From the earliest times we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky.

But then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and forest trees.

In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the former character of this region.

Only here and there was a clearing with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and hunters.

In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and overgrown with rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific in fish and fowl.
During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages of which we have knowledge.