The Old Fire Station, Cranbrook - 01580 715686 touristinformationcentre@tunbridgewells.gov.uk

Cranbrook is a long-designated market town in Kent in South East England. It is the smallest town in Kent. Located on the Maidstone to Hastings road, it is five miles north of Hawkhurst. The smaller settlements of Swattenden, Colliers Green and Hartley lie within the parish.

Cranbrook derives from Old English cran broc, meaning Crane Marsh, marshy ground frequented by cranes (although more probably herons). Spelling of the place name has evolved over the centuries from Cranebroca (c. 1100); by 1226 it was recorded as Cranebroc, then Cranebrok. By 1610 the name had become Cranbrooke, which evolved into the current spelling.

In medieval times, Cranbrook was a centre of the Wealden cloth industry; and iron-making was carried on at Bedgebury on the River Teise. The church here was dedicated to St Dunstan. Called the "Cathedral of the Weald", its 74 feet-high tower, completed in 1425, has a wooden figure of Father Time and his scythe on the south face. It also contains the prototype for the Big Ben clock in London.

Cranbrook had a number of watermills and windmills over the centuries. There were about seventeen watermills around Cranbrook, all on tributaries of the River Beult.

There were four windmills in Cranbrook over the centuries, one of which survives today.

Union Mill, was built for Henry Dobell in 1814. After Dobell went bankrupt in 1819, the mill was run by a union of creditors until 1832. The Russell family ran it for the next 128 years, when it was sold to Kent County Council, who have restored it. The mill is kept in working order to this day. It stands ¼ mile (400 m) southeast of the church.

Cranbrook has around 7,000 residents. The junction of the A262 (Lamberhurst – Biddenden) and the A229 (Rochester – Hawkhurst) pass near Cranbrook.

The nearest railway station is Staplehurst, 5 miles to the north. The Cranbrook railway station was closed in 1961.