InfoBritain

Chiddingstone

 

Chiddingstone in Kent is a street of mainly sixteenth and seventeenth century houses, facing a seveneenth century church. The whole village is now owned by the National Trust, and visitors are free to wander along the street and enter buildings that now house the shop, post office anf Castle Inn restaurant. The post office building was mentioned in a deed that dates in 1453, and the Castle Inn building, originally known as Waterslip House, is mentioned in documents dating to 1420. Other buildings are not open to the public.

Chiddingstone is a little piece of Tudor England which has survived into the present day. There were no street lights in Tudor England, so why not visit Chiddingstone in the evening. The evening we visited, when light came only from the moon and from little windows, the sense of walking into a different time was more powerful than it might have been during daylight.

Neighbouring Chiddingstone Castle was originally the local manor house, rebuilt in the nineteenth century. During this rebuilding the grounds were extended, which resulted in the loss of some houses in Chiddingstone. Chiddingstone Castle is now owned by a charitable trust and is open, on a limited basis, to the public.

 

Chiddingstone at night

Directions: The village is off the B2027, signposted near Chiddingstone Causeway in Kent. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Chiddingstone.

 

Contact:

web site for Chiddingstone Village: www.nationaltrust.org.uk