Good neighbours
Kent Life|October 2020
One is a medieval market town, its neighbour a modern garden village built on a key RAF airfield. Let’s find out about West Malling and Kings Hill
Caroline Read
Good neighbours

HISTORY

These two close neighbors are worlds apart. West Malling is an ancient market town built around a 900-year-old abbey, while Kings Hill is a modern community built on the site of a wartime airfield.

Beginning with West Malling, we must travel back to 1090 and not long after the Norman invasion, when Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, chose the tiny Saxon settlement as the setting for a great abbey. The nuns were given the right to run a market outside the abbey gates and the town, which was known until relatively recently as ‘Town Malling’ slowly grew.

Parts of the original abbey are still there, although mainly hidden behind high walls. Occasional public tours of the buildings are offered by the community of Anglican Benedictine nuns who still call Malling Abbey home.

Easier to get a good look at – although only from outside – is the unusual St Leonards Tower, a short walk from the town center. The ruin is a mystery, having been used by farmers as a store for hundreds of years and its origins long forgotten. The safest guess is that it was a Norman keep, built around the same time as the abbey.

With numerous Tudor and Georgian listed buildings along the pretty High Street and Swan Street, it’s easy to see that much of the original look of the town has remained unchanged. Although it went through a certain amount of development, the heart of the town is pretty and compact.

This story is from the October 2020 edition of Kent Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the October 2020 edition of Kent Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM KENT LIFEView All
The choice of leaders
Kent Life

The choice of leaders

It’s a small, scenic Kentish market town on the border with Surrey, famous for not one but two great leaders. We take a look around Westerham

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2020
The eco-warriors
Kent Life

The eco-warriors

Awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2019 in recognition of its research in global nature conservation, the role of Kent-based DICE has never been more relevant

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2020
Kent's most CURIOUS MONUMENTS
Kent Life

Kent's most CURIOUS MONUMENTS

Our county can boast some of the most celebrated and downright unusual protected mouments in the country

time-read
6 mins  |
November 2020
Ghosts of a river's life
Kent Life

Ghosts of a river's life

Kent Life discovers an an other-worldliness about the marshes, creeks, and saltings of the lower reaches of the river Medway

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2020
The return of the son
Kent Life

The return of the son

The Unknown Warrior’s journey from the World War One battlefields via Dover to his resting place in Westminster Abbey is 100 years old this month

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2020
We will remember
Kent Life

We will remember

In a year when we got an inkling of what living through a war means, we remember the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great War

time-read
6 mins  |
November 2020
Age-old advice
Kent Life

Age-old advice

Just become a grandparent for the first time? Perhaps you need a little guidance, so here are some top tips about how to embrace your new family role

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2020
10 GOOD REASONS TO VISIT Medway Towns
Kent Life

10 GOOD REASONS TO VISIT Medway Towns

A vast Dockyard, a Napoleonic fort and a JCB diggers theme park - let’s visit Chatham and Medway

time-read
4 mins  |
November 2020
KENT'S CREEPIEST- GHOST STORIES
Kent Life

KENT'S CREEPIEST- GHOST STORIES

Here are 10 tales to make you shiver as we celebrate All Hallows’ Eve

time-read
7 mins  |
October 2020
Joking apart
Kent Life

Joking apart

From his home in Broadstairs, Royston Robertson comes up with satirical, topical and sometimes just plain silly cartoons

time-read
5 mins  |
October 2020