East Peckham
Situated 8 miles East of Tonbridge, East Peckham was the centre for the Hop growing industry in Kent and is still home to the much visited Hop Farm which has the worlds largest collected of Oast Houses.
Originally the village was located much closer to West Peckham, but slowly the centre of the village moved closer to the River Medway. Subsequently, East Peckham like Yalding, is well known for suffering from flooding, defences have recently been built to help mitergate the effects of these (see flooding).
Walter Arnold, from East Peckham, received notoriety as the first person in Britain to be successfully prosecuted for speeding - travelling at four times the speed limit (actually just 8 mph, as the speed limit at the time was just 2mph!). He was fined 1 shilling, plus costs. Caught by policeman who gave chase on bicycle. Somehow one can't imagine a bicycling policeman today managing to catch (or even keep up with) a speeding car – how times have changed.