Goodnestone, Kent

Goodnestone is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, located about seven miles east-southeast of Canterbury and five miles west-southwest of Sandwich. The parish includes the villages of Chillenden and Knowlton, along with the hamlets of Rowling and Tickenhurst.

The village is home to the Grade I listed Holy Cross Church, which dates back to the 12th century. The church underwent significant rebuilding in the early 19th century, with the nave, chancel, and south porch reconstructed between 1839 and 1841. Inside the chancel is a notable 1752 monument by Peter Scheemakers dedicated to Brook Bridges of Goodnestone Park.

Goodnestone Park lies to the south-west of the village and features a mansion built in 1704 by Brook Bridges, 1st Baronet. The estate’s gardens are open to the public. The park has literary connections, as Elizabeth Bridges, daughter of the 3rd Baronet, married Jane Austen’s brother, and Austen herself visited the estate regularly during the early years of their marriage.

The village also has historical links through its clergy; Herbert James, a former curate at Holy Cross, was the father of M. R. James, the Cambridge academic and ghost story writer, who was born at Goodnestone Parsonage in 1862.