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Sissinghurst in Kent

Google map showing area surrounding Sissinghurst
(The magnificent garden of Vita Sackville-West)
Location: 51.109074,0.560151
General Details
Sissinghurst in Kent lies just off the main A229 Hawkhurst to Maidstone road.

The village is a pretty Kent village with many old houses. Its main claim to fame is Sissinghurst Castle , not a real fortified castle with moat , but a very large house built in the early 1500's by Sir Richard Baker.

The Castle has had a very mixed history, with Bloody Sir John Baker the local magistrate enthusiastically burning protestants at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary .

It has been visited by Royalty with Queen Mary and Elizabeth the First visiting.

The Seven Years War made the property into a prisoner of war camp, during which time it was badly damaged by the prisoners.

In the 1820's the castle was turned into the workhouse for the poor in the Parish of Cranbrook , then in the 1870's it was turned into lodgings for local farm workers.

During the 1930's the property was bought by Vita Sackville West an author, who transformed the gardens into the attractions that today the Castle is known for.

Vita Sackville-West died in 1962 ( buried at Withyham ) her husband in 1968, and the Castle was taken over by the National Trust , and its magnificent gardens are now open to the public during spring summer and autumn.
Views
Sissinghurst in Kent village is a very pretty Kent village and the high street is very attractive.

Sissinghurst Castle is a magnificent elizabethan manor house, whose garden was transformed in the 1930's into the most gorgeous garden in Kent by Vita Sackville-West , this is a garden not to be missed.
Services
The village is small with a few local shops, the nearest small town is Cranbrook about 3 miles away, and Tenterden about 5 miles. The main shopping centre at Maidstone is about 10 miles to the north.

The nearest trains are from Staplehurst about 5 miles north, providing a regular service to London and Dover.
Map
Sissinghurst is shown as the red symbol on the map.

Nearby Villages

(click on symbol to see the village page)
Village= Town= Recorded in Domesday=
Benenden (One of Englands Top Girls Schools)
3.11 miles
Biddenden (The Maids of Biddenden)3.66 miles
Cranbrook (Christmas Cards and Union Mill)1.36 miles
Flimwell (300 local people beheaded)6.26 miles
Frittenden (The Search for the Treacle Mines)2.68 miles
Goudhurst (Smugglers, Iron and Forests)4.47 miles
Horsmonden (The largest Wealden Iron Works)6.04 miles
Kilndown (Charcoal for the Furnace)5.94 miles
Staplehurst (Charles Dickens train crash)3.74 miles
Tenterden (Centre of the Broadcloth industry)6.27 miles
Copyright Villagenet 1998-2024
 
Local Interest
Just click an image
Wealden Iron Research Group
Bexhill Museum
Talk in Code fabulous new Album
World War 2 Vehicle database
Rye Museum
Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group
Roman, Saxon and Norman History of the South East
Battle Museum of Local History
(Hard to find but worth the Visit)
For all things mosaic, commissions workshops etc please contact Hannah
The Rudes as lots of people call us, are an outdoor touring theatre company specialising in taking new & original theatre to mainly small rural communities and a few towns across the South of England. We were founded in 1998 & first toured in the Summer of 1999. Currently we tour only in the summer performing 50+ times nightly during June, July & August. https://therudemechanicaltheatre.co.uk
The Bald Explorer for local documentaries
Ninfield History Group