Chiddingstone, with its row of 16th and 17th century houses, is one of the most attractive hamlets in Kent, a county famous for its vernacular architecture.
The houses were built at the height of the Wealden iron industry and are all that remains of a much larger settlement that was demolished to make way for the park of Chiddingstone Castle.
The superb group of houses faces the mainly 17th century parish church of St Mary.
The style of the buildings is characteristically Kentish with half-timbering, infilling with plaster or brick, tile hangings, wide eaves, picturesque gables and steeply-pitched red-tiled roofs.
What is now the Post Office and village shop is mentioned in a deed of 1453 and many of the houses have incorporated material from earlier dwellings.
The most striking house is in the middle of the row, with its three overhanging gables. The middle gable is supported by oak posts to form a porch and the western gable contains an oriel window. The timberwork rising from a stone plinth suggests that the house dates from about 1600.
The village, including the Castle Inn are now owned by the National Trust. Although the village is open to the public the actual houses are not open to view.
Chiddingstone takes its name from the sandstone block known as the 'Chiding Stone' which lies beside a footpath in the park of Chiddingstone Castle. Nagging wife's were once brought to the stone to be told off by the assembled population.
Both the hamlet and castle were for centuries the property of the Streatfeild family.
In 1977 the castellated Gothick Chiddingstone Castle was left to the National Trust on the death of its owner, Denys Bower. However, the gift was refused and Chiddingstone Castle is now owned by the Denys Eyre Bower Trust. The property is also open to the public.
Chiddingstone Village Website
