Whitfield, Kent

The village of Whitfield has grown so that it is now physically connected to urban Dover, Kent, yet it has kept its own identity and sense of place. The central core of modern Whitfield was, however, not the original heart of the village; the original settlement was sited at Church Whitfield to the east. Pineham, located to the east of Church Whitfield is a small rural hamlet that is often considered part of the Whitfield community. It contains a small handful of farms and houses. Church Whitfield seems to have originated around a small, enclosed farmstead; archaeological work in the area showed that there was a collection of structures on the site during the early medieval period and…

The village itself (Church Whitfield) has ancient roots, with evidence of both Roman and Saxon settlements. The village church, dedicated to St Peter, has two Saxon windows, and the bell is from the 13th century, or earlier. St Peter's Church is a 10th-century Saxon Church largely rebuilt in Norman times, though the church is first mentioned in 762 AD. It was restored and enlarged in 1894. There is also an early Congregational Chapel in the village (Chapel Rd) dating to 1781 but rebuilt in 1867. Whitfield also had a windmill, with a bakery beneath. It was built about 1755 in Napchester Road and was owned by generations of the Cadman family. In 1900 the mill was left to decay and was finally…