Faversham - Town Centre & Heritage

Navigating The Route

This is a circular Detective Mystery around Faversham Town Centre & Heritage, with Detectives drafted in after local home-brewer Malty Hopper is found dead in his new 'Gunpowder Blast' ale vat, to work out whether it was an accident or the work of a jealous rival.

The investigation covers 2.2 miles and should take around 2 hours to complete. You'll start from Central Car Park on Leslie Smith Drive, work through the town centre and heritage streets, pass The Bull Inn, follow sections around Faversham Creek and loop back into the town centre and start area.

This Trail is not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs. The route is mainly on level ground, but there are some narrow pathways and steps, and pushchairs need to be folded up for the railway underpass.

Take care at the railway underpass, zebra crossings, the road crossing where cars turn left into Briton Road, and the pedestrian footbridge beside the road bridge over Faversham Creek.

Getting There

By car: Start the case at Central Car Park, Leslie Smith Drive (ME13 8PW). Park up here for the start.

By public transport: Make your way to Central Car Park on Leslie Smith Drive to begin the investigation. The Trail loops back into the town centre and returns to the start area once the evidence has been gathered.

Need the Loo?

There are toilets in the car park at the start point, and the route also passes public toilets near the start - a handy early comfort stop before the Detectives get properly stuck into the case.

Bring Your Furry Sidekicks

Four-legged Detectives are welcome to join the investigation 🐾

The route is mainly level, but includes narrow pathways, steps, a railway underpass, road crossings and a footbridge beside Faversham Creek, so keep canine colleagues close around traffic, water and tighter sections.

Food & Drink Stops

Untangling a suspicious ale-vat mystery is hungry work.

There are loads of great places to grab a snack or sit and eat in the town centre, and the route also passes The Bull Inn. If you'd rather bring your own supplies, there are places to sit and eat in the town centre too.

Want to Make a Day of It?

Faversham Abbey

King Stephen and his wife Matilda built a great abbey here in 1148. It grew into Faversham, and they and their eldest son Eustace were buried there. The abbey was destroyed in 1538 during the Dissolution, and their bones were said to have been thrown into the creek - a properly dramatic extra thread for history-loving Detectives.

Chart Mills

Chart Mills was one of three gunpowder factories in the town, along with the Oare and Marsh Works. The low-lying marshy wetlands were perfect for growing alder and willow to produce charcoal, which was vital for gunpowder. The town's explosive past is sobering too: a devastating explosion in 1916 killed 109 and blew out shop windows as far away as Southend-on-Sea.

Faversham Creek

Faversham Creek is a tidal inlet with centuries of maritime character. The town is part of the Confederation of Cinque Ports that provided ships and crew to the monarch, and since Roman times Faversham has been famous for its oysters, with beds between the Isle of Sheppy and the mainland, otherwise known as the Swale.

Shepherd Neame brewery

Shepherd Neame is believed to be the oldest brewery in the UK. Although it says 1698 here, town records show that commercial brewing on this site goes back as far as 1573, and brewing is thought to go back even further thanks to the monks at the abbey - useful background intel for a case with suspicious ale at its heart.