GPX File here
WARNING: Chiddingstone Mithraic Temple is on private property!
On Monday the 15th November 2021 I drove to Chiddingstone in Kent and parked by the church, where I met with Chris to go for a walk and hopefully find the Mithraic temple.
Chiddingstone is unique in that, apart from the church and Chiddingstone Castle, the entire village is owned by the National Trust, which describes it as "the best example of a Tudor village left in the country". It is an example of a Tudor one-street village.
We walk to the bottom of the road and into the grounds of Chiddingstone Castle.
The castle itself dates from the early 19th century, but incorporates elements of earlier buildings on the same site.
From the early 16th century to the end of the 19th century it was the seat of the Streatfeild family. Since 1977, the castle and its 35 acres (14 hectares) of grounds have been held in trust for the nation by the Denys Eyre Bower Bequest, and both are open to the public.
The first significant building to occupy the site of the castle was a timber-framed dwelling, inhabited from the early 16th century by Richard Streatfeild, an iron master and wool merchant. Little remains of this first structure as, in 1679, Henry Streatfeild (1639–1719) had the house rebuilt in red brick in the Restoration style. The building was known as High Street House or High Street Mansion since it fronted the village high street. Remodelling of the house's grounds in the 19th century resulted in the current diversion of the road through the village.
We follow a road from the Castle and onto a path that leads through Hill Hoath and into Moor Wood.
Here in the woods are some interesting stone formations but not the home of the temple we are searching for.
We ask a local dog walker and she seemed to think she knew where the temple may be, somewhere known as rabbit rock. She pointed down the path where we pass a huge Chestnut tree and take a path into private property on an equestrian centre.
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| Huge Chestnut Tree |
We pass a strange abandoned boat in the woods and onto the Equestrian centre.
We followed the field around and hey presto! We've found the Chiddingstone Mithraic Temple!
A legendary cruciform-shaped subterranean temple was said to exist at Chiddingstone, and our hunt began for this most secret of places – never surveyed and with only one photo in existence of the entrance. The locals closed ranks to guard the location, but after relentless research this much-prized trophy was located and examined.
A rocky outcrop of local sandstone at the side of a field contains an arched tunnel some five feet high, which amounts to a gatehouse for the cave proper, which only starts after a six-foot wide rift open to daylight is crossed – the entrance is actually “behind” the huge mass of rock first encountered.
Metal detectorist, Michael Sawyer describes the temple as due to lack of iconography inside and with architectural features it is akin to a medieval Gothic style probably 14th to 15th century.
Looking back out to the entrance of the cave.
There were a few cave spiders and their nests within the cave.
European Cave Spider (Meta menardi), which isn't often seen because it lives in the dark. The spider, which has a body no longer than 15mm long, is among the largest spiders in the UK. Cave spiders live in total darkness and are usually found in sites with no daylight, such as cellars, long tunnels and caves — hence their name. They eat woodlice, flies and other small insects.
We leave the cave and walk on over the fields and find a gap in the fence where we step over and back onto a footpath.
We walk back up the path and back pass Chiddingstone Castle once more.
A popular theory is that the village takes its name from a large sandstone rock formation, situated on its outskirts, named the Chiding Stone. Chidingstone was a previous spelling used for the village. The National Trust consider it more likely the name is derived from the homestead of Cidda's family, "Chidding tun". It was recorded as "Cidingstane" in the 12th century.
We are now back walking through Chiddingstone again.
St. Mary the Virgin, Chiddingstone is a large parish church which enhances the look of the village, and is perhaps the fourth built on that site. In the churchyard is a stone gazebo dating from 1736 built by Henry Streatfeild; leading down into the Streatfeild family vault beneath which has a through flow of air provided by vents in two false altar tombs, one adjacent to the gazebo and the other some 30 feet north.
The church was almost destroyed by a lightning fire in 1624. In recent years it has had new heating, lighting and sound systems installed. In addition to this, a chapel, at the base of the tower, has been constructed in 1979 with adjoining lavatory added in 2007.
We pass The Tulip Tree shop, believed to be the oldest working shop in the country. What is more, while the earliest surviving records date from the late 1500’s, it is very likely that the shop was here much earlier – with the building itself dating back to 1453.
To put that into some sort of context, at that time, Henry VI was still on the throne, Chaucer’s seminal work, The Canterbury Tales, had yet to be published and Shakespeare wouldn’t be born for more than a century. This was also the year that saw the end of the Hundred Years War, the fall of Constantinople and the start of the feud that would lead to the Wars of the Roses.
“We know that Anne Boleyn’s father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, owned the building, then known as Burghesh Court, for several years. Also, the room upstairs, now a private residence, was once used for collecting taxes. In fact, it is believed that the entrance door was built deliberately small to prevent attackers coming in brandishing a sword!
