The family home of Sir Winston Churchill for most of his adult life, Chartwell is a museum and shrine to the man who led Great Britain to victory during the Second World War. Now a National Trust property, Chartwell is an understated Victorian country house, originally dating from Tudor times, with beautiful gardens and a spectacular view of the Wealden Hills that Churchill is said to have loved.
Chartwell is located two miles from the town of Westerham in Kent, England.
The first house built on this site dates to the 16th
Chartwell belonged to Sir Winston Churchill and was his family home from 1924 until his death.
Over 700 years before its most famous resident, Sir Winston Churchill, stepped through the door of Chartwell House someone else was calling it home. Local records suggest that there was a property built on this site as early as 1362 and the name Chartwell was most likely derived from the chart (Kentish for common) well that lies on the site and still feeds the ponds to the north of the house to this day.
The Chartwell House you can visit today was built during Tudor times and analysis of the wood dates the building to between 1515 and 1546. The house was probably built as a hunting lodge and has spectacular views over a lake and private valley with the Wealden Hills rolling out into the distance. It is thought that King Henry VIII stayed there while courting Anne Boleyn who was living at nearby Hever Castle.
Chartwell is famous for the sole reason that Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, lived there for most of his adult life. The house has been preserved exactly as it was when Churchill lived there as a shrine to the man, his life and his legacy. It’s not a particularly grand country house but it qualifies as a Great British Houses purely because of its connection to Churchill.
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