Saltwood is a village

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 the Shepway

Shepway

Shepway is a local government district in Kent, England. It includes the towns of Folkestone and Hythe and the Romney Marsh. It is named after the Jutish lathe of Shepway; the Royal Court of Shepway, which met near Lympne at a place called Shepway Cross, was the principal court of the Cinque Ports...

 District of 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...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Within the parish are two other settlements: Pedlinge

Pedlinge

Pedlinge is a hamlet on the edge of the village of Saltwood in Kent. It has its own church, though this is officially classified as a District Chapel-of-Ease since Pedlinge is part of the parish of Saltwood, and not a parish in its own right....

 and Sandling

Sandling

Sandling is a small hamlet north of Saltwood in Kent. It has a railway station connected to Saltwood village by a bus service. It is also the location of Sandling Park, a large estate and house, which stretches around the village of Saltwood and ends at Saltwood's other satellite hamlet, Pedlinge...

; both being small hamlets.

Geography

Saltwood is located immediately to the north of Hythe

Hythe, Kent

Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....

 on the high land looking over the Romney Marsh

Romney Marsh

Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 mi ² .-Quotations:*“As Egypt was the gift of the Nile, this level tract .....

. It is served by Sandling railway station

Sandling railway station

Sandling railway station serves Sandling in Kent, England. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern. The station is also 7 km west of Folkestone Central on the South Eastern Main Line...

 on the South Eastern Main Line. It is surrounded by farming land.

Castle

Saltwood Castle

Saltwood Castle

Saltwood Castle is a castle in Saltwood village—which derives its name from the castle—1 mile north of Hythe, Kent, England.The castle is known as the site where the plot was hatched to assassinate Thomas Becket...

, once a possession of the Archbishops 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...

, is located here, having been assigned to them by a deed of 1026 (now in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

) signed by such leading figures as King Canute and Earl Godwin

Earl Godwin

Earl Godwin is the name of:* Earl Godwin , American radio newsman, commentator, and announcer* Godwin, Earl of Wessex , one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors...

. More recently this castle (now privately owned) has been home to Lord Clark of Saltwood

Kenneth Clark

Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation...

 and then his son Alan Clark MP

Alan Clark

Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...

. It is located about a mile to the north of the cinque port

Cinque Ports

The Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. It lies at the eastern end of the English Channel, where the crossing to the continent is narrowest...

 of Hythe

Hythe, Kent

Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....

, although the parish boundaries of Saltwood come very much closer to Hythe town centre.

Religious buildings

The Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 parish church is dedicated to St Peter & St Paul. There is also an Anglican

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Chapel of ease

Chapel of ease

A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....

 at Pedlinge. The residents of Sandling Park, the estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

 and their estate employees traditionally worship at the latter, which is served by the parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 (rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

) of Saltwood.

Schools

There are two primary schools, Saltwood CEP , and St Augustine's RCP as well as a major secondary comprehensive school (Brockhill Park Performing Arts College), located in the parish.

Leisure

Brockhill Country Park

Brockhill Country Park

Brockhill Country Park is in Saltwood, near Hythe in Kent, England.A former estate with landscaped gardens, now house used by a school and gardens and lake, now part of the country park.-History:...

 is located here. Saltwood also has a Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 team which plays in the Kent Village League's Second Division, and has a ground and pavilion in the village at Kiln Corner, on the top of Tanners Hill.

Until 1987 Saltwood attracted visitors to a historical point of interest, the Saltwood Miniature Railway

Saltwood Miniature Railway

Saltwood Miniature Railway was a gauge miniature railway which first opened in Sheffield, but subsequently relocated to Saltwood in Kent, England....

, which was the oldest miniature railway in the world, still extant. However, in 1987 this railway closed and has since been broken up and its component parts sold.