Castles And Caves

Graffiti old and new on Wealden sandstone

  The Eden Valley is not, as its name suggests, a biblical location, but a historic and picturesque area of Kent. The charming River Eden lends its name both to the Valley and its principal town, Edenbridge, and the area is notable for its historic sites and its striking geology. The homes of Winston Churchill and General James Wolfe are here at Westerham, as well as the floral charms of Emmett's Garden, and the grave of Octavia Hill - philanthropist and founder of the National Trust - can be found at Crockham Hill.

The quirky rocky outcrops that occur throughout the area are of Ardingly Sandstone, and are notable for ancient weathering features such as honeycombing and polygonal cracking. The most significant outcrops can be found at High Rocks and Eridge Rocks, west of Tunbridge Wells... although smaller outcrops can be seen throughout the Eden Valley (as we shall see...).

Old postcard of High Rocks

Eridge Rocks (c) Malcolm Etheridge

A curious triangle of villages exists within the limits of the Valley, curious as all three of them are dominated by stately buildings. In Penshurst, the pinnacles of Penshurst Place soar proudly in parkland watered by the gently flowing Medway, that mightiest of Kent rivers. In Hever, the Castle sits within its moat in an impeccably manicured series of formal gardens. And in Chiddingstone, another Castle - actually a mansion - sits on the edge of a village so well preserved that most of it is owned by the National Trust. A village visited by Team Vulpine (Eldest and I) on a bright February day.

Chiddingstone

A footpath that begins at the rear of Hever churchyard skirts the Castle grounds, then meanders in an easterly direction before picking up an old coach track heading toward Chiddingstone. Here, along and around this coach track, can be found some wonderful examples of the geology so unique to the High Weald.

Eldest on Ye Olde Coache Tracke

Rocks and Roots

The epitome of Persistence

The Track from above

Across a couple of open fields, we approach the settlement of Chiddingstone itself. The village has a heavy Tudor flavour, and its one street veers suddenly to the right after it passes the church, in order to avoid the Castle grounds. At one time it ploughed straight through, but this was changed when the Castle grounds were landscaped in the 19th century.

One of the village's more recent relics

As we approach from the west, we notice an outcrop which some believe may have given its name to the village - the Chiding Stone. It may have been a Saxon boundary marker, as the name of the village is most likely derived from 'the stone of Chidda's tribe'.

The Chiding Stone

Local folklore asserts that the Stone was a seat of judgement, used for the humiliation of nagging wives. Some also fancifully assert that it was some kind of druidical altar. Neither theory has been blessed with provenance, although it would certainly be nice if they were true.

Information Board

As we travellers and explorers enter the village, we turn north and amble down the quiet street, heading for the Castle. To our right, the village churchyard contains a curious mausoleum in the shape of a gazebo.

The Mausoleum

This dates from 1736 and was built by Henry Streatfeild to house his family's burial vault. It is the most prominent monument in the grounds, which seems appropriate as Henry's home, Chiddingstone Castle, is the most prominent building in the village... and we now pass the Castle Inn and step into the grounds.

Chiddingstone Castle

 The present building dates to the 19th century but its predecessor, known as High Street House, was built in the early 16th century when the Streatfeilds were coming into prominence as iron masters, wool merchants and landowners in three counties.

Little remains of this earliest building, as it was pulled down in 1679 by another Henry Streatfeild (it was a popular name in the family) and rebuilt in a red-brick Restoration style. This lasted until the nineteenth century, when the architects William Atkinson and Henry Kendal created the building and grounds which stand now. It was also renamed from High Street House to Chiddingstone Castle, since the re-routed High Street no longer ran past the front door.

Octagonal Orangery in the grounds

The Streatfeild family sold the building in 1938 to Lord Astor, owner of neighbouring Hever Castle, who allowed it to be used by the Canadian Forces during World War II. Once hostilities had ended, it spent a few years as Long Dene School until being purchased, in 1955, by an antiques dealer and collector named Denys Eyre Bower. He opened the Castle to the public to display his collections, and they remain there to this day. Bower died in 1977 and a trust, the Denys Eyre Bower bequest, run the Castle now. In an example of historic continuity, its trustees include members of the Streatfeild family. The collections include artifacts from Japan and Egypt, as well as Stuart/Jacobite and Buddhist relics.

