Archbishop's Palace, Charing an important heritage site

Heritage site

A Heritage Site is a location designated as important to the cultural heritage of a governing body such as a township, county, province, state, or country. It is a non-moveable object such as a historic site or national monument, but it may include several sites grouped together such as...

 first mentioned in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 as land held by the Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

 at 'Meddestane', was redeveloped as a palace

Palace

A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...

 in 1348. This was one of a string of medieval palaces at Charing

Charing

Charing is a small village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. The parish population is 2,750 ; it includes the settlement of Charing Heath.It is situated at the foot of the North Downs...

, Otford

Otford Palace

The Archbishop's Palace is in Otford, a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent. The village is located on the River Darent, flowing north down its valley from its source on the North Downs...

 and Croydon

Croydon Palace

Croydon Palace, in Croydon, now part of south London, was the summer residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for over 500 years. Regular visitors included Henry III and Queen Elizabeth I...

, serving the archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

s travelling between Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

 and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

The Archbishops' registers indicate that a palace at Charing was in regular use from the time of Archbishop Peckham (1279 - 1292). Later both Henry VII

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

 and Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 stayed at the Palace, the latter on his way to the Field of the Cloth of Gold

Field of the Cloth of Gold

The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase...

. The property was seized by the Crown after the Dissolution in 1545 and was subsequently leased to and later owned by local farming gentry, notably the Honywoods and the Whelers. The present owner’s family acquired the complex in the 1950s. The buildings are listed by English Heritage as Grade I and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

In 2004, the Archbishop's Palace was one of the featured buildings, and a finalist, in the BBC/Endemol TV series Restoration

Restoration (TV series)

Restoration, Restoration, Restoration is a set of BBC television series where viewers decided on which listed building that was in immediate need of remedial works was to win a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund...

(presented by Griff Rhys Jones, Ptolemy Dean and Marianne Suhr, produced and directed by Paul Coueslant).