imported>Keith D: Add BOT tag

2025-05-09T20:56:30Z

Add BOT tag

New page

{{Short description|Village in Kent, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|static_image_name = Chilham Square 1.jpg
|static_image_width = 267
|static_image_caption=Chilham Square
|official_name= Chilham
|coordinates = {{coord|51.244|0.961|display=inline,title}}
|civil_parish= '''Chilham'''
|population=1124
|area_total_km2=13.85
|population_ref=(Civil Parish 2011)<ref name=ons>[http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030211201309/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/ |date=11 February 2003 }} [[United Kingdom Census 2011]] ''[[Office for National Statistics]]'' Retrieved 10 May 2014</ref>
|shire_district= [[Ashford (borough)|Ashford]]
|shire_county= [[Kent]]
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= [[Weald of Kent (UK Parliament constituency)|Weald of Kent]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Location of Weald of Kent |url= https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4385/location |website=parliament.uk|access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref>
|post_town= [[Canterbury|CANTERBURY]]
|postcode_district = CT4
|postcode_area= CT
|dial_code= 01227
|os_grid_reference= TR065536
}}
'''Chilham''' is a village and [[civil parish]] in the [[Borough of Ashford]] in [[Kent]], England. It sits on the north bank of the [[River Stour, Kent|Great Stour]] around {{Convert|5+1/2|mi|km}} to the southwest of [[Canterbury]] and {{Convert|7|mi|km}} northeast of [[Ashford, Kent|Ashford]]. It is a mostly agricultural parish, with settlement clustered around Chilham village centre, which is next to the Grade I-listed [[Chilham Castle]]. Well-preserved roads and mostly residential [[listed building]]s in the centre have led to its use as a location in television and film. Also lying within the civil parish is the smaller linear settlement of Shottenden, which is situated {{Convert|1+1/2|mi|km}} west of Chilham.

==History==
The village has a number of period houses such as the former vicarage, which dates from 1742. The castle was owned by the [[Viscount Massereene and Ferrard|Viscounts Massereene and Ferrard]] until its sale in 1997. From 2013 it was owned by [[Stuart Wheeler]], founder of the spread-betting firm [[IG Index]], until his death in July 2020.<ref>{{cite news |last=Norman |first=Matthew |date=16 August 2013 |title=Don't be fooled by Stuart Wheeler's poker face |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10247586/Dont-be-fooled-by-Stuart-Wheelers-poker-face.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731172305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10247586/Dont-be-fooled-by-Stuart-Wheelers-poker-face.html |archive-date=31 July 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph}}</ref>

==Geography==
The village of Chilham is in the valley of the [[River Stour, Kent|Great Stour River]] and beside the [[A28 road]] 6 miles (10 km) southwest of [[Canterbury]]. It is centred on a market square, where a traditional annual May Day is celebrated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chilham village in Kent|url=http://www.kentideas.co.uk/chilham-c224.html|website=Kent Ideas|publisher=Kent Ideas Ltd|access-date=4 September 2015|date=2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001336/http://www.kentideas.co.uk/chilham-c224.html|url-status=live}}</ref> At each end of the square are its major buildings: [[Chilham Castle]] and the 15th-century parish church, dedicated to St Mary. It has been claimed that [[St Thomas Becket]] was buried in the churchyard, despite his ornate tomb in [[Canterbury Cathedral]], destroyed at the [[Reformation]]. There are two other named localities in the civil parish: Shottenden and a much smaller neighbourhood, Old Wives Lees.

The [[Pilgrims Way]] passes through Chilham on the way to [[Canterbury]], and the [[Chilham railway station|railway station]] is in a part of the village sometimes called Bagham on the line from [[Ashford, Kent|Ashford]] to Canterbury.

== Amenities ==
There are two large public houses in Chilham, the Woolpack and the White Horse, which dates from the 16th century. Other amenities include a restaurant and tea shop, post office, gift shop, bus stop, tennis club, sports centre, children's playground and 15th-century village hall which originally was the tithe barn for the castle. Most shops are also along the main through road towards Canterbury just before the entry to the network of streets having the oldest buildings in the village.

==Culture and media==
The [[Neolithic]] longbarrow of [[Julliberrie's Grave]] is on the Julliberrie Downs east of the river.

Chilham and the surrounding area was one of the locations for much of [[Powell and Pressburger]]'s 1944 film ''[[A Canterbury Tale]]''. In 1965 it was used for part of the filming of ''[[The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders]]'' starring [[Kim Novak]], [[Leo McKern]] and [[Angela Lansbury]], and it was also used as a location for the [[Emma (2009 TV serial)|BBC's 2009 adaptation]] of Jane Austen's novel [[Emma (novel)|''Emma'']].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2009/04/16/chilham_emma_feature.shtml |title=Emma in Chilham |publisher=BBC Kent |access-date=17 April 2009 |archive-date=22 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722233903/http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2009/04/16/chilham_emma_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The village and the castle featured heavily in a fake snow-bound episode of ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' called ''[[Hercule Poirot's Christmas]]'' starring [[David Suchet]]. The village was made over to sunnier times for ''[[The Moving Finger]]'', a mystery featuring Agatha Christie's other famous sleuth [[Miss Jane Marple]], portrayed by [[Geraldine McEwan]], and appeared as Riseholme in the 1985 [[LWT]]/[[Channel 4]] adaptation of [[E.F. Benson]]'s ''[[Mapp and Lucia]]'', which also starred [[Geraldine McEwan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Kent Film Office: Chilham |url=https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/tag/chilham/ |website=www.kentfilmoffice.co.uk |date=8 June 2023 |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>

==Notable residents==
* [[George Colebrooke|Sir George Colbrooke]] (1729–1809), banker
* [[Dudley Digges]] (1582/3–1639), politician and diplomat
* [[West Digges]] (1720–1786), actor and theatre manager
* [[Philip Francis (translator)|Philip Francis]] (1708–1773), writer and translator
* [[William Pett Ridge|William Ridge]] (1859–1930), novelist and short-story writer
* [[Charles Haslewood Shannon|Charles Shannon]] (1863–1937), artist
* [[Augustus Toplady]] (1740–1778), cleric

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051025050526/http://www.chilham-parish.org.uk/ Chilham parish]

{{Ashford, Kent}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in Kent]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent]]

Chilham - Revision history

imported>Keith D: Add BOT tag