Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHIDDINGSTONE, or Chydingstone

CHIDDINGSTONE, or Chydingstone, a village and a parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent. The village stands in the Weald, on the river Eden, 1½ mile SW of Penshurst r. station, and 6 WSW of Tunbridge; contains interesting specimens of old gabled timbered houses; and has a post office under Edenbridge. The parish includes also the hamlet of Little Chiddingstone. Acres, 5, 975. Real property, £6, 263. Pop., 1, 200. Houses, 230. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged once to the Burghs and the Cobhams; and has belonged, since the time of Henry VIII., to the Streatfields. The ancient manor-house was called High Street House; and the present one is modern and castellated. The Chiding Stone, figured by Grose, and the subject of curious tradition, is a weather-worn mass of sandstone, about 18 feet high, on the edge of the path behind the village. Wild boars anciently haunted the surrounding tract; and are commemorated here in the names of Boar Place and Boreshill. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £650.* Patron, the Arch-bishop of Canterbury. The church has a fine perpendicular English tower, but includes some portions of decorated date; and it contains many monuments of the Streatfields. There is a national school.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Chiddingstone AP/CP       Sevenoaks RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place names: CHIDDINGSTONE     |     CHIDDINGSTONE OR CHYDINGSTONE     |     CHYDINGSTONE
Place: Chiddingstone

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