Kilndown is a village west of Cranbrook in

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. It is in the

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 ...

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

History

Kilndown was established in the 1840s by Viscount Beresford.

William Carr Beresford General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, (; 2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. A general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army, he foug ...

, First Viscount Beresford, British general and politician, died here on 8 January 1856 at age 85. Christ Church, Kilndown was built in 1841.Christ Church
/ref> It is built in a unique Gothic revival style. Kilndown first appears on Hasted's map in 1778 but was referenced as "Killdown"; the "Kiln" in the current name may have come from the kiln oasts harvested in the area, or that the area produced bricks. Two estates existed near the village: the first was the Combwell Estate that was formed during the reign of King Henry II, however it became a priory in 1220. However the priory was destroyed during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

of the Church in the 16th century. Nothing of the building remains. The Bedgebury Estate was mentioned in an 814 charter and was a known home to the Culpeper family in the 16th century and the estate contained two Iron Furnaces to help defeat the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

in 1588.

, or Viscount Beresford, purchased the estate in 1834. This led to development on the estate and Christ Church was built. This led to numerous shops, craftsmen and a public house, which still remains today: The Small Holding.

References

Hamlets in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub