27 members of Rye Conservation Society visited Farnham on 11 September, with members of The Farnham Society as our hosts. We had coffee in the Council Chambers and an introductory talk on Farnham and The Farnham Society, which celebrated its centenary last year. This was followed by a guided tour of Farnham, with one group escorted by the Town Crier. We saw many interesting historic buildings in the town, many of them connected to hop-picking, a major industry in the past. We visited the Victoria Garden, built on the site of the former open-air swimming baths to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
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| Farnham Town Crier sends his regards to Rye Town Crier |
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Victoria Garden
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We went on to Farnham Maltings for lunch. This old brewery was scheduled for demolition in the 1960s but £30,000 was raised by local people to purchase the buildings for the town. It is now an excellent community facility hosting a very wide range of activities and events. We hope that the old FE Centre will provide similar facilities for Rye.
In the afternoon we went on to visit the old Farnham Pottery which was owned and operated by five generations of the Harris family. The pottery was closed in the mid-1990s but was acquired by Farnham Historic Buildings Trust which carried out much remedial work. Today the pottery is in use once again by local potters and artists and it will come into its own again as an educational centre in collaboration with Farnham Art College.
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| Pottery architect shows us around |
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| Bottle kiln still in use by today's potters |
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