across Kent so join me as we take a
00:42look.
00:42But first our reporters Nathan Hardy and Crystal McPherson went for a historic pub crawl through
00:49Canterbury to visit some of the city's oldest and most significant establishments. Here is this
00:54week's A Town Through Time. Today we're in Canterbury to take a whistle stop tour for the city's most
01:02famous and culturally relevant pubs and restaurants. Our first stop was the Parrot. Originally called
01:07St Reddigan's Hall, the Parrot is the oldest pub and one of the oldest buildings in Canterbury
01:11dating back to the 14th century. It was built on Roman foundations in 1370 just inside the Roman
01:17city wall. The first floor restaurant shows the lasting craftsmanship of the medieval period.
01:21In 1937 it was in danger of demolition as it was unfit for human habitation but the discovery of many
01:28original details led to its restoration. The 1470 staircase frames still exist at the rear of 15th
01:34century chimneys. It was renamed the Parrot in 2008 but it was originally named after the monks of St
01:40Radigand at Bradsell near Dover. On our way to the next stop we walk past the old weaver's house,
01:46one of the oldest buildings in Canterbury with the foundation having been laid in the 12th century.
01:50The restaurant is named after the weaving centers which were established here in the 16th century
01:54and later it's time as a weaving school for girls. Our final stop on this historic pub crawl was the
01:59Pound. Westgate Towers is the largest of the country's surviving medieval gateways and now home to
02:03several event and dining spaces such as a museum, an escape room experience and this pub, the Pound.
02:09It was originally built during the 100 years war to defend Canterbury from foreign incursion
02:13and to demonstrate the city's wealth and importance. Once the military threat lessened,
02:17Westgate was converted into the city jail. Following the condemnation of the foul conditions
02:22inside the gateway, One Pound Lane was constructed in the early 19th century as a new extension to the
02:27jail linked to the old one by an iron bridge. When the jail closed half a century later, the building
02:32became a police station. However, this function too came to an end. Brought back into active service for
02:37both world wars, it played a crucial role in the city's air defences. Finally, in the 21st century, it was
02:43rescued from its dilapidated state and converted to the delightful heritage complex you see here today.
02:48Thanks for coming along to this historic pub crawl through Canterbury for this week's A Town Through Time.
02:56Earlier, I spoke to our reporter Corey Miller to learn more about the Countess of Kent's culinary exploits.
03:03Elizabeth Grey was well known for her research in medicine, but what about her love for grub?
03:08Let's see what he found out in this week's Periodic Profile.
03:20Tell us a bit about our Periodic Profile of the week, a bit about their life.
03:23So our Periodic Profile for this week is the Countess of Kent. So her birth name was Lady Elizabeth Talbot,
03:30which was in 1582. And she was actually born from the parents of Shrewsbury, so she was already brought
03:38up and raised with a sense of nobility. In fact, when she was nine years old, she got to meet
03:43what was at
03:43the time Princess Elizabeth. And she was great friends with them, and they did sort of carry this on
03:50throughout her life. In fact, when she was nine, the princess said she behaved herself with
03:54such a modesty as I pray she may possess at 20 years old.
03:58So how did the Countess actually come to be?
04:01Well, after being the maid of honour of Queen Elizabeth's wedding, she must have felt the love
04:06in the air, as only one year after, in the year 1601, she got then married to the Count of
04:11Kent,
04:12and hence got her name, Countess of Kent, as she married Henry Grey.
04:17What were some of her recipes, if you don't mind telling?
04:19Of course. So she quite liked to make sweets of that in confectionaries. In fact,
04:26many of hers contained sort of candied recipes, which would basically coat different fruits or
04:32that of sugar, and that would help preserve them and elongate them out. She also liked to use quite
04:38a lot of gooseberries, which were a fairly bitter fruit. And some of her recipes that were in the book
04:45A Gentlewoman's Delight was triple cream, apple cream, clotted cream, and of course, apple pies and cheesecakes.
05:01Now, let's see how well you know some of the county's history,
05:05as it's time for this week's Tea Time Trivia with Man Josh Sahota.
05:14We read it in Grayson High Street to see if the public can answer this week's Tea Time Trivia.
05:20This week's question is what Kentish pub is mentioned in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
05:26The Charles Dickens pub. No, the...
05:29Ooh, not very good with pubs, I'm afraid. I think it's the John Falstaff.
05:34I don't know. Shakespeare?
05:37Er, the answer is the lobster, which was renamed as the Ship and Lobster in 1832.
05:43I've been there. I know, it's a bit hidden up, innit?
05:47Okay. Yeah, and Charles Dickens did visit Denton, didn't he?
