© P.E. Blanche 1996

The floods at The Black Robin © PE Blanche 2001

Above is a picture of The Black Robin at Kingston when I was here on a visit from Canada in 1996 (one of the members of my own family tree, Edmund File was the landlord here in the early 1800's). Taken in the evening the picture shows a slight pink "blush" on the white painted side of the building from the setting sun. There's no water and as is the case during most Summers the Nailbourne is little more than a muddy ditch and the road at this point is built over it. On the left are two pictures taken two weeks ago (February, 2001) showing the extent on the recent flooding in this part of the World. Trust me to move back here at the wrong time! The Nailbourne* has been flowing through the Elham Valley like a torrent and roads and fields have been completely covered. Here at the Black Robin, there had been construction work started before the rains came to improve the bridge over the Nailbourne. Because of the flooding, work had to stop and the amount of water has now made the road and bridge unsafe resulting in the total closure of the road.

Looking from the Black Robin towards Barham © PE Blanche 2001

*The Nailbourne which flows through the Elham Valley has a legend attached to it relating to St. Augustine. Without going into intricate detail, this is the outline of the story. The people in the Elham Valley had been suffering from a long drought and to prove the power of God and the Church, St. Augustine went to the Elham Valley and prayed for a source of water. When St. Augustine stood up from prayer, from the spot where he had been kneeling, a stream started running. However, the Saxon Gods, seeing this miracle, brewed up a great storm which flooded the Valley, blew down trees and destroyed crops, just to prove that their power was greater than St. Augustine. As a consequence, the people were not too happy with St. Augustine for bringing about these problems. Therefore, so that he could appease the people and not enter into direct conflict with the Saxon Gods, he specified (somehow) that the stream should only flow every seven years. I don't know if anyone has been counting but it's really done a number this year!