Hoppers has often been described as an enchanted place.
The building has stood for 400 years among the hop gardens of Kent, in the village of Five Oak Green, near Tonbridge.
Originally it was a small farm looking over the water meadows of the River Medway.
Later it became a Victorian Beerhouse and then a Hospital for children during the annual hop-picking.
It is now comfortably furnished to provide a self-catering facilties for charitable groups of up to 20 people, for day or weekend conferences.
Visit the website and have you had a look around on line.
Go to www.hopperskent.org and click on the rooms
Then check for available dates on the Booking Schedule below.
Then from the website/bookings send an e-mail to Keith, the Bookings Administrator requesting a date
If you enjoy history, browse in the Heritage notes below
20051125
20051123
Bookings Schedule
2015
May
Wed 13 - Fri 15 Rowens
Fri 22 - Sun 24 Hainault
June
Fri 26 - Sun 28 Swift centre, Plaistow
Sun 29 - Fri 03Jul UEL
July
Fri 12 - Sun 14 Memorial Community
Fri 17 - Fri 24 Taylor family
Sun26 - Fri 31 Spitalfields
August
September
Mon 31 Aug - Fri 04 Highway
Thu 10 - Sun 13 HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
October
20051122
Booking Proceedure
Check the availability of the dates you require
Make a request by Email: hoppersbookings@gmail.com
Deposit [£100] is required within three days of making a reservation (non-returnable in the event of subsequent cancellation).
Bank details for electronic payments may be obtained from the administrator
Balance should be sent three weeks prior to the start of the visit.
CHARGES [Effective 1st January 2014]
Weekend: £520 Friday after 5pm until Sunday 5pm.
Midweek: £180 per night between Sunday after 5pm until Friday 2pm.
Charities may request a discount
Charges for midweek bookings that do not involve an overnight stay are negotiable.
KEYS may be collected in London or Five Oak Green (Kent)
Susannah Strawson 0189 283 3544 - Kent
Please ring in advance to make arrangements
Make a request by Email: hoppersbookings@gmail.com
Deposit [£100] is required within three days of making a reservation (non-returnable in the event of subsequent cancellation).
Bank details for electronic payments may be obtained from the administrator
Balance should be sent three weeks prior to the start of the visit.
CHARGES [Effective 1st January 2014]
Weekend: £520 Friday after 5pm until Sunday 5pm.
Midweek: £180 per night between Sunday after 5pm until Friday 2pm.
Charities may request a discount
Charges for midweek bookings that do not involve an overnight stay are negotiable.
KEYS may be collected in London or Five Oak Green (Kent)
Susannah Strawson 0189 283 3544 - Kent
Please ring in advance to make arrangements
20051121
History
Overview
Ownership of 'Hoppers' in Five Oak Green can be traced back through the title deeds to about 1600 when it was owned by Thomas Bennett of East Peckham and his wife Frances.
"The main house is timber-framed but the ground floor level is under built with painted 19th century brick. The 2 larger central rooms were heated by a chimney stack between them with back-to-back fireplaces. A stair rises from each of the centre rooms in front of the stack. Smaller end rooms were each heated by a projecting end stack. Centre stack and stairs are 17th century but the end stacks were added in the 19th century. Although the main block is 17th century, evidence from the roof suggests that it was built in more than one phase, the left (west) half before the right half." [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk./Kent/Capel/Hoppers Hospital]
With four hundred years to cover the knowledge of some periods is very limited. The available information has been arranged into five periods.
1600-1850 Kippings Farm Thomas Bennett sold the premises to Robert Kipping of Tudeley, who left them to his son Robert Kipping of Frittenden. He died 1691 leaving them to his wife Elizabeth for life and then to Thomas and John Everis, the sons of her brother Good Everis. One messuage was in the occupation of Goodman Larkin.
Thomas Everis (or Everest), a husbandman of Tenderton, sold to Richard Woodin, a yeoman of Tudeley in 1737.
The property stayed in the Woodin family until William Collins, a yeoman of Tudeley, bought it in 1800.
William Collins died 1814 leaving the premises to his son William (described as a labourer of Capel). He sold it in 1819 to Mrs Elizabeth Larkin, who sold in 1822 to Edward Monkton.
1850-1910 The Rose and Crown Beer House The Beer Act of 1830 made provision for licenses to be obtained for 2 guineas John Bowles acquired the premises in 1855 to start the beer House. He raised a mortgage from John Waite in 1858 to finance the extensive works that were undertaken.
A survey for The Listed buildings in 1990, quoted above, suggests that the end chimney stacks were added in the 19th Century. A look at the brickwork confirms this. The rear extension, under the 'catslip' roof is of the same brickwork and was used as the bowling alley.
