thisishildenborough - Hildenborough Kent : information about the village

Hildenborough Parish is part of the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling , Kent. It is the home of Dame Kelly HOLMES - the double Olympic champion of 2004 who was brought up in Hildenborough and still lives in the village and Sir Henry COOPER - the heavy weight boxer- who came to live in the village when the Hildenbrook Farm development replaced Princess Christian Hospital. The Parish area is some 1,700 hectares with an adult population in 2003 of about 4,600 (3,500 adults) living in 1,780 houses, of which 100 odd were built by the local Council. The main centre of population is split into two. To the North, the built up area is on the north-east side of the old A21 (now the B245) and about 5 1/2 miles from the town centre of Sevenoaks, and contains the Village Hall and Church ( Map Reference TQ 565488 & Postcode TN11 9HR). It is separated by Fidelity and the Westwood open space from the southern part of the village which is astride the B245 and virtually joined at the extreme south-east to Tonbridge, whose centre is some 2 1/2 miles away. Click to see map, or to see road names on the Arka Cartographic Tourist map click here).

There is a Conservation Area which includes parts of Mount Pleasant, Church Road and Tonbridge Road between Mount Pleasant and the 2* Listed Church. A map of the conservation area can bee seen by clicking here you can also see the Advice Note from Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council by clicking here.

There is a parish magazine "Keys", keysmag@hotmail.com Editor 01732 832323 Advertising 01732 833340. For the Latest News from the village click here

If the maps of 1868 and 1907 (as can be seen in Tonbridge Library, Avebury Avenue) are compared see map it can be seen that only on the later map, for example, do Hilden Park, Church Road and Mount Pleasant appear, but all with only few houses. Nevertheless the Village was quite small at the beginning of the 20th century and dominated by large houses and land holdings which were split up around the time of The Great War .It expanded before the Second World War and considerably post-war, especially in the late 1950s as did Tonbridge itself. Of recent years there has only been comparatively limited infill and building on the sites of the disused Hospitals and Schools. The countryside surrounding the built up area is part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. At one time a good part of the land grew hops but in recent years this has stopped and agricultural activity is generally at a low key.

The largest employer is Fidelity Investment Services, with other employment being split across a range of smaller enterprises more information. Many of the population commute, especially to London, from the Railway Station, which is the railhead for a wide area, using the services between Charing Cross/Cannon Street and Hastings/Margate. There are bus services to Bluewater, Bromley, Leigh (Kent), Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Underriver, service details can be found at www.arrivabus.co.uk. There is also a rush hour shuttle between the Railway Station and the village, you can plan your journey using National Rail Enquires by clicking here

The population is served from a comparatively new Medical Centre which is part of the West Kent Primary Care Trust. There are hospitals at Tunbridge Wells (Kent & Sussex-A&E ) and Pembury which are planned for replacement on a single site. There are community hospitals at Sevenoaks and at Tonbridge.

There are four schools two private, Sackville School and Fosse Bank School, and two state. One of the state schools Hildenborough Church of England Primary, was extended and rebuilt in 2004, and the other is Stocks Green Primary built in the late 1960s. More information can be found here. State secondary education, after selection, is provided principally in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells

The current Village Hall was built in 1970 but has since been updated. It is on the same site as the original 'Iron Room' which was erected in 1902. It is the centre for a range of leisure activities, more information can be found here. If you want to book the Village Hall please phone 01732 833092.

An Historical Bibliography - Many of these books and papers can be found in Hildenborough Library for details of services click here , while Tonbridge Library has a collection of press cuttings and publications.

The Parish Registers are held at County Hall ( Centre for Kentish Studies, Sessions House, Maidstone ME14 1XQ -phone 01622 696197) but the Church has an analysis of burials .

*   A Church guide of St Johns Hildenborough, you can view it online here.
*   "This is Hildenborough from A-Z" . This was orignally compiled by Kay Cope & Joan Dash and published AS "HILDENBOROUGH AN A-Z" by the Parish Council in 1994 and revised, amended and retitled in 2007, you can view it online here here printed copies are available from the Parish Clark priced at £9.50.
*   Hildenborough Afternoon W.I'.s "Local History" written in 1958/9, you can view it online here This exists in several versions with minor textual variations, one in the parish magazine in 1958/9 and several in typescript.
*   Hildenborough Parish Magazines (those since 1893 are held in the Diocesan Archive at County Hall)
*   "History of Christianity in Tonbridge and Hildenborough " by TOUCH 2000 (Tonbridge United Churches)
*   "History of Kent" by Hasted (Volume 5)
*   "Leigh in Kent 1550-1900" by Lawrence Biddle
*   "Princess Christian's Hospital" by Mrs M.K. Hume & R. Cooper dated 1981** - this history of Princess Christian's (now known as Hildenbrook Farm) can be found here
*   "St John the Evangelist 1844-1944" issued by the Parochial Church Council in 1944, this actually covers both the Church and Hildenborough C of E Primary School, you can view it online here
*   "Sevenoaks Essays" by G.Ward
*   "Stories & Memories of Hildenborough Vicarage" by May Chaplin**
*   "The Battle of Britain, Then and Now", published by Battle of Britain Prints International
*   "The Book of Tonbridge" by Frank Chapman 1976
*   "The Kent Cyclist Battalion" by Cyril Bristow
*   "The story of the first Foxbush now called Little Foxbush" by Alice May Chaplin **
*   Wartime Memories from various contributors, you can view it online here
*   "Yesterday's Tonbridge" by Frank Chapman

while "Bygone Kent" magazine has had several Hildenborough articles including that on "The Old Barn Teahouse" by Gordon Church You can view it online here

items marked ** are in typescript only

The Parish Council is anxious that the information on this site is accurate. If you find an error please email us

This site is owned by Hildenborough Parish Council