Capel, Kent: a Wealden parish of orchards, iron and painted walls

Capel is a hamlet and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on the northern edge of the Weald, about 3 miles east of Tonbridge. The parish includes Capel itself together with places such as Five Oak Green, Tudeley, Castle Hill, Colts Hill, Postern and Whetsted. Its history is closely tied to farming, especially hops and fruit, and before that to the iron and charcoal industries of the Weald. The parish church of St Thomas à Becket is one of its great monuments: now redundant and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, it preserves rare 12th-century wall paintings and long-standing local traditions, including the story that Thomas Becket preached beneath the yew outside.
Population: 2,467 inhabitants (civil parish, 2011 census).
Distance: about 3 miles east of Tonbridge and within easy reach of Tunbridge Wells.
Traditions and culture: Capel remains deeply associated with Wealden rural culture, parish identity, orchards and hop-growing history.
Highlights: St Thomas à Becket Church, the High Weald landscape, the surrounding orchards and historic hamlets of the parish.