Aylesford Bridge - Rowland Hilder - Framed Print - 16"H x 20"W

Aylesford Bridge - Rowland Hilder - Framed Print - 16"H x 20"W

Rowland Frederick Hilder OBE  was an English marine and landscape artist and book illustrator.

Hilder studied at Goldsmiths' College, in south London where he met and married botanical artist Edith Blenkiron.  As a student with little money he cycled into Kent and discovered the Shoreham Valley in the North Downs where he was delighted to sketch the same barn drawn by the visionary painter Samuel Palmer in the 1820s. This interest in the countryside began a lifelong passion for drawing landscapes in both pencil and watercolour initially of Kent "The Garden of England" and the Thames with its sailing vessels and old buildings.

The River Medway has been a key influence on Aylesfords development. Aylesford takes its name from an Old English personal name, and literally denotes ‘Ægel’s ford’. Its first recorded use is from the tenth century, as Æglesforda.

It was also the place where one of the earliest bridges across the Medway was built, believed to be in the 14th century