Chiddingstone

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Chiddingstone
Chiddingstone Post Office - geograph.org.uk - 1260248.jpg
Chiddingstone Post Office
Kent UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Chiddingstone
Location within Kent
Population1,250 (2011 Census) [1]
OS grid reference TQ495455
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Edenbridge
Postcode district TN8
Police Kent
Fire Kent
Ambulance South East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent
51°11′10″N0°08′54″E / 51.186090°N 0.148450°E / 51.186090; 0.148450

Chiddingstone is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. [2] The parish is located on the River Eden between Tonbridge and Edenbridge. The villages of Chiddingstone Causeway and Bough Beech and the hamlet Chiddingstone Hoath are also included in the parish. [3]

Contents

Chiddingstone is unique in that, apart from the church and Chiddingstone Castle, the entire village is owned by the National Trust, which describes it as "the best example of a Tudor village left in the country". [4] It is an example of a Tudor one-street village. [5]

History

Chiddingstone is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was given to Bishop Odo in 1072 after the Norman invasion as part of his Earldom of Kent. [6]

The first house was owned by Roger Attwood, constructed in the typical Kent style. Several villagers including Atwood took part in Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450, and were later pardoned. [5] [6]

The Castle Inn is a 15th-century building, which became a hostelry in 1730. It was visited by artists John Millais and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Arthur Rackham also visited Chiddingstone. [5]

The Streatfeild family were major landowners in the area, starting in 1584. In the early 1800s Henry Streatfeild changed the village significantly, diverting the road and demolishing some buildings.

The National Trust bought the village in 1939.

Parish church

The medieval Church of St. Mary. View of Saint Mary's Church, Chiddingstone from the Churchyard.jpg
The medieval Church of St. Mary.

St. Mary the Virgin, Chiddingstone is a large parish church which enhances the look of the village, and is perhaps the fourth built on that site. [7] In the churchyard is a stone gazebo dating from 1736 built by Henry Streatfeild; leading down into the Streatfeild family vault beneath which has a through flow of air provided by vents in two false altar tombs, one adjacent to the gazebo and the other some 30 feet north.

The church was almost destroyed by a lightning fire in 1624. [8] In recent years it has had new heating, lighting and sound systems installed. In addition to this, a chapel, at the base of the tower, has been constructed in 1979 with adjoining lavatory added in 2007.

Origin of name

The natural sandstone Chiding Stone View of the Chiding Stone.jpg
The natural sandstone Chiding Stone

A popular theory is that the village takes its name from a large sandstone rock formation, situated on its outskirts, named the Chiding Stone. [9] Chidingstone was a previous spelling used for the village. [10] The National Trust consider it more likely the name is derived from the homestead of Cidda's family, "Chidding tun". It was recorded as "Cidingstane" in the 12th century. The stone may have been used as a place to remonstrate overbearing local wives, a Druidical ritual site, or an Anglo-Saxon boundary marker. [6]

The village today

Main street Chiddingstone High Street.jpg
Main street

The nearest available train station, Penshurst railway station, is located in the village of Chiddingstone Causeway. It is on the line between Tonbridge and Redhill.

There is a primary school, Chiddingstone Church of England School.

There are several nature reserves in the area including:

There is a village shop and accompanying cafe called The Tulip Tree, popular with cyclists at the weekend.

Film location

The village was used as a setting in the 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room with a View , in the scene where Lucy and Cecil take a walk after their engagement party. [11] The High Street is seen from the end nearest to the Castle Inn.

Michael Winner used Chiddingstone in his production of The Wicked Lady. Terry Jones and the Monty Python team filmed here for Wind in the Willows - Mr Toad's Wild Ride . [11] Elizabeth R , starring Glenda Jackson was largely made here, [11] as was Gerald Scarfe's Life of Hogarth.

Related Research Articles

Hildenborough is a village and rural parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It is located 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Tonbridge and 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Sevenoaks. The village lies in the River Medway valley, near the North Downs, in an area known as The Weald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiddingstone Castle</span>

Chiddingstone Castle is situated in the village of Chiddingstone, near Edenbridge, Kent, England, 35 miles south-southeast of London and in the upper valley of the River Medway. The castle was built by the Streatfeild family and served as their seat from the early 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century when the family left the castle. The Streatfeilds sold the castle to Lord Astor in 1938. Since 1977, the castle and its 35 acres of grounds have been held in trust for the nation by the Denys Eyre Bower Bequest, and both are open to the public. Much of the current structure dates from the early 19th century, but incorporates elements of the earlier buildings on the same site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penshurst</span> Human settlement in England

Penshurst is a historic village and civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, within the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh, Kent</span> Human settlement in England