Into the grounds we stroll. The Castle is closed for the winter, although the grounds are usually kept open, with payment by honesty box. Eldest and I look at features such as the lake, the cascade, the ha-ha... and, especially, the lakeside Grotto.

Tunnel in the grotto...

...and its entrance

Hever Castle also has a grotto, hewn out of an old quarry, and it is reasonable to assume that one inspired the other, although it is no longer possible to know which one came first. The Hever grotto lies in a discreet part of the grounds, unmentioned in the guide books... but the Chiddingstone grotto, situated only a short distance from the village entrance, is a lot more blatant.

Back gate leads to a small courtyard

The tunnel curves...

What might we find in here?

...oh, good. Cave spiders.

The grotto is a little cluttered in places, with old fencing strewn at one point. And on the walls, some of those creatures I first encountered in an Iron Age subterranean monument in Cornwall, and later in a derelict Victorian fortification at Tilbury. Cave spiders, just hanging around on the walls guarding their egg-sacs, the creepy little perishers. I always feel like I'm in an Indiana Jones film when I encounter these.

Skylight

Exploring the Chiddingstone grotto

The soft sandstone of the High Weald lends itself easily to quarrying and burrowing, and it would not have been difficult for the wealthy owners of Hever and Chiddingstone Castles to have such features added to their landscaped grounds... but, unknown to most visitors to these two stately piles, there is a third grotto in the Eden Valley. One which is a closely guarded local secret, and the origins and purpose of which is shrouded in mystery. Instead of being situated in the grounds of a grandiose dwelling, this one nestles in a rural location on farmland.

I was first alerted to its existence by a friend who used to live in the area, who described it as a 'rock temple'. Rather than give me directions, she sent me a link to the website of an Urban Explorer from Greenwich who surveyed the site in 2015. He described it as a 'Mithraic Temple', and was apparently the only UrbEx to have found and located the place, after what he described as 'relentless research'. However, he was as discreet as my friend, and neglected to mention its actual location.

I do so like a challenge. After exhausting the conventional lines of enquiry, I started thinking on a more lateral level. Last time I did that, I rediscovered the lost grave of an influential 18th-century poet. My instincts proved right on this occasion, too... after much referencing and cross-referencing of clues from diverse sources, I pinpointed the location of the subterranean 'Temple'.

Through a gap in a rock formation...

...is a hidden entrance!

Deep in the Eden Valley countryside we strike... scrambling up banks, winding through beech and birch, twisting around scrub... Eldest deviates to track a herd of fallow deer, and in the process finds a cervine skull. Another one for his collection. And then, after a scramble through untidy bracken, we find our destination right where I had pinpointed it.

Excellent! More spiders

The Gothic shape of the tunnel

This construction varies from the Chiddingstone grotto in notable ways. The tunnel is carved in an arch shape, and ends in a cruciform chamber. There are also considerably more arachnids skulking on the walls. Beyond its Gothic style,  its design is reminiscent of the Cotswold/Severn Long Barrows of the Neolithic, such as West Kennet and Wayland's Smithy.

Tealight scarring at the rear of the chamber

Fungal infection

Evidence of smoke damage from tealights show that the cave has received visitors other than us, although it is impossible to detect how long ago. Cracks in the walls show evidence of bat roosts... perhaps another reason this secret is a secret.

Back in the open

Graffiti next to entrance, dated 1900. What is a 'blagbor'??

The cave is certainly a curiosity. Nobody knows when or why it was constructed, yet the graffiti around its entrance - dating as far back as late Victorian times - suggests that at some stage, it was better known. Mithraic Temple? A nice idea, but unlikely. The cult of Mithras is associated with Roman soldiers, and there were no forts in the area. A grotto? Perhaps, and care was taken to carve it in a Gothic fashion, but to what purpose? It's in the middle of nowhere!

More graffiti, none of it recent

Another mystery. Shepherd's shelter?

Eldest and I complete our exploration of the 'temple' and emerge into the wintry Kent air, examining the graffiti carved into the sandstone by visitors past. Further along the outcrop is another feature, and another mystery. An alcove, carved into the rock. We decide, in the absence of any contextual clues, that it might be a shelter of some kind.

And off we go, to find a village with a pub that smells of woodsmoke. Today we have examined the rock formations of the Eden Valley, encountered a Chiding Stone, explored a grotto and located one of Kent's most closely guarded secrets. And its location, if you fancy a little exploring?

I'm not telling you.

It's a secret.