West Malling

West Malling is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of North Malling.  The church is named for St. Mary with original parish registers commencing 1698.

West Malling, a village and a parish in Malling district, Kent.  The village stands adjacent to the Otford and Maidstone branch of the Southeastern railway, 2-1/2 miles west by south of Aylesford rail station, and 5-1/2 northwest by west of Maidstone;  occupies the site of the Saxon mark of the Mallingas;  was itself anciently called Mealinges;  is now sometimes called Town Malling;  is a seat of petty sessions;  and has a post office with a savings banks and a money order office, under Maidstone, a police station, three inns, a weekly corn market on Monday, and fairs on 12 August, 2 October and 17 November.

The parish comprises 1,366 acres.  Real property in 1860, £8,599;  of which £152 are in gas works.  Population in 1851, 2,021;  in 1861, 2,086.  Houses, 357.  The property is subdivided.

The manor was given by Edward the Confessor to the bishops of Rochester;  and, by Bishop Gundulph, to Malling abbey.  Malling House is the residence of the Hon. R. P. Nevill;  St. Leonard’s House, of John Savage, Esq..  Broughton House and Brook House likewise are chief residences.

A Benedictine nunnery, known as Malling abbey, was founded here in 1090 by Bishop Gundulph;  went, at the dissolution, to Archbishop Cranmer;  passed to the Honeywoods and the Akerses;  and is now represented by interesting remains, of dates from Norman to late perpendicular.  The great gateway has a facing of later English, evidently over older work;  a chapel, attached to the gateway, has decorated English windows and later English South door, and was recently restored;  the west front of the church is Norman, with ornamented pilasters and slender turrets similar to those of the west front of Rochester cathedral;  and the cloisters, now included in a modern mansion, are late early English, with very find broad trefoiled arches.  A cell of the abbey, with a chapel, stood at St. Leonard’s, but has disappeared.  A large, square, ancient tower also stood there;  and has left some remains, which have been doubtfully pronounced to be Norman.

A belt of woods and heaths, called Malling woods, conjoined with others called Mereworth and Great Comp woods, lies along the south of both West Malling and East Malling parishes.

The living is vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £320 with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, W. Lawson, Esq..  The church has a modern nave, an early English chancel, and a Norman tower;  was extensively restored in 1866;  and contains brasses of 1497 and 1532.

There are a national school, a private lunatic asylum, the Malling district workhouse, and charities £63.¹

¹John Marius Wilson, comp. The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales.  (London, England:  A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

West Malling Bibliography

-- various. 'Archaeologia Cantiana'. Publisher: Kent, England: Kent Archaeological Society, various dates.  Volumes 1 through 139 are available to view free on the Kent Archaeological Society website.  [Note:  The following volumes can be found on archive.org:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1876), 11, 12, 13 (1880), 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, vol. 1907 supplement.]

• General references to West Malling: vol. p.

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public Record Office--Edward II, Vol. 1. 1307-1313'Each volume has own index. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch.

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Inquisitions and assessments relating to feudal aids : with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431', Vol. 3. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch.

Great Britain, Exchequer. 'The book of fees commonly called testa de nevill, pt. 3'. The Book of fees contains information about the holdings of feudal tenants. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch.

Hall, Hubert, 1857-1944. 'The Red book of the Exchequer - Liber rubeus de Scaccario, Vol. 3'. The Red book of the Exchequer was a register intended to preserve important documents comprising charters, statutes of the realm, public acts (Placita), private deeds and ordinances, correspondence. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch.

Glencross, Reginald Morshead. 'Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Vol. 1. 1559-1571'. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch.

Hasted, Edward. 'The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent; Containing the antient and present state of it, civil and ecclesiastical; collected from public records, and other authorities: illustrated with maps, views, antiquities, etc. The second edition, improved, corrected, and continued to the present time'. 12 volumes. Publisher: Canterbury: Printed by W. Bristow, 1797-1801. URL: British History Online.

Hussey, Arthur. 'Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, mentioned in Domesday book, and those of more recent date'. Publisher: London J.R. Smith,(1852).

Letters, Dr. Samantha. 'Kent', Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (2005).  URL: British History Online.

Page, William, 1861-1934, ed.. 'The Victoria history of the county of Kent'. Publisher: London: Constable (1908).  URL: British History Online.

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I, File 39', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 2: Edward I. Published:(1906), pp. 315-323.  URL: British History Online.

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry III, File 45', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III. Published:(1904), pp. 296-302.  URL: British History Online.

Location of Records

The following list of records is not intended to be exhaustive.  There are many records that are awaiting discovery in archive offices throughout Kent and England.  This list is intended only to set out those records that are available via at least two relatively easy-to-access avenues.  If you have used or discover a record that would be of benefit to other researchers, that is not on this list, please send me an email with the details of the archive - name, address and archival call number.

Census | Church of England | Non-Conformist | Parish chest | Workhouse and Poor Law | Land | Assizes and Sessions | School

Census

Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
(poor laws, jail terms, oaths, and other municipal and public records)

School Records