The Faversham Society
The Faversham Society
by Arthur Percival, M.B.E., B.A., F.S.A.
Among societies affiliated to the KAS, the Faversham Society is rather unusual in serving both as a local amenity society and a local history society for its area. Since its formation 20 years ago, it has been very active in both capacities, for example, fighting and winning a major public inquiry to prevent the construction of a destructive (and unnecessary) Inner Ring Road and publishing a series of 17 monographs on different aspects of the town's rich past. In a small town of 15,500 people, it is doubtful whether two separate societies would have achieved as much.
The Society is also unusual in owning and operating its own Heritage Centre and Museum, in having a small satellite museum at the Government-owned Maison Dieu in Ospringe (on the outskirts of the town), and in managing the Chart Gunpowder Mills, which are the oldest of their kind in the world and which it restored.
The Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre was the first of its kind in the south of England when it opened in 1977. Well-situated in Preston Street, the town's main shopping street, the building is an old inn where the plot to murder 'Arden of Feversham' was hatched in 1551. A Heritage Centre differs from a museum in the sense that it sets out to tell a coherent, comprehensive story, using museum material only where it is relevant. So the Fleur de Lis tells the story of Faversham, using up-to-date display techniques. Since it has to be self-supporting, there is a modest admission charge, but most visitors agree that this is well-spirited. An audio-visual is followed by displays on local housing through the ages, local industries such as brewing, brickmaking, and shipbuilding, medieval religious foundations, and the whole infrastructure of the town (education, entertainment, hospitals, and 'mayors and markets'). Interspersed are set-piece museum displays, including an old village P.O., an old cottage hearthside, and an Edwardian barber-shop, which we have been told is better than the old one in the Museum of London! In the cellars (mind your head!) are all sorts of fascinating and unusual local bygones.
There is an excellent Kentish bookshop (profits help the Society's work for the conservation of the area), and the idea is that having first seen the Heritage Centre, visitors will explore the town, seeing it in a new light if they know it, or think they know it, already. Notwithstanding that Faversham is still basically (as it always has been) an industrial town, it happens to be one of the most attractive in the country, where history really comes to life. Faversham people are proud of their town and have prevented it being wrecked by developers and highway engineers, as other towns have been. We have 400 listed buildings (yes, 400!), and as well as seeing the house in which Thomas Arden was murdered, you can see others where Henry VIII, Charles I, and James II stayed (the last under duress!).
The Chart Gunpowder Mills (about 10 minutes' walk from the Fleur de Lis) were threatened with destruction before the Faversham Society rescued and restored them in 1967/8. They date from 1760, just after the factory of which they formed part had been nationalized by the Government - we think the first private business to have been brought into State ownership. Picture the powder being mixed under the huge 3-ton edge-runners and remember that without it Nelson could not have won Trafalgar or Wellington Waterloo.
The Fleur de Lis is open throughout the year during normal shopping hours (early closing Thursday). Society volunteers staff it, and, like the Windmill Theatre, it has never closed. The Chart Mills are open on Sundays from the beginning of March to the end of November, 2.30-4.30 pm.
There is no admission charge at the Mills, but money is still needed, so donations are welcome. For visiting parties, the Mills and Fleur de Lis can be opened outside normal hours if need be. Like most other societies the Faversham Society also offers visiting parties guided tours of the town - but there is so much to see we don't like being appended as an afterthought to Canterbury, Leeds Castle, or Rochester! The Society itself can provide parties with light refreshments, if given notice - we have our own very pleasant Hall at the rear of the Fleur de Lis. Otherwise, there are 35 pubs (all but a handful 15th/18th-century buildings) and several good eating-places.
And how to get to Faversham? No part of Kent is more than an hour away by car, and the M2 interchange is just 3 minutes' drive from the central car park. There are three trains an hour from Bromley South and the Medway Towns and two from Thanet, Dover, and Canterbury. The Station is only 3 minutes' walk from the Fleur de Lis and town centre. What more could you ask? If you haven't yet been, we hope you'll come. You'll get a friendly welcome, and you won't regret it.
Any time is a good time to come to Faversham, but specially good days this year will be Saturdays 26 June and 3 July when the Society is holding its annual Open House scheme. This enables you to see over historic houses and other buildings in the town not normally open to the public. Usually between 10 and 12 participate in the scheme. You buy a programme (about £1) from the Fleur de Lis and, as well as admitting to all properties, this contains detailed historical notes on each one. Some people have even been known to buy the programmes just for the notes.
The best Saturday of all will be 3 July, being celebrated as Maritime Faversham Day. What? You had forgotten that Faversham is a port? The oldest Cinque Ports charter actually belongs to Faversham, not any of the Head Ports. On 3 July, special events will be organized on and around Town Wharf. The 15th-century Town Warehouse (now the T. S. Hasarde) will be open to the public, there will be special exhibitions, and the S. B. Decima will be moored nearby for visitors to see over. And don't forget to bring your camera - Faversham's quite the most photogenic town in Kent.