“Then there’s the two big pillars propping up the centre of the shop. We know from the records that these are in fact old cannons, believed to have been made at a nearby forge. Whether they were ever used before ending up here, though, we do not know!”
We walk out of the village and take a footpath marked The Chiding Stone.
Rumour has it the stone was once used by ancient druids as an altar or place where judgments were made.
Judgment seems to be a running theme as it's believed Britons used the stone as a place to conduct judicial affairs. It's also possible though the stone was used as a boundary marker by the later Saxons.
In the Medieval times folklore has it that nagging wives, wrongdoers and witches were brought to the stone to be chided as punishment by an assembly of villagers. This is where the most recent name for the stone comes from and with it possibly the name of the village.
The stone is made from natural stone and would have formed millions of years ago when the land was underwater.
We walk back up the path and along the road a very short distance and take another path our our right and across farmland.
Chris is a local and I was happy for him to lead the way, however we missed the footpath we needed and we ended up off route.
Not Chris's fault but note to ones self, keep a track on where you are!
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| Deer laying in the copse. |
We came out onto Grove Road, a bit disorientated we walk up the path opposite and up to the Cafe on Penhurst Bike Park. Deciding this isn't right, we walk back down the hill and back onto Grove Road.
We walk along down Grove Road towards Penhurst.
At the bottom of Grove Road we turn left onto Fordcombe Road.
We are now entering Penhurst after adding some unexpected mileage.
We pass The Old Smithy (a.k.a. Forge Stores).
GV II Smithy, now garage and shop, 1891, with cottage extension of 1911 by John M Sturgess.
We walk on and passing Penhurst Village Hall on our left.
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| Penhurst Village Hall |
The village grew up around Penshurst Place, the ancestral home of the Sidney family. There are many Tudor-looking buildings in the village, although some are Victorian. Henry Stafford the first Baron Stafford was born here in 1501.
The Leicester Arms, once part of the Penshurst Estate, was owned by Sir William Sidney, grandfather of poet and statesman Sir Philip Sidney. His other grandson, the Viscount De L’isle, was appointed Earl of Leicester in 1618 and it was shortly after this that The Leicester Arms, formerly known as The Porcupine, was renamed in his honour. The pub and hotel is now owned privately.
We pass the Leicester Arms Pub, this looks an amazing pub. I will have to visit when I have more time.
We now reach Penhurst's Leicester Square.
This is the original Leicester Square and is a world apart from its noisy and brash London counterpart.
Despite their dissimilarities, both Leicester Squares have the same origins — the Sidney Family, who held the title of Earl of Leicester between 1618 and 1743, and were prominent landowners in the Kent countryside as well as central London, gave their name to both squares.
London's Leicester Square only took that name sometime after the 1700s, though the Leicester moniker had been in the area for a while. Leicester House was built in 1635 to the north of what we now know as Leicester Square, and was named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The area then became known as Leicester Fields, when several more wealthy residential properties were built in the area. Leicester House was demolished in the late 1700s, and as a result, the area became less affluent, transforming into an entertainment district rather than a residential area. It was then that the area became known as Leicester Square.
Though we've found no concrete evidence of when the name Leicester Square was first used to reference the Penshurst courtyard, it's widely agreed that it predates the usage in London, possibly by over a century, giving Kent the honour of claiming the 'original' Leicester Square.
It's hard to tell where one building ends, and another begins, but Leicester Square consists of approximately six cottages, and an archway leading through to the churchyard. Unfortunately the buildings don't all date back to the days when the Sidney family held the Earl of Leicester title, but most of them are considered important enough to have been listed by Historic England.
Through the archway we reach the church of St John The Baptist.
Take the time to look back at the archway, and notice the phrase "My flesh also shall rest in hope" carved onto wooden boards. It's taken from Psalms 16:9 in the Bible.
The Grade-II listed building in the north-west corner of the courtyard is the Old Guildhouse, now split into two cottages and thought to date back to at least the 16th century, possibly earlier. The cottages at 2-3 Leicester Square, on the opposite side of the courtyard, are thought to date back in part to the medieval period, though they too were restored as part of George Devey's work. 1 Leicester Square was a 19th century addition, built to link the original cottages to Wall Cottage, another of George Devey's additions.
A church has stood on the present site in Penshurst since 1115, at the centre of a cluster of buildings, including the manor house, guild house and rectory. The church of 1115 is mentioned in the Textus Roffensis. There may have been a church on the site since Saxon times, as suggested by the recent discovery of artefacts dating from 860 AD on adjoining land. Penshurst's first priest, Wilhelmus, was installed in 1170 by Archbishop Thomas Becket, his last public act before he was assassinated two days later in Canterbury Cathedral. The core of the nave as it appears today may be of that date.
