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West Malling

Coordinates:51°17′30″N0°24′55″E/ 51.29170°N 0.41521°E/51.29170; 0.41521
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West Malling
St. Leonard's Tower, West Malling
West Malling is located in Kent
West Malling
West Malling
Location withinKent
Population2,590 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTQ685575
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWEST MALLING
Postcode districtME19
Dialling code01732
PoliceKent
FireKent
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent
51°17′30″N0°24′55″E/ 51.29170°N 0.41521°E/51.29170; 0.41521
J. M. W. Turner's watercolour ofSt Mary's Abbeywith the Cascade,circa 1791
Three service awards for nurses who worked in the Kent Nursing Institute; member, five and ten year service.

West Malling(/ˈmɔːlɪŋ/MAW-ling,historicallyTown Malling) is amarket townin theTonbridge and Mallingdistrict ofKent,England.It has a population of 2,590.

Landmarks

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West Malling contains several historic buildings, includingSt Leonard's Tower,aNormankeep built byBishop Gundulf(bishop between 1077 and 1108).[2]He also built theWhite Towerof the Tower of London, the castles ofRochesterandColchester,and the Priory andCathedral of Rochester.In c.1090 Gundulf founded St. Mary's Abbey in West Malling forBenedictinenuns. This historic site contains significant buildings from the Norman, medieval, Tudor andGeorgianeras. There is also a Grade II* Listed 1966 abbey church which is used by theAnglican Benedictinenuns who have madeMalling Abbeytheir home since 1916.

Other buildings of interest in West Malling include the Prior's House, once a residence for those with leprosy; Ford House, over 600 years old; a mainly Georgian High Street; the Swan Hotel,[3]an 18th-century coaching inn (Grade II listed), and Went House, built c.1720 and noted for its elegant brickwork.Manor Park Country Parkis just to the south of the town, close to St Leonard's Tower and Douce's Manor, whose grounds the park once comprised.

In about 1791 the artistJ. M. W. Turnerpainted awatercolourof 'St Mary's Abbey and an ornamental waterfall' on Swan St, that remains in place today.[4]

Places of worship include the Anglican St Mary's Church[5]and West Malling Baptist Church, built in 1836.[6]

Kings Hill

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Main article:Kings Hill

This new parish is a mixed residential housing estate and commercial development formed from parts of West Malling, Mereworth, East Malling and Wateringbury. The 2004Wealth of the Nationreport listsKings Hillas having the highest average income and the highest proportion of households earning more than £100,000 per annum inGreat Britain.

Transport

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West Malling is some 35 miles (56 km) from central London, next to themain roadbetween London and the coastal ferry ports ofFolkestoneandDoverand with good links by road and rail; the area has become a popularcommuterlocation.

Road

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Originally established on the main road to London from the coast, West Malling is about a mile (1½ km) from Junction 4 of theM20,and from Junction 2 of theM26which leads on to theM25,encircling London.

Air

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Main article:RAF West Malling

In the 1930s, Maidstone Airport was established two miles from the town, at Kings Hill. During theSecond World War,RAF fighters were posted to the then-namedRAF West Malling,and severalUS Navysquadrons were located there during the 1960s. After closure as an operational airfield in 1967, several commercial air-based activities moved onto the site, and a number of popularairshowstook place – the last was in 1987. By then, work had started to convert the area to non-flying use, developing into the new parish ofKings Hill.

Rail

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West Malling station,situated on the outskirts of the town, provides a regular service, operated bySoutheastern Trains,up toVictoria,and down toMaidstoneandAshford.Journeys into London take around one hour. Direct services to London Bridge and Cannon Street were withdrawn in December 2009.

With the recent development ofKings Hill,the station was renamed "West Malling for Kings Hill", and in 2007 road access was provided from theWest Malling bypass,taking commuter traffic away from the High Street.

Healthcare

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Kent Nursing Institute was founded in 1875 in West Malling as a private nursing service, and also had a branches inTunbridge Wells.[7]Funding was via charitable donations, subscriptions and one-off payments. There was a nursing institute in West Malling from at least 1881 until the end of the First World War. In 1881Eva Luckes,Matron ofThe London Hospitalwas asked to train some probationers from the institute ward based training at The London.[8]Nurses were awarded five (bronze) and ten (silver) badges for long service, see image right). The Tunbridge Wells branch was in Crescent Road, and was an Auxiliary Hospital during the First World War with beds for civilians and soldiers.[9]

Notable staff

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  • Agnes Theodosia Kelly (1863–1929) was Lady Superintendent /matronof the West Malling branch between 1902 and 1916.[10]Kelly trained at The London Hospital under Luckes between 1889 and 1891.[11][12]Kelly was also Lady Superintendent of Kent VAD Hospital 150, based in West Malling, Kent until at least January 1919.[13]

Local media

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Newspapers

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West Malling is covered by the Malling edition of theKent Messenger,published by theKM Group.There is also a King's Hill edition of theSevenoaks Chronicle.

