England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Farleigh All Saints

The Parish

The parish of West Farleigh lies in the western portion of central Kent roughly 3 miles west of the town of Maidstone. West Farleigh sits on the southern banks of the River Medway just under a mile south of the A26 road which links Maidstone with Tombridge. West Farleigh is a village without a discernible centre, a loose congregation of properties where two B roads, the B2010 & B2163, cross in a staggered crossroads spread across a quarter mile forms the notional centre of the parish whilst both parish church and the park-land of Court Lodge stand a further half mile to the northeast. Whilst a farming community that at West Farleigh was diverse, early gazetteers estimate that arable and meadows form 50% of the parish acreage whilst the remainder is spread between woodland, hop plantations & traditional Kentish orchards. West Farleigh is drained eastwards by the Medway, after passing through Maidstone it turns northwards to meet the outer Thames Estuary through the port of Chatham. West Farleigh is sited on a rising site, the river stands at just 5 metres above the sea but land rises away from it quickly to 40 metres by West Farleigh Hall and rising to 104 metres within a further mile. West Farleigh was a small parish of just over 1,000 acres within which it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday times it was a holding of the ubiquitous Bishop Odo of Bayeux and typically rural and relatively small, offering 5 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland but there was a mill.

The Church

As already mentioned All Saints' church stands a half mile northeast of the staggered crossroads forming the notional centre of the parish, it stands on Church Lane which ends at both church and the entrance to Court Lodge and its parkland setting. All Saints is that rare survival, a complete early Norman church with nave & chancel, lacking an apse typical of the period, all surviving from the 12th century in a relatively untouched condition. The Norman Romanesque styling is shown well despite the erosion of the tufa used over the centuries, quoins, chancel arch and the western doorway being especially good features of that styling. It was not until the early 16th century that the western tower, as we see it today, was built documentary evidence in wills recording donations for its completion in 1523. Two phases of Victorian work complete today's church, in 1841 the battlemented topmost stages of the tower were added whilst in 1875 a more general restoration also added a vestry to the southern face. Church Lane ends in a substantially widened area where parking is straightforwards, metal gates lead into a compact churchyard which offers a few challenges to the photographer as the church is rather hemmed in on three sides, thankfully it is the southern aspects which are most open.