05:52The Ship and Lobster is located on the shore at Denton. It's also known as the first and last pub
05:58on the River Thames.
05:59Supposedly, this pub was mentioned by Dickens in Great Expectations as the ship.
06:06That is all for Trivia we have time for this week, but be sure to tune in next week for
06:11even more Tea Time Trivia.
06:15And now for our long-standing landmark. Our reporter, Louis Stephens, travelled down to the year-old yew tree in
06:21Sturrey,
06:22a pub built in 1348 known as the oldest pub in Kent. He went to drink in the old atmosphere
06:30and see how the historical building is enjoyed by the community today. Let's take a look.
06:43The old yew tree is found here in Sturrey, the village just on the outskirts of Canterbury
06:48and it's earned its name with over 600 years of history. The people, place and pub itself all make this
06:54a historic location.
06:56Yeah, it is. It's a lovely place to be. Garden of England and all that. I mean, this is a
07:00grade two listed pub,
07:03nearly 700 years old, so we are restricted on what we can do to this building inside and out.
07:09But the history of, you know, the churches that are around and the pubs and the, you know, the thatch
07:15cottages and that,
07:17you know, it's part of, it is part of history.
07:20People that come here to visit specifically target the yew tree because it is, I think Kent,
07:27they've read online, they want to have a look at what it's like.
07:29See the old woods and smell the atmosphere and things like that, you know, it's not just a picture online,
07:34it's the whole ambience of the place, really, the aura.
07:38But yeah, we are lucky that we've got a bit of history about it. We've, as I said, there's books,
07:43the community look after West Beer, so they've got really well documented history and I think that
07:53that's missing in a lot of places. You can see lovely buildings and, you know, an experience different
07:59places, but when you know the history behind it and you've got, you can't live that experience,
08:05that past experience. The front, well, the back door, the door that we use, entrance, is beautiful
08:12and it's obviously been handcuffed and looked after really well.
08:17Visitors include the Archbishop of Canterbury, Queen Anne and Dick Turpin, the infamous highwayman,
08:24who hid here to escape the law. As well as that, many who served the Civil War were mended here,
08:29being used as an impromptu hospital for soldiers. Louis Stephens for KMTV.
08:42And finally, for this week's Alluring Artifact, our reporters Zach Smith and Eleanor Gonsalves
08:48cooked up a relic of a recipe as they recreated a bread roll with a medieval history.
09:01Hello and welcome to this week's Alluring Artifact. I'm Eleanor Gonsalves.
09:05And I'm Zach Smith. And this week we're looking at the Kentish Dimple Hothkin.
09:09A medieval bread roll with a surprising amount of history. But first, let's make it.
09:13To start, add 450 grams of plain flour, two teaspoons of sugar and one sachet of instant
09:19yeast to a bowl and mix together. Then add 50 grams of butter to the dry ingredients,
09:24create a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in 220 millilitres of warm milk.
09:29Next, mix everything together into a dough. After that, turn the dough onto an oiled kitchen surface
09:35and knead well for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
09:40Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Then leave it to rise for
09:44about
09:45an hour. Once the dough has doubled in size, divide it into eight equal pieces.
09:49Gently flatten them and leave a thumbprint in the middle to create their signature dimple.
09:53Cover once again for an extra 30 minutes. Then put into the oven at 220 degrees centigrade and bake
10:00for 15 to 20 minutes. Now, while that's baking, let's have a look at the history of the Kentish
10:05Dimpled Hothkin. Hothkin was created by a cherry farmer's wife. And she devised this small bun or bread,
10:14if you like, that would be easily portable and could be given to the pickers while they were having
10:22their lunch break. She'd made the dough. She'd rolled it into a little round bread. She then
10:28pressed her thumb into the middle. And that indent was to pop either some cherry jam, some cream or a
10:37cherry. It was Henry VIII that brought the cherries to Kent. So he went to France. He got a real
10:42taste for
10:43cherries. And then when he was living in Leeds Castle, he allocated a certain amount of land for
10:50people to bring some cherry trees in. And that's where the sort of like cherry growing side of
10:55things happened. Unfortunately, the lady's name has been lost in history, which is rather sad because
11:00I feel she should be hailed a bit of a hero. I think there should be a campaign to bring
11:07back the Hothkin.
11:08And we're here in Rochester to see if the general public liked the Kentish Hothkin.
11:17It's quite nice. A bit bland. Do you buy this or make this and get it?
11:23Bring back the Hothkin. Eleanor Gonsalves. And Zach Smith for KMTV.
11:31Well, it looks like that was one for the history books. But for me, good evening and see you soon.
11:37Goodbye.
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