Television

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Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South EastandITV Meridian.Television signals are received from theBluebell HillTV transmitter,[14]BBC LondonandITV Londoncan also be received from theCrystal PalaceTV transmitter.[15]

Radio

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The local radio station for West Malling isKMFM Maidstone.The county-wide stationsBBC Radio Kent,HeartandGoldcan also be received in the town.

Sport

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West Malling is reputed to be the site of the first recorded cricket match in Kent. TheOld County Ground,off Norman Road, was once the home of inter-countycricket in Kent,and it is known that in 1705, "West of Kent" played Chatham at Malling.

The setting for the cricket match between All Muggleton and Dingley Dell inCharles Dickens'sThe Pickwick Papersis reputed to be based on an amalgamation of the grounds at West Malling andMaidstone.There is a resemblance to West Malling in the original illustration of the match, a version of which featured on the back of the £10banknotefeaturing Dickens, first circulated on 29 April 1992. Dickens, however, was a regular visitor to Dingley Hall in the village ofDingley, Northamptonshire.Here he would have encountered an annual cricket match against a team formed of men with the name Muggleton, from the next village of Wilbaston. Dingley Dell is an area just south of the village, steep and wooded which may instead have been the model for Dickens' "Dingley Dell".[citation needed]

Kings Hill golf course was founded in 1995 and is open to guests and visitors.[16]

Cultural references

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In 1967,The Beatles'Magical Mystery Tourwas filmed around West Malling, including in the High Street and at the airfield.[17]

Notable residents

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  • Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston,Conservative politician and Home Secretary 1902–1905. Born at St. Mary's Abbey, West Malling in 1851.
  • John Downman,artist. Lived in Went House, West Malling from 1804.
  • Wing CommanderGuy Gibson,Victoria Crossrecipient and leader ofThe Dambusters,was stationed at RAF West Malling in 1941. His signature is preserved on the ceiling of the cellar at Douce's Manor, used as an Officers' Mess by the Airmen.
  • Tony Hudgell,fundraiser, lives with his adoptive parents in Kings Hill.
  • William Perfect,surgeon, obstetrician and pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. Lived in West Malling from 1756 until his death in 1809.
  • Lt. Col.A.D. Wintle,famous eccentric and soldier. First layman to win a unanimous verdict in the House of Lords. Lived in Coldharbour House in West Malling.
  • Gladys Wright,an advocate for women's physical education was born here in 1891.[18]

References

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  1. ^"Civil Parish population 2011".Neighbourhood Statistics.Office for National Statistics. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2016.Retrieved24 September2016.
  2. ^"St Leonard's Tower".National Heritage List for England.Historic England.Archivedfrom the original on 18 September 2016.Retrieved18 September2016.
  3. ^"Swan Hotel, West Malling, Kent".Archivedfrom the original on 31 January 2021.Retrieved5 July2011.
  4. ^"West Malling: St Mary's Abbey with the Cascade;".tate-images.Retrieved13 November2021.
  5. ^"St Mary's Parish Church".stmaryswestmalling.org.uk.Retrieved13 November2021.
  6. ^"West Malling Baptist Church".wmbc.org.uk.Retrieved13 November2021.
  7. ^Burdett's Official Nursing Directory, Directory of Nurses, 1895.The Scientific Press.1895. p. 633.
  8. ^Matron’s Report to House Committee, 5 April 1881; House Committee Minutes, 1880–1882; RLHLH/A/5/40, 182.
  9. ^"Nurse Lilian Teasdale (1877-1969) and Kent Nursing Institute".schoolsofnursing.co.uk.Retrieved6 November2023.
  10. ^Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
  11. ^Agnes Theodosia Kelly, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/3, 69; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
  12. ^Agnes Theodosia Kelly, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1, 115; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
  13. ^Agnes Theodosia Kelly, First World War Volunteers, British Red Cross Society [Available at:https://vad.redcross.org.uk,accessed on 23 February 2018]
  14. ^"Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter".UK Free TV.1 May 2004.Retrieved27 September2023.
  15. ^"Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter".UK Free TV.1 May 2004.Retrieved27 September2023.
  16. ^"Kings Hill Golf Club".kingshillgolf.Retrieved13 November2021.
  17. ^"The Beatles' bubbly".bbc.co.uk.25 January 2007.Retrieved24 November2021.
  18. ^Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B.; Goldman, L., eds. (23 September 2004)."Gladys Wright in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/93577.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93577.Retrieved10 May2023.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
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