The North aisle was added c.1200, and the South-Eastern chapel is 13th century in origin. The South aisle and South chapel arcade were built or rebuilt in the 14th century, and the North-Eastern chapel was also in existence by the mid-14th century. The nave and chancel walls were raised and provided with a clerestory in the 15th century, and the tower is also 15th century. The South aisle was widened and the South porch built in 1631. Before the restoration by George Gilbert Scott, the windows there were of 1631. The unusual corner turrets and pinnacles on the tower may also be 17th century .
The church was heavily restored and partially rebuilt in 1864–1865 by George Gilbert Scott. He rebuilt and enlarged the North aisle and North-Eastern chapel, replaced many of the roofs, and replaced the 17th century South aisle windows with pseudo-medieval windows felt to be more in keeping with the overall style of the church. There was further refurnishing in the late 19th century.
We leave the church and walk back under the archway.
We walk a short way up the road into Penhurst Place and down to the Cafe for coffee and sausage rolls.
Penshurst Place was built in 1341 for Sir John de Pulteney, a London merchant and four times Lord Mayor of London who wanted a country residence within easy distance of London. This was at the time when such properties ceased to be castles: they were more dwellings that could be defended in an emergency. When Henry IV's third son, John, Duke of Bedford, occupied Penshurst, the second hall, known as the Buckingham Building, was built: so called after the subsequent owners, the Dukes of Buckingham. Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham was executed in 1521 by Henry VIII following a lavish feast held at Penshurst Place hosted by the Duke in honour of Henry; it then stayed in the crown estate for the rest of Henry's reign, with documented evidence Henry used Penshurst Place as a hunting lodge and visiting with his courtier Brandon, the property being only a few miles from Hever Castle, childhood home of Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn.
In 1550, Henry VIII's son, King Edward VI, granted the house and estate to Sir Ralph Fane, a supporter of Protector Somerset, but it was forfeited two years later after Sir Ralph was executed for treason.
Penshurst Place was enlarged after 1552 when King Edward VI granted the house to Sir William Sidney (1482–1554), who had been a courtier to the King's father, Henry VIII. Sir William's son Henry (1529–1586) married Lady Mary Dudley, whose family became implicated in the Lady Jane Grey affair, although Henry himself escaped any such implications. During his lifetime he added apartments and the "King's Tower" to Penshurst. He employed a joiner Evan Lucas to supply panelling and carve ornaments including leopard's heads for the hall and gallery. Henry Sidney also created what is now one of England's oldest private gardens, with records going back to 1346.
Philip Sidney (1554–1586), Henry's son, was born at Penshurst Place in 1554. Poet and courtier, he was buried in old St Paul's, in London, having died 25 days after a fatal wounding from a bullet in the thigh at the battle of Zutphen, but his tomb was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Philip's brother, Robert Sidney, inherited Penshurst. His time there resulted in more additions to the state rooms, including an impressive "Long Gallery". He had also inherited the Earldom of Leicester, and his descendants for the next seven generations continued to live at the mansion.
By the 19th century, the building was falling into disrepair, but a new occupant in 1818, Sir John Shelley-Sidney, and his son Philip began to restore it. The latter was created 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley in 1835. The 6th Baron, William Sidney (1909–1991), was one of only two men who held both the Victoria Cross and membership of the Order of the Garter; he was created 1st Viscount De L'Isle in 1956. To him and to his son, the 2nd Viscount, much of the modern restoration of Penshurst is due, in spite of the house having suffered neglect during World War I. Today, the house and gardens are open to the public.
Many members of the family are buried or commemorated in the Sidney Chapel at St John the Baptist, Penshurst.
After our break at the cafe we walk back up into Penhurst and turn right onto Penhurst Road passing the Fir Tree House Tea Rooms and a view over to Penhurst Place on our right.
We take a footpath on the left and along the track and crossing back over the River Eden.
After a way we are back on the path that lead us down towards Penhurst.
We now walk back into Chiddingstone.
Chiddingstone is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was given to Bishop Odo in 1072 after the Norman invasion as part of his Earldom of Kent.
The first house was owned by Roger Attwood, constructed in the typical Kent style. Several villagers including Atwood took part in Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450, and were later pardoned.
The Streatfeild family were major landowners in the area, starting in 1584. In the early 1800s Henry Streatfeild changed the village significantly, diverting the road and demolishing some buildings.
The National Trust bought the village in 1939.
The Castle Inn was sadly closed on a Monday, so wanted to try a pint !
The Castle Inn is a 15th-century building, which became a hostelry in 1730. It was visited by artists John Millais and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Arthur Rackham also visited Chiddingstone.
After a great 10 mile walk I was ready for the drive home. A big thanks to Chris, I doubt I'd found the temple without his help!
