Little Chart

Little Chart is a civil parish^[2] and small village to the north-east of Ashford in Kent, South East England. The parish has an area of 1,485 acres (6.01 km²), and a population of 239. Within the parish boundaries are two hamlets: Little Chart Forstal (the term forstal means the land in front of a farm and farmyard; cp Painters Forstal^[3]); and Rooting Street. The Forstal is also home to Little Chart Cricket Club.

The main property in the district, Surrenden Park,^[4] to the south of the village, was owned by the Dering family for over 400 years; the family estate covered much of this part of Kent. Part of their property was Calehill Park,^[5] to the north. Neither property now exists: Surrenden succumbed to fire in 1952; Calehill was demolished in 1951.

The original village church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and the Holy Rood, was wrecked in 1944 by a V-1 flying bomb during World War II;^[6] it stood on a site further upstream from the village, near Chart Court. The new church is now within the village.^[7]

The Ford Paper Mill, named after the one-time ford over the Great Stour, has a long history, and is still in operation dealing in salvaged paper.^[8]

The Stour Valley Walk, which follows the Great Stour river, and the Greensand Way, from north to south, are both routed through the village. The village public house is the Swan Inn.

The Oscar-nominated sound engineer Jonathan Bates was born in the village.^[9]

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Little_Chart Little Chart] at Wikimedia Commons