Sarre
| Sarre | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
 Houses on Old Road, Sarre | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 51°20’21"N, 1°14’21"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 222 (2011) |
| Post town: | Birchington |
| Postcode: | CT7 |
| Dialling code: | 01843 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | =Thanet |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Thanet |
Sarre is a village and parish on the isle of Thanet in Kent. The village is an ancient parish, but forms part of St Nicholas-at-Wade ecclesiastical parish, after having lost the local church of St Giles in Elizabethan times.[1] It had a population of 130 in 2001,[2] increasing to 222 at the 2011 Census.[3]
Sarre is located at the point where the old 'Island Road' from Margate to Canterbury crossed the Wantsum Channel initially by a ferry and from the late Middle Ages by a bridge. The route of this bridge is followed by a short section of the modern A28 and is still marked on some maps as Sarre Wall.
History
Mediæval
The important late Roman or early Anglo-Saxon Sarre Brooch was found near the village; it is now on display in the British Museum (near the Sutton Hoo finds),[4] along with many other important early medieaval artefacts from the same cemetery.[5]
The coastal confederation of Cinque Ports during its mediæal period consisted of a confederation of 42 towns and villages in all. Which included Sarre, under the 'limb' of Sandwich.[6]
World War II
In July 1940 the village was turned into a model strong point by the 1st Canadian Pioneer Battalion. Within three weeks the village bristled with defences including fifteen casemates and a variety of flame traps, flame fougasses and other anti-tank devices.[7]
The Canadian commander Andrew McNaughton later recalled: "I turned a pioneer battalion loose to fortify Sarre in every possible way. They took ladies' boudoirs and turned them into machine-gun posts without showing anything from the outside; I'm sure they never got the concrete out. There was a big building inside the village that had a hoist for casks. The boys arranged a big barrel of petroleum, with phosphorus bombs inside, that was all poised ready to swing. When a tank came through the village and slowed to make the turn they would just pull a catch and the barrel would smack the tank fair and square and go off with a great gust of flame."[nb 1]
While McNaughton was inspecting the defences in August 1940, the village was attacked from the air and three bombs were dropped. A cottage was hit killing one adult and two or three children.[7]
Today
The village has one public house, The Crown Inn – this being known locally as the 'Cherry Brandy House'. A special recipe of Cherry Brandy can be purchased from behind the bar. A second public house, the King's Head, recently closed and was sold privately.
The village mill (Sarre Windmill) was previously open to the public as a working windmill. Recently, the mill has closed and is not open to the public except for the ground floor which is a holiday cottage for two. The mill shop is now also a holiday cottage.[8] The surrounding buildings, including the Old Bakery and the Old Granary (which was originally thatched), have been sold privately and are now subdivided properties.
Nearest Stations: Birchington and Sturry from which regular buses operating on the Margate/Ramsgate to Canterbury route can be obtained.
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sarre) |
- Footnotes
- Notes
- ↑ A Parish History of St. Nicholas-at-Wade and Sarre, 1990
- ↑ Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Thanet Retrieved 2009-08-30
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11128204&c=CT7+0JR&d=16&e=62&g=6439295&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1443865781094&enc=1. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ↑ British Museum Collection
- ↑ British Museum Collection
- ↑ http://www.villagenet.co.uk/history/1155-cinqueports.php
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Swettenham 1968, p. 133.
- ↑ Hoseasons Sarre Windmill Retrieved 2012-02-27
- Bibliography
- Swettenham, John (1968). McNaughton. Volume 2 (1939-1943). Ryerson Press. ISBN 978-0-7700-0238-1.
