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Chilham (St. Mary)

CHILHAM (St. Mary), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of East Ashford, hundred of Felborough, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 6 miles (W. S. W.) from Canterbury; containing 1165 inhabitants. The parish comprises 4332 acres, of which 560 are in wood. Chilham Castle is supposed to have been a post of the ancient Britons, and afterwards a military station of the Romans, there being evident proofs of the latter in the discovery of coins, foundations of houses, and other remains. It is of great antiquity, and was a strong fortress and palace of the kings of Kent, till destroyed by the Danes, in the middle of the ninth century; at the Conquest it was rebuilt by Fulbert de Dover, on whom it had been bestowed. The present stately edifice was erected by Sir Dudley Digges, in 1616, and the interior of the Norman keep made applicable to domestic purposes. On the north-west side are traces of a deep fosse, inclosing an area of eight acres. It is asserted that Cæsar, on his second invasion, here defeated the Britons, who retreated and intrenched themselves in an adjoining wood, where vestiges of their rude and extensive works are still visible; and on a hill at the southeast side of the river, and eastward from the castle, is a tumulus, termed Julaber's Grave, supposed to be the place of sepulture of Quintus Laberius Durus, a tribune, who was slain in the conflict. The house, which is in the Elizabethan style, is finely situated on the slope of a hill, commanding an extensive view of the valley of the Stour. On the same eminence, to the north-east of the house, stands the village, protected on one side by the castle and on the other by the church. The Chilham station of the Ashford and Canterbury part of the South-Eastern railway is nine miles distant from the Ashford station, and five miles from that of Canterbury. A cattle-fair is held on November 8th. The living is a vicarage, with that of Molash annexed, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; net income, £698; patron, J. B. Wildman, Esq., who, with Sir J. Fagg, Bart., is impropriator. The great tithes have been commuted for £1000, and the vicarial for £600; the glebe contains 25 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is a spacious cruciform structure, exhibiting portions in various styles, whereof the early English predominates: it contains several monuments, the principal of which are, a group in marble, by Chantrey, considered one of his finest works; the mausoleum of the Colebrooks, erected in 1755, on the site of an ancient chantry chapel; that of Sir Dudley Digges, of earlier date, with his splendid monument in the centre; and a monument to the memory of his sister, Margaret Palmer. There is a school endowed with funds producing £12. 11. 6. per annum.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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