Saltwood is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the Folkestone and Hythe 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. Within the parish are the small hamlets of Pedlinge and Sandling.

Geography

Saltwood is located immediately to the north of Hythe on the high land looking over the Romney Marsh. It is served by

Sandling railway station Sandling railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the village of Sandling and the town of Hythe, Kent. It is down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains that call are operated by Southeast ...

on the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the C ...

. It is surrounded by farming land. The parish includes the hamlet of Sandling which has a railway station. It is the location of

Sandling Park Sandling may refer to: Places * Sandling, Austria, in Altaussee * Sandling, Folkestone, Folkestone and Hythe, Kent, England ** Sandling railway station * Sandling, Maidstone, Kent, England * Sandlings, Suffolk, England Other * Sandling (Dungeon ...

, a large estate and house, which stretches around the village of Saltwood and ends at Saltwood's other satellite hamlet, Pedlinge. The gardens of the Park are often open during the summer months.

Castle

Saltwood Castle, once a possession of the

Archbishops of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, is located here, having been assigned to them by a deed of 1026 (now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

) signed by such leading figures as King Canute and Earl Godwin. The castle was the overnight resting place of four knights ( Reginald fitzUrse, Hugh de Morville,

William de Tracy Sir William de Tracy (died ) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with '' caput'' at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manors (amongst very many others) of Toddington, Gloucestershire and of Moretonhampste ...

, and

Richard le Breton Sir Richard le Breton or Richard de Brito (fl. 1170) was one of the four knights who in 1170 murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Origins Roger Brito is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as holding land under the overlordship ...

) on their journey to

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 ...

to murder

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

. More recently this castle (now privately owned) has been home to Lord Clark of Saltwood and then his son Alan Clark MP. It is located about a mile to the north of the cinque port of Hythe, although the parish boundaries of Saltwood come very much closer to Hythe town centre.

Religious buildings

The Norman parish church is dedicated to St Peter & St Paul. There is also an Anglican

Chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately b ...

at Pedlinge. The residents of Sandling Park, the

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...

and their estate employees traditionally worship at the latter, which is served by the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

(

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

) of Saltwood.

Schools

There are two primary schools, Saltwood CEP, and St Augustine's RCP, as well as a major secondary comprehensive school, Brockhill Park Performing Arts College, located in the parish.

Leisure

Brockhill Country Park is located here. Saltwood also has a

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

team which plays in the Kent Village League's Second Division, and has a ground and pavilion in the village at Kiln Corner, on the top of Tanners Hill. Until 1987 Saltwood attracted visitors to a historical point of interest, the

Saltwood Miniature Railway Saltwood Miniature Railway was a gauge miniature railway which first opened in Sheffield, but subsequently relocated to Saltwood in Kent, England. It closed in 1987. At one point, the Saltwood Miniature Railway was the oldest extant miniature ...

, which was the oldest miniature railway in the world, still extant. However, in 1987 the railway closed. The locomotives and rolling stock were sold, and some time later the track was lifted. For about ten years it remained possible to follow the course of the line, but the entire site has now been redeveloped with new houses. An inn of some antiquity trades on the village green. The Castle Hotel was first licensed as a public house in 1890 by the local

Mackeson's Brewery Mackeson Stout is a milk stout first brewed in 1907. It contains lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Milk stout Milk stout (also called sweet stout, mellow stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Lactose ...

, although there is evidence that beer was sold on the site for some time before that date.History
of the Castle Hotel, Saltwood.

References

External links

www.saltwoodkent.co.uk
for Saltwood War Memorial information and Saltwood Odds, Notes and Curiosities {{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent