Great Chart

Great Chart is a rural village 2 miles outside Ashford to the west. Formerly on the A28 to Bethersden and Tenterden that road now follows a bypass between Great Chart and what was the small settlement of Singleton. New housing at Singleton has now made that a much larger settlement and the parish is now called Great Chart and Singleton.

The A28 is the old Ashford to Tenterden Highway established as a turnpike in the 17th century. Before the bypass this this road passed through Great Chart along The Street with historic and now Listed buildings on either side. The Toke family who were resident at nearby Godinton House for over 400 years owned much of the land in the area and their evidence is seen in the Dutch style gables of some of the houses. The village community is based on the cluster along The Street as in other linear villages. This also set the Conservation area.

The Street rises to the medieval church on a hilltop to the west. Nearby is the cluster of Court lodge farm buildings which have much older origins. A little further on is the Old Rectory which became Friars boys prep school and more recently merged with Ashford Girls Junior school to become co-educational and is now closely integrated with the Ashford senior school which remains in the centre of Ashford on East Hill.