Chartham
Encyclopedia
Chartham is a village
and civil parish
in Kent
, 4 miles (6 km) west of Canterbury
.
It is located on the Great Stour river
which provided power for the paper mills up until some point before 1955. The name literally means ‘Village on rough ground’, and the word "Chart" is also found in other villages in Kent with this meaning. Paper making has been a major occupation for the last 625 years. The Paper Mill in Chartham dates from the late eighteenth century and specialises in the production of tracing paper. In the summer, many caravans park up outside the Paper Mill in their annual Caravan Paper convention.
The village is served by Chartham railway station
.
The church of St Mary the Virgin is located next to the village green and is remarkable for containing the oldest peal of bells in Kent. It was built in approximately 1294 and features a number of impressive brasses, including that of Sir Robert de Setvans (d 1306). The church is also notable for the
stonework of its chancel windows, which exhibit an
unusual form of tracery
. In the North East and East Kent volume in the Buildings of England
series, Newman
wrote 'The windows are the locus classicus of so-called Kentish tracery, i.e. with split cusps'.
The village is continuous with the smaller Shalmsford Street to the west, and was until recently the location of St Augustine's Mental Hospital
, formerly known as the East Kent Lunatic Asylum. The site on which St Augustine's stood has now become a housing estate. The northern, upper, part of the village is known as Chartham Hatch. The civil parish area also includes Mystole and the village is part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, 4 miles (6 km) west of 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....
.
It is located on the Great Stour river
River Stour, Kent
The River Stour is the river in Kent, England that flows into the English Channel at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes...
which provided power for the paper mills up until some point before 1955. The name literally means ‘Village on rough ground’, and the word "Chart" is also found in other villages in Kent with this meaning. Paper making has been a major occupation for the last 625 years. The Paper Mill in Chartham dates from the late eighteenth century and specialises in the production of tracing paper. In the summer, many caravans park up outside the Paper Mill in their annual Caravan Paper convention.
The village is served by Chartham railway station
Chartham railway station
Chartham railway station serves Chartham in Kent. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.The station is unmanned, but has two automated information booths, one on each side of the station...
.
The church of St Mary the Virgin is located next to the village green and is remarkable for containing the oldest peal of bells in Kent. It was built in approximately 1294 and features a number of impressive brasses, including that of Sir Robert de Setvans (d 1306). The church is also notable for the
stonework of its chancel windows, which exhibit an
unusual form of tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
. In the North East and East Kent volume in the Buildings of England
Pevsner Architectural Guides
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. Begun in the 1940s by art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the Buildings of England series were published between 1951 and 1975. The series was then extended to Scotland and...
series, Newman
wrote 'The windows are the locus classicus of so-called Kentish tracery, i.e. with split cusps'.
The village is continuous with the smaller Shalmsford Street to the west, and was until recently the location of St Augustine's Mental Hospital
St Augustine's Hospital, Chartham
St Augustine’s Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Chartham, Kent. It was founded as the second, or East, Kent County Asylum in 1872. In 1948 the hospital became part of the National Health Service and was renamed St Augustine's Hospital. The hospital gained notoriety in the 1970s when it was...
, formerly known as the East Kent Lunatic Asylum. The site on which St Augustine's stood has now become a housing estate. The northern, upper, part of the village is known as Chartham Hatch. The civil parish area also includes Mystole and the village is part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.