Chestfield is a village (and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and with

Swalecliffe Swalecliffe is a part of the ribbon development of the north Kent coast between Whitstable and Herne Bay in Southeast England. It forms Swalecliffe ward of City of Canterbury Council. History The Doomsday book provides an early record of Swal ...

a district council ward) in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

District of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The parish is centred from the sea on the north coast of Kent, between the towns of

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...

and Herne Bay. It is approximately five miles (8 km) north of

. Over a third of the parish, all of which is the south of its ambit, is woodland. The north-west consists of a business park and superstore.

Geography

Chestfield & Swalecliffe railway station Chestfield and Swalecliffe railway station is on the branch of the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the villages of Chestfield, Swalecliffe and the Eastern region of the town of Whitstable, Kent. It is down the line from and is situated ...

is on the

Chatham Main Line The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London VictoriaQuail Map 5 – England South ages 2–13Sept 2002 (Retrieved 14 December 2011) and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is ...

a straight two-track line which marks the northern boundary of the parish. A footpath and a road each lead to Radfall which is a woodland locality of a few houses on two streets in the wooded hills to the south - more than one third of the parish is woodland, and almost all of it was woodland in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, when it contributed greatly to the Forest of

Blean Blean is a village and civil parish in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. The civil parish is large and is mostly woodland, much of which is ancient woodland. The developed village within the parish is scattered along the road between C ...

. The north-east of the parish is non-residential, having a superstore spanning two buildings and the John Wilson business park.

History

The Chestfield Barn originated as part of the Chestfield Manor in the 14th century, a possession of the half-brother of William the Conqueror,

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England. Early life Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...

. It is believed that the Manor dates back to as early as 1084, particularly as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the early part of the 20th century the barn was converted into a golf house by Abe Mitchell, to service the golf course constructed in 1924 by George Reeves.

Governance

Chestfield forms part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

called Chestfield and Swalecliffe. This ward had a population of 8,398 at the 2011 Census.

Transport

Thanet Way provides a goods and long-distance commuter alternative to the railway station. However, much of the rest of the parish is better served by footpaths and country lanes suitable for cycling.

References

External links