Chiddingstone in Kent lies off the B2027 between Penshurst and Edenbridge in Kent. The village was founded before the arrival of King William and the Normans in 1066 and was owned by Earl Godwin father of King Harold. It was given to Bishop Odo after the invasion. The first mention of the church is in the Domesday Monachorum of 1070, where the church is recorded as part of the Diocese of Canterbury, and was handed over by Bishop Odo in 1072. It was also recorded in the Textus Roffensis from 1125AD. In 1450 local men Roger Attwood and William Hunt joined the ranks of the Jack Cade rebels, they were arrested, but subsequently pardoned. Sir Thomas Bullen(Boleyn) of nearby Hever (the father of Anne Boleyn ) bought property in the village during the early 1500's before the family's fall from grace after Anne was executed by Henry VIII . The Streatfeild family were the major landowners in the area from at least 1584, with Richard being one of the ironmasters of the wealden iron industry . The iron industry provided local employment and wealth until the early 1800's when the industry moved to the midlands. In the early 1900's one of the Streatfeilds turned the original manor house into Chiddingstone Castle, which is a good example of the Gothic Revival style. The family still remain landowners in the village. The church has a good collection of hatchments from the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1939 the National Trust took over the village, and it is now a perfect example of a Tudor village in the UK.
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