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Penshurst Tourist Guide
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Penshurst Church

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The Spotted Dog

Area Guides: Penshurst


Details: Spanning the river Medway and set in glorious countryside, Penshurst contains an outstanding ancestral home which has stood alongside the church for over six hundred years. Penshurst is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent and which is over eight hundred years old. This, along with the village inn, and cricket still played on one of the oldest and most attractive pitches in the land, make it a very English village. The parish is located on the northern slopes of the Weald, west of Tonbridge, some five miles south of Sevenoaks and set in a valley. Within the parish boundaries are the two villages of Penshurst and Fordcombe, with a collective population of some 1600 people. The bulk of the parish is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It has two primary schools (one in each village), two churches, a garage/shop/post office, a number of public houses/restaurants and two tea rooms.

The village grew up around Penshurst Place which is its most famous attraction, home of the Sidney family for hundreds of years. The house and gardens are open to the public and attract a considerable number of visitors each year. The village centre itself is also worth mentioning, with an attractive old forge, and its own Leicester Square! The church of St John the Baptist has links to St Thomas a Becket.

There are many Tudor-looking buildings in the village, although some date from the Victorian era. There is also a vineyard nearby. 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, Viscount De L’isle was appointed Earl of Leicester in 1618 and it was soon after this that The Leicester Arms, previously called The Porcupine, was renamed in his honour. The inn is now owned privately.

History
The only prehistoric remains found in Penshurst are a burial urn found near Chested. It is believed there was a cemetery on the site since the name Chested was given to the area in the times of the Jutes and means ‘the place of the coffins’. However, evidence of Neolithic flints have been found at Bore Place, Chiddingstone, which suggests that Stone Age hunters had wandered in that region.

The Romans left no substantial ruins although we have a record of their measurement for land in the ‘Yokes’ of Chested, Vexour, Chafford etc. The yoke is the old Roman ‘jugum’, equivalent to about 50 acres. This word has survived only in Kent. One hypothesis is that the Jutes conquered Kent, but the Angles and Saxons settled over the rest of England. No charters or writings survive which mention Penshurst from Saxon times, but it appears thet the boundaries of the Parish were defined during this period.

The suffix ‘hurst’ is a Saxon word which means a settlement in woodland. When there were two kings in Kent, Otford is thought to have been the main centre of the western one. At some point Otford Manor was granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury by a Saxon king of Kent and until the Reformation (c. 1535) it was the Archbishop who was the lord of the Manor of Penshurst Halomote. It is known Penshurst was sold in 1338 to Sir John Pultenay, a rich wool merchant. Sir John Pultenay built ‘The Great Hall’ in 1340 which visitors can still see today in Penshurst Place. It is probably the finest remaining piece of fourteen century domestic architecture in England.

Other Penshurst attractions
There was almost certainly a church on the site of St. John the Baptist, before the Norman Conquest. In 1170. Thomas a Becket appointed a rector, Willelmus, as the first priest of the parish. There is some indication to suggest the church was there in 860AD and in 2004 many Saxon artefacts were unearthed on neighbouring land which might also support this belief.

The Church House can seen in the square on the left as you face the church. It is one of possibly only two which are still left standing in England. Every parish used to have one to house spits, crocks and other utensils for the preparation of food and drink. After The Reformation parish clergy had to provide shelter for travellers and their parishioners from remote districts who came for morning and afternoon services on feast days. Church Inns were set up to offer food and drink in a decent environment controlled by the church.
The large stone building in the centre of the village on the corner is the Village Hall. It was built in 1900 as the result of the bounteousness of a patron and it stands on the site of three almshouses.

The Old Post Office - Until 1830 the only evidence of a post office in Penshurst was a letter box in the window sill of the Leicester Arms. The Post Office then moved to Leicester Square in a house which has the date 1850. On the front door is a miniature door knocker bearing the broad arrow emblem of the Sidney family in whose ownership it remained.

Set in the rural Weald of Kent surrounded by picturesque countryside and ancient parkland, Penshurst Place and Gardens has changed little over the centuries. This mediaeval work of art has been the seat of the Sidney family since 1552 and keeps the warmth and character of a family home. Today, Philip Sidney, Viscount De L'Isle, continues the family custody of this wonderful house and garden with his wife Isobel and their two children, Philip and Sophia. Another of Penshurst's glories is the 11-acre formal walled garden, with records dating back to 1346. One of the oldest gardens in private ownership, it remains much as it was when put together by Sir Henry Sidney in Elizabethan times. Click here for more details

Having announced its closure, make sure you visit Penshurst Vineyard while you can. One of the most modern wineries in Europe, there is the chance to buy the wine, and to see the famous wallabies and birds in the park. Penshurst Vineyards is in Grove Road. Tel. 01892 870255

Restaurants and Tea Rooms
The Bottle House Inn, Smarts Hill 01892 870306. The Bottle House was built in 1492, during the reign of Henry VII.
The Spotted Dog, Smarts Hill 01892 870253. A traditional weather-boarded old pub, renowned for its panoramic views over the Weald.
The Chafford Arms Penshurst Road, Fordcombe Tel. 01892 740267. An old fashioned country pub.
Quaintways Tea Rooms High Street, Penshurst Tel: 01892 870272
Fir Tree House Tea Rooms, Penshurst Tel: 01892 870382. Fir Tree House was originally part of the Penshurst Estate owned by the Sydney family and was a tied or rented cottage with a little land. Built in the 16th century in the Kentish style, it still has many original features such as the inglenook fireplace and wide oak floorboards.
The Little Brown Jug, Chiddingstone Causeway Tel: 01892 870318. A la carte restaurant.
The Rock Inn, Chiddingstone Hoath 01892 870296. Very much a locals pub.
The Leicester Arms Penshurst Tel: 01892 870551. The Leicester Arms, once part of the Penshurst Estate, was owned by Sir William Sidney, grandfather of poet and statesman Sir Phillip Sidney.

Taxi
Accent Eurocab - Local or Long Distance. Tel: 01732 833055 or 07721 004 747

Buses
Metrobus operate a service to Penshurst itself and other regular services in the area.

Car
Penshurst is 26 miles/ 42 km from Gatwick airport, 52 miles/ 84 km from the Channel Tunnel ferry terminal near Folkstone and 41 miles/ 67 km from the Eurotunnel station at Ashford.
From M25 Junction 5,
follow A21 to Tonbridge, leaving at HILDENBOROUGH exit; you can then follow brown tourist signs to Penshurst Place.
From M20/M26 Junction 2a,
follow A25 (Sevenoaks) and then A21 for HILDENBOROUGH, then follow tourist signs to Penshurst Place.

Trains
Penshurst railway station is some 2 miles to the north of the village, at the hamlet of Chiddingstone Causeway.

Click here to check out what nearby Sevenoaks has to offer

Disclaimer: The information in this Tourist Guide has been researched from a variety of sources including books, articles and online information. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information the reader should check any specific facts for themselves before making any decisions based upon the said information.






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Another Kent Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Kent.
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