Kilndown is a village west of
Cranbrook in
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, England. It is in the
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Goudhurst.
History
Two estates existed near the village. The
Bedgebury Estate was mentioned in an 814 charter and was a known home to the
Culpeper family in the 16th century. The estate contained two
Iron Furnaces to help defeat the
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...
in 1588.
The Combwell Estate was formed during the reign of
King Henry II by
Robert de Thurnham, who founded a
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...
Abbey, which became an
Augustinian Priory,
Combwell Priory, in 1220.
Kilndown first appears on
Hasted's map in 1778 but was referenced as "Killdown"; the "Kiln" in the current name may have come from the kiln oasts harvested in the area, or that the area produced bricks.
Kilndown was established in the 1840s by the British general and politician,
William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, (; 2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was a British army officer and politician. A General (British Army), general in the British Army and a Marshal of Portugal, Marshal in the Portuguese Army, ...
,
who purchased the estate in 1834. This led to its development, including craftsmen, shops, a public house.
Christ Church, Kilndown was built in 1841.
Christ Church.
''gkchurch.org.uk''.
References
Hamlets in Kent
{{Kent-geo-stub