On the 20th October 1853 a waggon was taking a party of hop-pickers back to their camp in Golden Green, Kent when it came to grief on the badly maintained wooden bridge over the river Medway at Hartlake and tipped them all into the water. The river was in flood. 11 made it to the banks. 30 drowned.
The victims were Romanys, many from one extended family, some from Ireland. All were buried in a mass grave in the churchyard at Hadlow, at the expense of the parish, near the farm where they'd been working. The youngest- a two year old girl- is listed on the monument as "baby girl" because the only people who knew her name died with her.