John Bowles Senior, described as a builder and carpenter, bought the premises from Edward Monkton in 1822 for £200, of which £100 was a loan from John Monkton.
This, we must assume, was the point at which Hoppers became a beer house.
John Bowles died in 1824 and was buried in Capel churchyard. He left the properrty to his wife for life (she died 1853 and was also buried in Capel churchyard) and then their 8 children in equal shares.
John Bowles junior bought out his siblings and their children in 1855 and under him there seems to have been a period of expansion. He is described as a carpenter and innkeeper and borrowed £250 from John White in 1858, which he repaid in 1861. he borrowed again in 1869 £240 from Eliza Skinner, which was repaid in 1876 when he sold the premises to Edward and Henry Kelsey in 1876 for £605. This was the first deed that had a site plan. It shows the extent of the beer house. The picture above is dated in the 1870's it shows the licencee Willian Clinch, born 1836, and his family, whose names were recorded in the 1881 census. The location of his grave in Capel churchyard is known. This copy of the photo was sent to the trustees in 2014 by a descendant.
1878 was the peak year for Hops when 71,789 acres were in cultivation and Capel was the centre of the Kent hop industry. The Kelsey's partnership had started in 1855. They owned the Culverden Brewery in Tunbridge Wells, and spent 40 years acquiring local pubs, one of which was the Rose and Crown. by the time Henry retired in 1895 they owned over 100. [http://anke.blogs.com/anke/2010/05/tunbridge-wells-brewery.html] contains pictures of the Kelsey's vehicles that would have trundled around Five Oak Green. Edward Kelsey died in 1903 leaving the brewery to his son Arthur, who ran it until taken over by Flowers in 1948. Edward left the Rose and Crown to his sons and Adelaide Tolhurst wife of William Tolhurst of Moat farm. The sons sold out to Adelaide who, after the pub was closed at Christmas 1909 under the Licensing Compensation Act, leased the premises for a year and then sold it to Richard Wilson. He was lovingly referred to by his family as Uncle Dick; the people of Stepney called him Father Wilson and the press dubbed him 'The Hoppers Parson'.
1910-1960 The Little Hoppers Hospital The Kent and Sussex Courier dated 4th June 1910 reported "the premises have been acquired by Richard Wilson, Vicar of St Augustine's Stepney, for the purpose of a temporary hospital for the benefit of hoppers during the picking season. The premises had been put in to thorough repair. A new ward had been built and other improvements made. During the hopping season trained nurses will be in residence day and night."
'Pull no more Poles' was published by JGW Farley in 1962 to tell the story of the Hopping Missions. He was involved from 1906 and eventually became chairman of The Red House. The book is no longer in print but there is a photocopy at Hoppers and another can be lend to serious students.
The construction of the front courtyard as a war memorial came about because Charles Saunders, who was killed in WW I left money to the Mission. The building, opened in Sept 1925, was designed by an Architect Mr Hake "the whole courtyard was paved with bricks and a loggia built on three of its sides, including an entrance from the road.The roofs were tiled to match that of the old building. The brick pillars were painted white. Its arcades had a severely practical purpose of affording shelter in bad weather. In one of these was an open fireplace so comforting on cold winter evenings." [PNMP page 48]
A pair of tiny shoes were found hidden in the courtyard chimney were discovered in 2010 when theives stole lead from the roof. The shoes are displayed in a picture frame in the main lounge of Hoppers.
There had been a stand-alone cottage in the front courtyard which is shown in the 1876 plan. It is not known when this was demolished. If it's chimney was somehow incorporated into the 1925 loggia then the shoes could be much older.
A Memorial building was added after the death of Richard Wilson in 1927 to give extra accommodation.
The hospital ward was rebuilt at that time; the old photo above shows it equipped for children.
1960-2000 Stepney Weekending The Old Rose and Crown was donated to a charitable company incorporated in June 1909. The Red House, Stepney had been formed to hold the lease of The Red House which still stands as 119 Commercial Road, London E1.The lease of The Red House was sold in 1930. St Augustine's church was bombed in 1940 and not rebuilt.
Outside the hopping season of September Little Hoppers Hospital was used as a holiday home. The mechanization of gathering hops brought hopping to an end. The last entry in the hospital register (now in the Whitechapel archives) was dated 1953. The building was very little used in the 1960's and 70's. During this period the trustees obtained Charity Commission permission to sell the proerty but owing to the restrictions imposed by it being a listed building the buyer withdrew.
St Augustine's parish was merged into that of St Dunstan, Stepney and it was the Rector Norry McCurry who had the idea of renovating it to be a place that churches could use at weekends.
