NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THIS....

Just a couple of miles away from me is the village of Ryarsh. It`s a pretty typical Kentish village with its cluster of cottages, church, post office, shop, school and a few larger houses. The only sadness is that the village is now sawn in half by the M20 Motorway, which plunges through Kent on its way to the channel ports.

One of the larger houses is The Old Vicarage (pictured above,) which is a pleasing Victorian house set in its own generous grounds but now separated from the village centre thanks to the M20. I have driven past The Old Viacarage on countless occasions and have noticed some kind of `inscription` on one of its imposing gate posts. I`ve often wondered what it might be, so yesterday I stopped and took this photograph:-

If you click on the photo, you might just be able to make out that it `commemorates` the fact that one Lambert P Larking was vicar of Ryarsh from 1830 to 1868, that he was the founder and first Secretary of the much respected Kent Archaeological Society but - most impressively - seemingly responsible for translating the Domesday Book. Sounds like an all round good egg, our Lambert.

Not a lot of people know that. And neither did I until yesterday....it might just inspire me to be on the lookout for some more obscure facts which lie hidden hereabouts.