In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Chiddingstone like this:
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.
Chiddingstone through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Chiddingstone has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Sevenoaks. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Chiddingstone and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Chiddingstone, in Sevenoaks and Kent | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4466
Date accessed: 19th May 2013
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