Leigh, historically spelled Lyghe, is a village and a civil parish located in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. It is located six miles (10 km) south of Sevenoaks town and three miles (5 km) west of Tonbridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borough Green</span> Human settlement in England

Borough Green is situated in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The central area is situated on the A25 road between Maidstone and Sevenoaks, with the M26 motorway running through the centre dividing Wrotham and Borough Green.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ide Hill</span> Human settlement in England

Ide Hill is a village within the civil parish of Sundridge with Ide Hill, in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It stands on one of the highest points of the Greensand Ridge about three miles south-west of Sevenoaks. Its name first appears on record in 1250 as Edythehelle. It is an eponymic denoting 'Edith's hill', from the Old English hyll 'hill'. The village lies within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bough Beech</span> Human settlement in England

Bough Beech is a hamlet in the county of Kent, England, and is south of the Bough Beech Reservoir. It is located approximately three miles east of Edenbridge and five miles south west of Sevenoaks. It is in the civil parish of Chiddingstone. The reservoir is a nature reserve, in particular for bird watching; it is especially important for migrating osprey, though they are a rare sight now the reservoir is no longer stocked with trout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bidborough</span> Human settlement in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fordcombe</span> Human settlement in England

Fordcombe is a village within the civil parish of Penshurst in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The village is located on the northern slopes of the Weald, five miles (8 km) west of Royal Tunbridge Wells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sevenoaks Weald</span> Human settlement in England

Sevenoaks Weald is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the Low Weald, immediately south of Sevenoaks town, with the village of Sevenoaks Weald at its centre. It was formed in 1894 from part of the ancient parish of Sevenoaks.

The following is a list of recreational walks in Kent, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiddingstone Causeway</span> Human settlement in England

Chiddingstone Causeway is a village 4 miles (6 km) west of Tonbridge in Kent, England. It is within the Sevenoaks local government district. It is in the civil parish of Chiddingstone.

Robert Streatfeild of Chiddingstone, Kent is the earliest known ancestor to which most known Streatfeilds and Streatfields can trace their ancestry, and the progenitor of the Streatfeild family.

Richard Streatfeild of Chiddingstone, Kent was an ironmaster who established the financial base for this significant Kentish family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streatfeild family</span>

The Streatfeilds, Streatfields or Stretfields are an aristocratic English family of the landed gentry, from Chiddingstone, Kent. The family are traceable to the early 16th century and are a possible cadet branch of the Noble House of Stratford. They were significant landowners in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, and instrumental in shaping those counties throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. From the early 16th century until 1900 the family seat was Chiddingstone Castle. The family later sold the castle to Lord Astor in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somerden Hundred</span>

Somerden was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the southwest corner of Kent, in the southern part of the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, in the west division of Kent. The hundred was one of the last to be created in Kent, unlike the majority of Kent hundreds, it was not formally constituted in the Domesday Book of 1086, but came into being sometime after. Today the area is mostly rural and located in the southern part of the Sevenoaks District, south of Sevenoaks and west of Tonbridge. Somerden Hundred was approximately 7.5 mi (12.1 km) wide east to west, and 5.5 mi (8.9 km) long north to south, and had a small exclave about 1 mi (1.6 km) out from its south east corner. In the 1831 census Somerden was recorded as having an area of 13,650 acres (55 km2). The population in that census was recorded as 3,924, of which 2,078 were male and 1,846 were female, who belonged to 734 families living in 567 houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bough Beech Reservoir</span>

Bough Beech Reservoir is a 42-hectare (100-acre) nature reserve in Bough Beech, south-west of Sevenoaks in Kent. It was managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust until July 2020. It is in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Sevenoaks District Council election</span>

The 2019 Sevenoaks District Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Sevenoaks District Council. This was on the same day as other local elections. The entire council was up for election. The result was a reduced majority for the Conservatives but was still a large victory. Independents made gains, as did the Liberal Democrats. UKIP lost the 1 seat they had won in 2015. No contest was held in 4 wards, as the same number of candidates as seats up for election ran.

References

  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. The History of the Parish of Chiddingstone in Kent Archived 21 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine .
  3. Chiddingstone Causeway Archived 22 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. "Chiddingstone Village Overview".
  5. 1 2 3 McCooey, Christopher (31 October 2008). "Road to the past: The Street, Chiddingstone".
  6. 1 2 3 "History of Chiddingstone Village".
  7. "Step back in time at Chiddingstone Village".
  8. Bignell, Alan. The Kent Village Book. Countryside Books.
  9. "The chiding stone".
  10. Parishes: Chidingstone, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 210-227, British History Online.
  11. 1 2 3 "Chiddingstone - Kent Film Office". kentfilmoffice.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2018.