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The History of Kent

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History of Chillenden

Chillenden comes from the Old English ‘denu’ meaning a ‘valley’ combined with a personal name; therefore, ‘Ciolla’s valley’. The Domesday Book records Chillenden as Cilledene.

Chillenden parish church is a Grade: II listed building, dedicated to All Saints. The Normans built the church in the 12th century with additions in the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1800, Edward Hasted described the Chillenden church as ‘antient, it is a mean building, very small, having a square tower at the west end, in which there is only one bell. It consists of a body, and one chancel. In the windows are remains of very handsome painted glass. There is a handsome zig-zag moulding, and circular arch over the north door. There is likewise a circular arch, but plainer than the other, over the south door’. The architect Sir George Gilbert Scott sensitively restored the church in 1871.

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