Penshurst

Penshurst is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The parish is located on the northern slopes of the Weald, west of Tonbridge. Within the parish boundaries are the two villages of Penshurst and Fordcombe, with a combined population of some 1,479 persons, increasing to 1,628 at the 2011 Census. The majority of the parish is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Penshurst village is located some west of Tonbridge and south of Sevenoaks. It lies in a valley near the confluence of two rivers, the Medway and the Eden. To the south of the village, within the parish, are the settlements of Saint's Hill and Smart's Hill.The village grew up around Penshurst Place, the ancestral home of the Sidney family. There are many Tudor-looking buildings in the village, although some are Victorian. Henry Stafford the first Baron Stafford was born here in 1501.The Leicester Arms, once part of the Penshurst Estate, was owned by Sir William Sidney, grandfather of poet and statesman Sir Philip Sidney. His other grandson, the Viscount De L’isle, was appointed Earl of Leicester in 1618 and it was shortly after this that The Leicester Arms, formerly known as The Porcupine, was renamed in his honour. The pub and hotel is now owned privately.