Wye Today
Wye's beautiful location and wealth of interesting buildings make
it a desirable place in which to live, work and study. It has a strong
community spirit and its organisations cater for many interests.
Wye is fortunate in retaining a range of amenities which have often
been lost from other villages of comparable size. These include: the
Parish and Roman Catholic Churches and the Methodist Chapel; the
village halls with an adjacent substantial play area for children; a
village school and an independent school; a small library, a post
office, a garage and a fire station; a small supermarket and various
other shops and businesses; two banks; three restaurants and three
pubs; a thriving and modern medical practice and health center, a
dentist, an osteopath, a physiotherapist and a pharmacy; four
sheltered housing schemes, almshouses and a residential home; its own
railway station and regular train and bus services. There are a number
of important open spaces: The Green, the Churchfield, the cricked
field, a recreation ground and allotments.
The survival of many of these amenities depends on the support of
local people.
The Wye Business Association aims to keep the heart in the village
by promoting local businesses and community activities.
Leppers - ironmongers
The Co-op supermarket
Geerings - stationers
Blackford's stores known as 'Danny's'
Wye station showing the level crossing
The Wye Hill restaurant, now Froggies
Wakelins - butchers
For many centuries Wye was a religious and administrative center
for much of Kent. An important landmark in Wye's development and
subsequent history was the founding, in 1447, of a college for secular
priests…
The presence of Wye College, which became part of London University
in 1900 and merged with Imperial College London in 2000, has made Wye
a miniature university town.
As the College has grown in size, new buildings have been added…
the most recent addition being the prize-winning library and learning
resource center.
The 'Latin School' today. This building housed the
grammar school founded by Cardinal Kempe in 1447 for poor boys.
The entrance to Wye College on the High Street.
This covers the medieval heart of Wye (Bridge Street, Upper Bridge
Street, Church Street, The Green, the Nigh Street and the lower end of
Scotton Street). It also includes the river bridge and mill, the
station and an area of the fields and road west of the railway.
Wye Bridge, listed Grade 2 starred, was built in 1638.
There are 86 buildings listed as of special architectural interest
in the village …
Listed Grade 1:
The parish church of St. Gregory and St. Martin, c.1200,
rebuilt and enlarged by Cardinal Kempe in 1474 as a collegiate church.
The cloisters in Wye College
Swan House in Bridge Street, a much altered and
sub-divided Tudor hall house.
It is the juxtaposition of the buildings in the Conservation Area,
with their variety of heights, roof pitches, window patterns and
construction materials that gives Wye its individuality. Most of the
…
Over the centuries the character and uses of buildings in Wye have
altered in response to the needs and changing fortunes of the
inhabitants.
View up Bridge St. with Swan House (right)
The Green and the Old Flying Horse, a medieval hall
house, once a pub, now accommodation for postgraduate students.
Primary school (left) and almshouses.
Wye expanded rapidly after the Second World War with the
development of estates round the perimeter of the village.
Bramble Close, a group of 5 detached houses was compete
in 1985
Little Chequers was developed in two stages during the
1960s and 1970s for local-authority housing
Long's Acre. A group of 12 low-cost houses built on the
initiative of the Parish Council in 1992.
Jarman's Field, a private sheltered-housing scheme built
in 1983
Orchard Drive, a private development of houses and
bungalows built in two stages between 1960 and 1975.
The Chequers Park estate was built for private housing in
the late 1960s on the southern edge of the village.
Although the total of Wye's post-war expansion was substantial, its
effect on the village core was not intrusive and left the historic
elements of the village relatively undisturbed.
By contrast, most recent developments have been on infill and
previously-used (brownfield) sites within or on the edge of the
Conservation Area. They have therefore had a much greater impact on
the older streets and buildings.
Denne's Mill Close. This was developed in 1996 on land
beside the Mill in Lower Bridge Street at the entrance to Wye.
There are 11 detached houses approached by a wide 'suburban-style'
road.
Stonegate, developed in 1997 on the Stonegate egg-packing
site behind the Methodist Chapel, Bridge Street. This private
'secure' sheltered housing for the over 55s has no footpath through to
Chequers Park.
Taylor's Yard is a private development of 14 houses,
completed in 1983 on a former garage site behind Church Street. It is
served by a private road from Church Street and has provision
for car parking. Three houses front the street and relate well to
older buildings.
The College library and learning resource centre built
1997.
St. Ambrose Green developed in 1994 on land belonging to
St Ambrose Roman Catholic Church at the corner of Upper Bridge
Street and Oxenturn Road.
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