Rock corner was formerly named Carey's Cross, a field of this name appears here on old maps.
The Rock Inn has been an alehouse since 1610.
Skinners is the old name for the first house in Truggers Lane where it meets the Chiddingstone road at Rock Corner. Until the 1970s it had been divided into four rather neglected cottages, however extensive and careful renovations have restored it to its former glory. The house was originally a medieval hall house, probably of four bays which was unusually aisled on the north. Such aisled houses are uncommon, there being only about a dozen known examples surviving in the south-east of England, of which only half are single aisled. Moulding on the beams suggests a date of not much before 1500, possibly the latest date for an aisled house of this type.
About 1600 the end bay was demolished and the chimney, fine Jacobean cross wing and porch erected. On the west side there is evidence of a first floor garderobe, or primitive toilet, which once overhung the garden!* The house is now called Cares Cross.
There are more images of Rock Corner in my Postcard Album.
Digital photograph
*Historical information on Skinners is from "Chiddingstone, an Historical Exploration, by Jill Newton"
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Photographs © Mark Collins 2006
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