Goudhurst is perhaps most well-known for its beautiful church, its weaver's cottages and its Battle, which took place in 1747. In most villages in Kent, the local church is located at the edge of the village, usually down a road inevitably called "Church Lane". Not so in Goudhurst. The church is located right in the centre of the village on the highest point for miles around. The views from the churchyard across the Weald are particularly splendid and to the South lay "Fright" Woods and Bedgebury Park. It is said that on a good day, the spires and towers of sixty-eight churches can be seen from this point although I cannot attest to this, never having managed to visit the village on a clear day! The main road through the village takes some very tight turns around the beautiful church of St. Mary before dropping away down the High Street in the direction of Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The Battle of Goudhurst is a curious and interesting tale and is already mentioned in my "Smuggling Section" about the Hawkhurst Gang. The Battle took place, as I have already mentioned, in 1747 when I was still quite young.

The nearby village of Cranbrook had previously set up what was known as "The Cranbrook Association" to attempt to guard themselves against the smuggling gangs in the area which, at the time, had begun to over-step the bounds of common decency and had become a blight to the local communities. It is possible that the successes obtained at Cranbrook gave Goudhurst their own ideas about setting up their own defence force (I do not know this for fact, at this point, it's an assumption). "The Cranbrook Association" was already responsible for the capture of William Gray, the brother of previous leader of The Hawkhurst Gang, Arthur Gray, as well as other smugglers in the area.

When William Sturt, a retired soldier, returned to Goudhurst he found it a desperate place with many of its citizens afraid to venture forth in the streets in broad daylight. The new leader of The Hawkhurst Gang was a Thomas Kingsmill, a desperate rogue, who had himself been raised in the Village. The Gang made Goudhurst a lawless place and regularly frequented the Inn, The Star and Eagle, (which is still there, next to the Church). There is, or was, supposedly an underground tunnel which ran from The Star and Eagle to The Church.

With the village being an unfit place for normal people to live, Sturt decided to form a local Goudhurst Militia for protection against Thomas Kingsmill and his gang. Word of the formation of the Militia soon got back to Kingsmill who flew into a violent rage because his own village would dare to stand against him. As a consequence, there then developed an Eighteenth Century version of "High Noon". The Goudhurst Militia were formed by Sturt on April 17, 1747 but on April 28th, as he had threatened, Thomas Kingsmill and the Hawkhurst Gang stood on the edge of the village shouting insults and violents threats to the defending force. Before the arrival of the smugglers, William Sturt had delivered a stirring speech to his forces and they had positioned themselves on the high ground around and even on the church tower. Barricades were built, musket balls were made from lead and two hundredweight of gunpowder obtained. The scene was set. Kingmill cried that in the evening he would dine of the hearts of four of the captured villagers.

The smugglers advanced but soon found that the few days of training from an experienced soldier was more than they bargained for. Thomas Kingsmill's brother, George, died from a bullet wound and at least two other smugglers died almost immediately in the rounds of musket fire that were exchange. Several others were wounded and at this point the smugglers force was so weakened that they fled with the villages chasing them across the valley with sabres drawn. More smugglers were cut down and several were apprehended and later tried for their crimes. William Sturt instantly became a local hero and as a result, was appointed the Master of the Goudhurst Workhouse.