The canal on your right was built in the 1830s by the
Penshurst Canal Company in an attempt to straighten the
Medway to make it navigable upstream from Tonbridge.
The enterprise caused a huge dispute with the Medway
Navigation Company whose supply of water for the
operation of its locks was threatened. There were
expensive legal proceedings and fights between workers
from the two companies. The chief instigator of
the venture, James Christie, was bankrupted by
escalating costs and fled to America leaving the canal
never to be completed.
Known as Meopham Bank until a few years ago and still shown as such on most maps, Avalon was once the home of artist John Frederick Herring Senior (1795 to 1865), renowned for his paintings of horses. The house, possibly designed by Septimus Burton (brother of the more famous Decimus Burton who designed many houses in Tunbridge Wells and also the Palm House at Kew Gardens), was then known as Meopham Park.
Created between 1974 and 1980 by the removal of a 4m layer of sand and gravel which was itself 2m beneath soil and other deposits.
Both the 82-mile Wealdway from Gravesend to Eastbourne and the Eden Valley Walk from near Edenbridge to Tonbridge pass through Haysden Country Park. Kent Ramblers has published guides to both (see below).
Haysden Country Park is within walking distance of Tonbridge Station. Alternatively you could start and finish the walk at Leigh which has a railway station and is on the 210 bus route to Tonbridge.
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