O' Famous Kent

The Kentish village of Chilham and its surrounding countryside is beautifully captured in this poetic film from the Barnes Brothers

The Barnes Brothers turn their attention to Chilham in this rural film of poetic overtones. Starting on a farm, we see a variety of animals and people who live and work on the land. A farmer greets a postman while a swineherd walks a sow and her piglets along a road. We move to the charming village of Chilham with its tudor period building and cobbled pavements. A thatcher is seen at work after which we see women collecting potatoes. The film ends with cattle in front of a windmill.

Twin brothers John and William Barnes devoted their lives to film, making many important and often lyrical and impressionistic films about rural life in Kent throughout the 1930s. The poetic quotation seen at the end of this film comes from 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' by the 18th century poet, Thomas Gray.