Village Life

Lower Hardres and Nackington have deep historical roots stretching back many centuries. The name Hardres (pronounced “Hards”) comes from the influential Hardres family, who held the local manor for around 700 years after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The village sits along the old Roman road known as Stone Street, just a few miles south of Canterbury, and has long been a peaceful rural community nestled in Kent’s rolling countryside.

Beneath our fields and gardens lies a much older story. Around 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, the area that is now Kent was covered by a shallow sea. Over millions of years, the skeletons of tiny marine creatures accumulated on the seabed, forming chalk deposits, and flint nodules crystallised within them. Today, these flints are scattered throughout our fields, walls, and gardens — a tangible link to a prehistoric landscape that shaped both the soil and the building materials of our villages.

St. Mary’s Church in Lower Hardres has stood at the eastern edge of the village for generations. The current building was constructed in 1832 in the early English style, replacing an earlier medieval church, and incorporates an ancient font dating back to about 1217 — one of only two of its kind surviving in Kent.

One of the most notable events in local history occurred in August 1830, when Lower Hardres became the site of the first destruction of a threshing machine in what became known as the Swing Riots. Frustrated agricultural labourers, facing low wages and the threat of mechanisation, smashed the machine on the night of 28 August — an act that sparked similar rural protests across Kent and beyond.

Nackington, a smaller neighbouring settlement, has a long heritage too; it was historically a tiny agricultural hamlet with roots recorded as far back as the Domesday Book. The village centre revolves around its own St. Mary’s Church and retains much of its traditional charm, with historic farmhouses and listed buildings reflecting its past.

The parish today contains several listed historic buildings, including old farmhouses such as Court Lodge, Cooks Farmhouse, and Winter’s Farmhouse, which give a glimpse into rural life over the centuries. There are also war memorials in both villages commemorating local villagers who served and sacrificed in the World Wars.