The renovations were completed in 1981 and the renamed 'Hoppers' was 'reopened' with a ceremony. Pictures of that period are in a display book at Hoppers. All the correspondence for that year and every year since are in an old trunk under the stairs in the main lounge for anyone who wishes to delve.
A Memorial building was destroyed by fire in the 1970's and a new building called 'The Cottage' was erected on the site in 1985. This brought the number of beds up to 20. The cost was met by The Whan Cross Fund as Hoppers was considered to be providing conference facilities for the London Diocese. There is a photograph of Bill Flory inspecting the building. He had looked after the Vicarages of London for many years, was a trustee of The Red House and lived by Bewl water.
Improved living standards in the 90's brought demands for more amenities. Funds from Whan Cross were again used in 1996 to convert the old hospital ward into a modern kitchen and dining room. Bathrooms were then installed upstairs in the old house.There had been a chapel in the memorial Building and so one of the rooms in the old house was designated as The Chapel in recognition of the spiritual heart of the Hoppers Family. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, who had previously been Bishop of Stepney donated an icon "Christ Pantocrator" to the new Chapel.
2000 . . . The Internet AgeHoppers belongs to a dynamic little charity. The freehold is its only asset apart from some investments left from the sale of the Red House. It is run mainly by volunteers who, like the people on the war memorial, "have loved this place"
The management team are constantly reviewing which 'needs' of the present generation can be met by making appropriate use of the property. We believe that Hoppers is still a place of healing. One downside of social networking is the potential for people to feel isolated from 'fellowship'. The value of staying away with a small group is that they find the space to share deeply.
In recent years there has been an increasing partnership with groups from Paddock Wood and Five Oak Green, who find that Hoppers is a magic place to meet.
Maintaining the special atmosphere, balanced between old and new, is our aim.
To this end the kitchen, heating were replaced in 2009 and oak flooring laid. This was made possible by the closure of The Mary Edmonds Bath Chair Fund, whose principal activity of providing bath chairs had ceased to exist. A secondary objective was to provide a 'change of air' for Londoners. Ron Vaughan, who had worked for finance department of the London Diocese, was a trustee of both The Red House and the Bath Chair Fund, obtained permission from The Charity Commission for the funds to be transferred.
The striking picture of the Last Supper, in the dining room was painted on site in 2009. Keeley Wynn, an artist and digital media graduate, lives in Clerkenwell where she manages Guerilla Gallaries. She was staying at Hoppers with her family as part of a community group. The symbolism in the picture reflects her wholesome faith.
Volunteer Management
An amazingly diverse group of people quietly get on with doing things that they see need doing. If you feel that you would like to be part of the team do get in touch.
Hoppers is the only asset of the charity though it does have some funds that resulted from the sale of the lease of the Red House in 1930. The trustees fix their charges so as to just cover the running costs which are currently £13,000 p.a. They value donations from supporters which allows them to continue improving the facilities.
Visitors attending the Heritage Open Days, during the 2nd weekend of September each year, express surprise that an ancient building on their doorstep is both attractively furnished and being used to meet the needs of young and old from urban London and rural Kent.
Ownership of 'Hoppers' in Five Oak Green can be traced back through the title deeds to about 1600 when it was owned by Thomas Bennett of East Peckham and his wife Frances.
"The main house is timber-framed but the ground floor level is under built with painted 19th century brick. The 2 larger central rooms were heated by a chimney stack between them with back-to-back fireplaces. A stair rises from each of the centre rooms in front of the stack. Smaller end rooms were each heated by a projecting end stack. Centre stack and stairs are 17th century but the end stacks were added in the 19th century. Although the main block is 17th century, evidence from the roof suggests that it was built in more than one phase, the left (west) half before the right half." [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk./Kent/Capel/Hoppers Hospital]
With four hundred years to cover the knowledge of some periods is very limited. The available information has been arranged into five periods.
1600-1850 Kippings Farm Thomas Bennett sold the premises to Robert Kipping of Tudeley, who left them to his son Robert Kipping of Frittenden. He died 1691 leaving them to his wife Elizabeth for life and then to Thomas and John Everis, the sons of her brother Good Everis. One messuage was in the occupation of Goodman Larkin.
Thomas Everis (or Everest), a husbandman of Tenderton, sold to Richard Woodin, a yeoman of Tudeley in 1737.
The property stayed in the Woodin family until William Collins, a yeoman of Tudeley, bought it in 1800.
William Collins died 1814 leaving the premises to his son William (described as a labourer of Capel). He sold it in 1819 to Mrs Elizabeth Larkin, who sold in 1822 to Edward Monkton.
