Challock is a mostly wooded, large village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the Borough of Ashford,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The village name derives from the old English 'Cealfloca' - calf enclosure. A clear nucleus of the village is centred south of the port of

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

and north of Ashford. It dates from around AD823. Challock contains a boundary to one of the highest points on the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...

: the contour is close to the village centre. Snowfall in January and February is occasionally heavy, when counter-prevailing north-easterly winds exist in those months. Challock is at the crossroads of two major roads: the A251 from Ashford to Faversham, and the A252, which links Maidstone to Canterbury. Prior to the construction of a roundabout, the crossroads was a notorious accident hotspot for drivers coming from

Chilham Chilham is a mostly agricultural village and parish in the English county of Kent with a clustered settlement, Chilham village centre, in the northeast, and a smaller linear settlement, Shottenden. Well-preserved roads and mostly residential liste ...

and Ashford, due in part to the Halfway House

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

which stands close to the corner. William the Conqueror gave the manor of Challock to Battle Abbey, and it remained in the Abbey's possession until the dissolution of the monasteries by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

in the 16th century. A

smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This type ...

stood to the north of the village until 1906 when it was destroyed by a storm - the mill had not been working for many years prior to this event. The parish

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

is dedicated to

Saints Cosmas and Damian Cosmas and Damian ( ar, قُزما ودميان, translit=Qozma wa Demyaan; grc-gre, Κοσμᾶς καὶ Δαμιανός, translit=Kosmás kai Damianós; la, Cosmas et Damianus; AD) were two Arab physicians in the town Cyrrhus, and were r ...

; it has fine wall paintings by celebrated local artist John Ward and his friend Gordon Davies. There is also a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

in the village. A Goose Fair is held in September each year. The showjumper

William Funnell William Ross Norman Funnell (born 10 February 1966, Ashford) is a top-class showjumper. Career Funnell has represented Britain internationally in many Nations Cup teams. In 2006 he won the Hickstead Derby for the first time and won it agai ...

was born and raised in the village.

References

External links

Village website

Photo of Parish church interior

History of Challock
{{authority control Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent