Swingfield Street, a small hamlet in East Kent, is located approximately 6 miles north of Folkestone and is about the same distance from Dover. The place name Swingfield is first mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls of around 1200 where it is written as Swinefield which rather obviously suggests the area was known for the raising of pigs.

There is sometimes confusion between the hamlet of Swingfield Street and the much larger strip development of Swingfield a few miles away on the A260. Prior to the invention of SatNav delivery drivers were often known to search for a street called Swingfield Street either somewhere along the A260 or even in Dover as that is what the postcode directory seems to suggest. For clarity Swingfield Street is the name of our village of a couple of dozen houses, a redundant church and a closed down public house.

As well as a few residencies dating back to at least the 17th Century the village features the ancient church of St Peter’s, a Grade 1 listed building now under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust but in regular use by the villagers for coffee mornings, SSCG meetings and social events. The origins of the main body of the church date to the 13th Century though there are parts which possibly go back as far as the 11th Century. The church and its graveyard are open to the public on a daily basis between 10am and 4pm.

Just outside the village but only a few hundred yards across the fields is St John’s Commandery, a 13th Century former preceptory once under the control of the Knight Hospitaliers. It is believed that it was formerly occupied by the Sisters of the the Knights Hospitaliers but they relocated to Buckland Priory in the year 1180.