It is situated on the Ashford side of the city, and is in the North Downs area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 2.3 mi (4 km) south west of Canterbury, England.

The village has an unstaffed station, Chartham, and has recently upgraded its staffed level crossing to an automatic barrier.

[3] Chartham is located on the Great Stour river scattered along the Ashford Road in Canterbury and on the vale of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Chartham is also on the western end of the 3-mile Great Stour Way cycle path to Canterbury City Centre.

[5] In the census of 1801 the number of people present in the parish of Chartham, enclosing an area of about 3 square miles (8 km2) and including the settlement of Chartham Hatch, was given as 776, and this figure remained roughly stable until the late 19th century when a dramatic increase was recorded: in the census of 1881, the number was given as 2,473.

[10] The village is contiguous with the smaller Shalmsford Street to the west, and was until recently the location of St Augustine's Mental Hospital, formerly known as the East Kent Lunatic Asylum.

The village's post office was at 105 Shalmsford Street, but is now located at 14B Godfrey Gardens in the Chartham Downs housing area.

It encompasses a local shop (incorporating the village post office), football/cricket grounds and three children's play parks.

This fact means that the estate whilst being part of Chartham in a political aspect, is in many ways cut off from the village.

A few of the hospital buildings, including the administration block, the water tower, and the chapel, were retained but the rest were demolished.

Although Canterbury City Council suggested that "a change of name would help in creating a new sense of identity", the site is known as St Augustine's Estate, however signs refer to the area as ‘Chartham Downs’.