BENENDEN AND IDEN GREEN WELLS
Benenden and Iden Green have many Listed Buildings ranging from graveyard tombs to manor houses, from telephone boxes to wells. They are all precious heritage assets and belong in the landscape that we cherish so much.
At each of the two main crossroads in Benenden Parish, there is a historical structure, built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s long reign. In 1887 the Queen’s Well was erected at Benenden crossroads for the Golden Jubilee (50 years’ reign) and in 1897, the Pump House, at Iden Green crossroads, was built for the Diamond Jubilee (60 years’ reign). Both structures are listed buildings and the Parish Council has a duty to keep them in good repair. The two structures blend into the surroundings and despite the thousands of people that pass them every day, they are relatively unnoticed by the general public. However, they are beautiful examples of Kentish craftmanship of that time and it was decided by the Parish Council that a full refurbishment was overdue because of the effect of infestation and rot which had penetrated the structures.
The wells have special architectural and historic interest and sit at the gateways to the villages in prominent locations, beside historic settlements and ancient routeways. Added to this is the AONB landscape of the High Weald which is described as ‘one of the best-preserved Medieval landscapes in North West Europe’. The natural beauty of the High Weald comprises five defining components of character: geology, landform and water systems; settlement; routeways; woodland; and field and heath. Other qualities enrich the character components, such as locally distinctive historic buildings, historic parks and gardens, veteran trees, and orchards. Our wells do exactly that, enhancing and enriching the landscape as we know it.
In July 2021, the Parish Council went out to tender to local companies and it was decided that Anthony Hicks would be awarded the refurbishment project because they gave the most comprehensive and detailed quotation. They understood, more so than other tenderers, exactly the work that would have to be carried out in order to return the structures to their former glory.
BENENDEN WELL
The refurbishment of the Queen’s Well at Benenden crossroads was the first structure to be commenced. Anthony Hicks’s project manager, Graham Stevens, said that the timbers could be repaired in-situ by jacking up the structure, cutting out the infested timber and splicing in new timbers. The whole structure sits on four stone plinths and the plinths showed signs of cracking which was caused by the steel locating pins, set in to the top of the stones, expanding over time, due to corrosion. These pins would need to be removed and new stainless-steel pins installed, drilled into the stones through the timber structure, once it was lowered into position.
During the lead-in period, before the project was started on site, some thieves had stolen a very large diameter and long Openreach cable from a trench along the Rolvenden Road and was traveling at speed along The Street in Benenden, making a right hand turn into New Pond Road. The cable was trailing out of the boot of the car by several metres and as the car rounded the turning at the crossroads, the cable struck the Well structure and knocked the whole structure off the stone plinths. It is estimated that the Well structure weighs over 4 metric tonnes, so the force to do this would have been considerable. Surprisingly, the structure didn’t collapse but many Kent peg tiles fell from its roof and broke, and many of the timber members were split in the process.
It was decided that so much damage had been done to the structure that the only way forward would be to completely dismantle the structure, take it to the contractor’s workshop and repair each timber member in turn. The plinth stones would also be taken to the stone mason for refurbishment and all the repairs would need to be carried out under the supervision of the conservation officer because of the listing status of the Well.
All the elements of the structure were catalogued and drawings prepared to ensure that the structure would be re-constructed correctly. Even some of the tenons were broken during the impact of the cable accident and new tenons had to be fashioned and replaced.
A scaffold was erected around the structure for access, any salvagable Kent peg tiles were removed and taken back to the yard for safety and each of the under-boards were numbered, taken back to the workshop and laid out on the floor in their site-built sequence for assessment of their condition and repair, as necessary.
The rafters, beams and columns were then numbered and dismantled and removed for further assessment and the pricing of all the repair work undertaken.
The stone mason was unable to remove the steel pins from the stone plinths because they were firmly embedded in the top of the stones. It was decided that the only way to re-use the existing plinths would be to cut off the cracked, chamfered tops off the plinths, thereby also cutting out the rusted steel pins completely, and planting a new chamfered top on the existing stones, inserting longer stainless-steel pins to locate the whole structure on site.
There are some inscriptions carved into the ring-beam timber members and one of these spell out the words: ‘The + Queen’s + Well 1887’. One of the joiners employed at Anthony Hicks, John Hoffman, is also an artist and he was able to carefully re-paint, in red paint, the carved inscriptions to return them to their original state.
Each of the timber members was inspected and a whole list of repairs made and agreed with Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s Conservation Officer. Any timber which had infestation was cut out and a new oak timber spliced in its place.
Any timber that was split or infested had that section removed and a new oak timber spliced in its place.
All the repaired timbers were then stacked and stored in the workshop until the plinth stones were ready. The method of refurbishing the plinth stones had to be agreed with the Conservation Officer because they were being considerably altered due to the fact that they were cracked and the steel pins corroded to such an extent that they could not be removed. This process extended the duration of the project considerably and gave the impression that no progress was being made on the project.
Eventually, all repairs were completed and the Anthony Hicks team were ready to re-erect the structure. The timber structure was carefully re-constructed on site on its refurbished plinths and the Kent peg tiles re-fitted, adding additional peg tiles where they had previously been broken by the cable accident.
IDEN GREEN WELL
There was no physical damage to the Iden Green well structure but there was some decay and repairs could be undertaken without completely dismantling the structure, unlike the Benenden Well structure.
Decayed/infested structural timber members needed to be cut out and new timbers scarfed into position. Missing decorative iron bars were replaced with ones newly fashioned and the roof tiles were removed to allow repairs to the boarding and the finial.
The works were completed in 2024.