Chilham, Kent
Historical Description
Chilham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands near the river Stour, 6¼ miles SW by S of Canterbury; is the Cilleham of the Saxons; was once a market-town; has a station on the S.E.R., 64 miles from London; and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Canterbury. The parish comprises 4398 acres; population, 1377. The manor belonged to the Saxon kings of Kent; was given by the Conqueror to Fulbert, who assumed the name of De Dover; passed to the Badlesmeres and others; went in the time of Edward VI. to Sir Thomas Cheney; went again at the beginning of the 17th century to Sir Dudley Digges; passed to the Colebrooks, the Herons, and the Wildmans; and was bought in 1862 by the Hardy family. A Roman castrum was here, and is said to have been the residence of Lucius the Brito-Roman king; a castle of the Saxon kings succeeded the castrum, was renovated after the Conquest, and underwent demolition by Sir Thomas Cheney; and a mansion in lien of this was built by Sir W. Digges, is still standing, and forms a fine specimen of Jacobean architecture. The castle was surrounded by a deep fosse enclosing about 8 acres, and the remains of it include a Late Norman octagonal three-storey keep. Many Roman relics of various kinds have been found here, and a great barrow or artificial mound, popularly called Julaber's Grave, the subject of much dispute among antiquaries, is immediately above the railway station. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £800 with residence. The church is Decorated English with a Later clerestory; was rebuilt, in the E part, in 1863; belonged anciently to Throwleigh priory, afterwards to Sion monastery; and contains monuments of the Diggeses, the Colebrooks, and the Wildmans. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Chilham St. Mary | |
Hundred | Felborough | |
Lathe | Shepway | |
Poor Law union | East Ashford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1558.
Findmypast have the following online for Chilham, St Mary: baptisms 1558-1912, marriages 1558-1928, burials 1558-1958
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is mostly of flint, in the Perpendicular style, with some earlier portions, and has a tower containing a clock and 8 bells: there are two monuments and traces of brasses: the church affords 800 sittings.
Methodist
Shottenden Methodist Chapel
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chilham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chilham (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Chilham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.