Chiddingstone is a 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 authorit ...

in the

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

District of

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 parish is located on the River Eden between

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...

and

Edenbridge Edenbridge may mean: * Edenbridge (band), a symphonic metal band from Austria *Edenbridge, Kent, a town in England *Edenbridge, Saskatchewan, a former Jewish settlement in Canada *Humber Valley Village Humber Valley Village is a neighbourhood lo ...

. The village of Chiddingstone Causeway and the hamlet Chiddingstone Hoath are also included in the parish. Chiddingstone is unique in that, apart from the church and Chiddingstone Castle, the entire village is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, which describes it as "the best example of a Tudor village left in the country". It is an example of a Tudor one-street village.

History

Chiddingstone is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. It was given to

Bishop Odo Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England. Early life Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...

in 1072 after the Norman invasion as part of his Earldom of Kent. The first house was owned by Roger Attwood, constructed in the typical Kent style. Several villagers including Atwood took part in

Jack Cade Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladmi ...

's rebellion of 1450, and were later pardoned. The Castle Inn is a 15th-century building, which became a hostelry in 1730. It was visited by artists

John Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

and

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

also visited Chiddingstone. 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

View of Saint Mary's Church, Chiddingstone from the Churchyard

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. In the churchyard is a stone

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries is "Mid 18th c ...

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. 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

A popular theory is that the village takes its name from a large sandstone rock formation, situated on its outskirts, named the Chiding Stone. Chidingstone was a previous spelling used for the village.Parishes: Chidingstone
''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3'' (1797), pp. 210-227, British History Online. 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 A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other ty ...

The village today

Penshurst railway station Penshurst railway station is on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line and is located approximately two miles north of Penshurst in Kent, in the village of Chiddingstone Causeway in England. It is measured from via . History Penshurst station was ope ...

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: *Sevenoaks Reserve and Jeffery Harrison Visitor Centre (Operated by

Kent Wildlife Trust Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1958, previously known as the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. It aims to "work with people to restore, save and improve our natural spaces" and t ...

) *Bough Beech Visitors Centre and Reserve (Operated by

) *Chiddingstone Reserve (Operated by

) 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 ''A Room with a View'' is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a humorous critique of English society a ...

'', in the scene where Lucy and Cecil take a walk after their engagement party. The High Street is seen from the end nearest to the Castle Inn.

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...

used Chiddingstone in his production of ''The Wicked Lady''.

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

and the Monty Python team filmed here for '' Wind in the Willows - Mr Toad's Wild Ride''. '' Elizabeth R'', starring

Glenda Jackson Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...

was largely made here, as was

Gerald Scarfe Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''. His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink ...

's ''Life of Hogarth''.

References

External links

National Trust webpageHistory of ChiddingstoneVillage net articleThe Castle InnHistoric Kent article
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent National Trust properties in Kent Streatfeild family