1850-1910 The Rose and Crown Beer House The Beer Act of 1830 made provision for licenses to be obtained for 2 guineas John Bowles acquired the premises in 1855 to start the beer House. He raised a mortgage from John Waite in 1858 to finance the extensive works that were undertaken.
A survey for The Listed buildings in 1990, quoted above, suggests that the end chimney stacks were added in the 19th Century. A look at the brickwork confirms this. The rear extension, under the 'catslip' roof is of the same brickwork and was used as the bowling alley.
John Bowles Senior, described as a builder and carpenter, bought the premises from Edward Monkton in 1822 for £200, of which £100 was a loan from John Monkton.
This, we must assume, was the point at which Hoppers became a beer house.
John Bowles died in 1824 and was buried in Capel churchyard. He left the properrty to his wife for life (she died 1853 and was also buried in Capel churchyard) and then their 8 children in equal shares.
John Bowles junior bought out his siblings and their children in 1855 and under him there seems to have been a period of expansion. He is described as a carpenter and innkeeper and borrowed £250 from John White in 1858, which he repaid in 1861. he borrowed again in 1869 £240 from Eliza Skinner, which was repaid in 1876 when he sold the premises to Edward and Henry Kelsey in 1876 for £605. This was the first deed that had a site plan. It shows the extent of the beer house. The picture above is dated in the 1870's it shows the licencee Willian Clinch, born 1836, and his family, whose names were recorded in the 1881 census. The location of his grave in Capel churchyard is known. This copy of the photo was sent to the trustees in 2014 by a descendant.
1878 was the peak year for Hops when 71,789 acres were in cultivation and Capel was the centre of the Kent hop industry. The Kelsey's partnership had started in 1855. They owned the Culverden Brewery in Tunbridge Wells, and spent 40 years acquiring local pubs, one of which was the Rose and Crown. by the time Henry retired in 1895 they owned over 100. [http://anke.blogs.com/anke/2010/05/tunbridge-wells-brewery.html] contains pictures of the Kelsey's vehicles that would have trundled around Five Oak Green. Edward Kelsey died in 1903 leaving the brewery to his son Arthur, who ran it until taken over by Flowers in 1948. Edward left the Rose and Crown to his sons and Adelaide Tolhurst wife of William Tolhurst of Moat farm. The sons sold out to Adelaide who, after the pub was closed at Christmas 1909 under the Licensing Compensation Act, leased the premises for a year and then sold it to Richard Wilson. He was lovingly referred to by his family as Uncle Dick; the people of Stepney called him Father Wilson and the press dubbed him 'The Hoppers Parson'.
1910-1960 The Little Hoppers Hospital The Kent and Sussex Courier dated 4th June 1910 reported "the premises have been acquired by Richard Wilson, Vicar of St Augustine's Stepney, for the purpose of a temporary hospital for the benefit of hoppers during the picking season. The premises had been put in to thorough repair. A new ward had been built and other improvements made. During the hopping season trained nurses will be in residence day and night."
'Pull no more Poles' was published by JGW Farley in 1962 to tell the story of the Hopping Missions. He was involved from 1906 and eventually became chairman of The Red House. The book is no longer in print but there is a photocopy at Hoppers and another can be lend to serious students.
The construction of the front courtyard as a war memorial came about because Charles Saunders, who was killed in WW I left money to the Mission. The building, opened in Sept 1925, was designed by an Architect Mr Hake "the whole courtyard was paved with bricks and a loggia built on three of its sides, including an entrance from the road.The roofs were tiled to match that of the old building. The brick pillars were painted white. Its arcades had a severely practical purpose of affording shelter in bad weather. In one of these was an open fireplace so comforting on cold winter evenings." [PNMP page 48]
A pair of tiny shoes were found hidden in the courtyard chimney were discovered in 2010 when theives stole lead from the roof. The shoes are displayed in a picture frame in the main lounge of Hoppers.
Although we
don’t know the exact date of these shoes, the custom itself dates from medieval
times. They would have been hidden by the builders of the chimney (built 1922); the 'caches' as they were called were
a common hidden item put there by a previous occupant to bring good luck and
fertility to the home. Little known about
the widely practiced folk custom, except that chimneys and fireplaces were
probably chosen as hiding places because they served as the main focal point in
most homes. Shoes were also hidden under floorboards, around doorways and below
staircases, where it was considered that evil spirits and witches would enter
and the shoes would then trap or corner any potential evil.
 |
| Hospital Ward |
Why shoes? They are known to be symbols of authority, as in the Old Testament. (Psalm 108:9) They are
linked with fertility: we still tie them on the back of wedding cars, and they
are generally associated with good luck (consider all the holiday souvenirs in
the shape of shoes). But most of all they stand in for the person: it has
been a common practice from at least the sixteenth century to at least 1966 to
throw an old shoe after people ‘for luck’!
There had been a stand-alone cottage in the front courtyard which is shown in the 1876 plan. It is not known when this was demolished. If it's chimney was somehow incorporated into the 1925 loggia then the shoes could be much older.
A Memorial building was added after the death of Richard Wilson in 1927 to give extra accommodation.
The hospital ward was rebuilt at that time; the old photo above shows it equipped for children.
1960-2000 Stepney Weekending The Old Rose and Crown was donated to a charitable company incorporated in June 1909. The Red House, Stepney had been formed to hold the lease of The Red House which still stands as 119 Commercial Road, London E1.The lease of The Red House was sold in 1930. St Augustine's church was bombed in 1940 and not rebuilt.
Outside the hopping season of September Little Hoppers Hospital was used as a holiday home. The mechanization of gathering hops brought hopping to an end. The last entry in the hospital register (now in the Whitechapel archives) was dated 1953. The building was very little used in the 1960's and 70's. During this period the trustees obtained Charity Commission permission to sell the proerty but owing to the restrictions imposed by it being a listed building the buyer withdrew.
St Augustine's parish was merged into that of St Dunstan, Stepney and it was the Rector Norry McCurry who had the idea of renovating it to be a place that churches could use at weekends.
The renovations were completed in 1981 and the renamed 'Hoppers' was 'reopened' with a ceremony. Pictures of that period are in a display book at Hoppers. All the correspondence for that year and every year since are in an old trunk under the stairs in the main lounge for anyone who wishes to delve.
A Memorial building was destroyed by fire in the 1970's and a new building called 'The Cottage' was erected on the site in 1985. This brought the number of beds up to 20. The cost was met by The Whan Cross Fund as Hoppers was considered to be providing conference facilities for the London Diocese. There is a photograph of Bill Flory inspecting the building. He had looked after the Vicarages of London for many years, was a trustee of The Red House and lived by Bewl water.
Improved living standards in the 90's brought demands for more amenities. Funds from Whan Cross were again used in 1996 to convert the old hospital ward into a modern kitchen and dining room. Bathrooms were then installed upstairs in the old house.There had been a chapel in the memorial Building and so one of the rooms in the old house was designated as The Chapel in recognition of the spiritual heart of the Hoppers Family. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, who had previously been Bishop of Stepney donated an icon "Christ Pantocrator" to the new Chapel.
2000 . . . The Internet AgeHoppers belongs to a dynamic little charity. The freehold is its only asset apart from some investments left from the sale of the Red House. It is run mainly by volunteers who, like the people on the war memorial, "have loved this place"
The management team are constantly reviewing which 'needs' of the present generation can be met by making appropriate use of the property. We believe that Hoppers is still a place of healing. One downside of social networking is the potential for people to feel isolated from 'fellowship'. The value of staying away with a small group is that they find the space to share deeply.
In recent years there has been an increasing partnership with groups from Paddock Wood and Five Oak Green, who find that Hoppers is a magic place to meet.
Maintaining the special atmosphere, balanced between old and new, is our aim.
To this end the kitchen, heating were replaced in 2009 and oak flooring laid. This was made possible by the closure of The Mary Edmonds Bath Chair Fund, whose principal activity of providing bath chairs had ceased to exist. A secondary objective was to provide a 'change of air' for Londoners. Ron Vaughan, who had worked for finance department of the London Diocese, was a trustee of both The Red House and the Bath Chair Fund, obtained permission from The Charity Commission for the funds to be transferred.
The striking picture of the Last Supper, in the dining room was painted on site in 2009. Keeley Wynn, an artist and digital media graduate, lives in Clerkenwell where she manages Guerilla Gallaries. She was staying at Hoppers with her family as part of a community group. The symbolism in the picture reflects her wholesome faith.
Volunteer Management
An amazingly diverse group of people quietly get on with doing things that they see need doing. If you feel that you would like to be part of the team do get in touch.
Hoppers is the only asset of the charity though it does have some funds that resulted from the sale of the lease of the Red House in 1930. The trustees fix their charges so as to just cover the running costs which are currently £13,000 p.a. They value donations from supporters which allows them to continue improving the facilities.
Visitors attending the Heritage Open Days, during the 2nd weekend of September each year, express surprise that an ancient building on their doorstep is both attractively furnished and being used to meet the needs of young and old from urban London and rural Kent.
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