 hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of tunbridge wells, kent, england. the parish lies to the south-east of tunbridge wells. hawkhurst itself is virtually two villages. one, the older of the two, consisting mainly of cottages clustered around a large triangular green known as the moor, and the other, farther north on the main road, called highgate (which was considered to be updated to town status because of its increasing population and the council's plans to build more houses). highgate stands on a crossroads and is where the shops and hotels lie . since boundary changes in the 2010 general election, hawkhurst is part of the parliamentary constituency of tunbridge wells, represented by conservative greg clark. prior to this it was in the maidstone and the weald constituency, formerly represented by ann widdecombe. == transport == === roads === hawkhurst (kent) lies at the intersection of the a229 and a268 (see map). the village lies on the route of a roman road which crossed the weald here. === railway ===  a railway station was built in hawkhurst in 1892, to the west side of the cranbrook road, on the northern edge of the village. it was rarely busy except during hop picking time, when up to 26 special trains per day, each carrying up to 350 cockneys from london, would arrive at hawkhurst&nbsp;â up to 10,000 people per day. as this declined, the station became uneconomic, and it was closed in 1961. the station site is now an industrial area just off the cranbrook road, but some original buildings are still standing and in a good state of preservation. the nearest open station is now etchingham. == history == hawkhurst has over 1,000 years of recorded history. the oldest known settlement was the saxon manor of congehurst, which was burnt by the danes in 893 ad. there is still a lane of this name to the east of the village. === etymology === the name hawkhurst is derived from old english heafoc hyrst, meaning a wooded hill frequented by hawks - 'hawk wood'. hurst (hyrst) in a place name refers to a wood or wooded area&nbsp;â there are several in west kent and east sussex. the 11th century domesday monacorum refers to it as hawkashyrst, belonging to battle abbey
Civil_parishes_in_Kent Tunbridge_Wells_(borough) Villages_in_Kent