England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Kingsdown St Edmund

The Parish

The parish of West Kingsdown lies in western Kent roughly 7 miles northeast of the large town of Sevenoaks. West Kingsdown is a rather scattered village, described by Pevsner as " a higgledy-piggledy scatter of bungalows along the A20". As he states the main centre of West Kingsdown sits rather incongruously between the A20 (London to Maidstone) road and the motor racing circuit of Brands Hatch. West Kingsdown sits within the Kent portion of the North Downs, underlain by chalk, and large portions of the parish were unsuitable for agriculture with early gazetteers placing as much as 40% of the acreage as set to forest management or simple pasture, today the area retains its "bosky" nature. Modern developments have, however, contrived to damage that peaceful rural idyll, besides the roar of nearby motor racing,, the modern M20 motorway carves its way through the parish en route from London to the Channel ports. Sitting on porous chalk there is little surface drainage but what water there is makes its way northwestwards to join the River Darenth, heading north to reach the outer Thames Estuary through Dartford. West Kingsdown is sited at around 160 metres above the sea with the chalk dip slope rising further south before dropping off its escarpment from heights of just over 210 metres above The Weald. West Kingsdown parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just under 2,800 acres it would have supported a population of around 450 parishioners. West Kingsdown is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Edmund's church has a delightful location, deep within woodland and accessed by footpath from the Fawkham Road. St Edmund is certainly a much-loved ancient church with both nave and iconic southeastern square tower dating back to the immediate post-Conquest era of the 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style, Pevsner even speculates they may predate that era and be Saxo-Norman. The chancel is perhaps a little later in date than these early portions and the whole was clearly re-worked in the early 14th century as windows were replaced in both the chancel and the nave's northern wall. Contemporary with these changes the northern wall of the tower was thickened and a new doorway added. There is little evidence for a Victorian restoration with none mentioned in Pevsner. The church can be found a half mile north of the main crossroads of Fawkham Road with the A20, a prominent white sign, opposite a property, marks the start of a 200 metre footpath leading to the enclosed churchyard, as this is carved from dense woodland many trees have been left within the churchyard making for a difficult building to adequately photograph.