insideKENT Magazine Issue 48 - March 2016 | Page 77
TOWNSPOTLIGHT
S P O T L I G H T
O N
chislehurst
You love the hustle and bustle of a town, but you crave the peace of the countryside. You
enjoy living in a village with all the local amenities it offers, but you want the facilities of a
more suburban area. You want it all – which is great if you happen to live or work in
Chislehurst, because this is where you can have it all, and then some. From the village
atmosphere to the restaurants, events, and leisure activities of a big town, it’s all here, in
one exceptional place. BY LISAMARIE LAMB
history in brief
The name Chislehurst is Saxon, and, literally
translated, means ‘gravelly wood’. The reason
for the name becomes evident the more you walk
around the wooded areas surrounding the village;
not much has changed in a thousand years. The
area was never particularly good for agriculture,
so instead the main income of Chislehurst was
derived from mining for chalk and lime, and the
well-known Chislehurst Caves are part of that
mining industry from so long ago.
Chislehurst was first mentioned in records in
AD973, when King Edgar gave a piece of land
(Chislehurst) to St Andrews Priory in Rochester.
It gr