Lenham, Kent

Historical Description

Lenham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands near the source of the rivulet Len, and has a station on the L.C. & D.R., 49 miles from London, and 9½ E by S of Maidstone. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Maidstone. The parish contains also the hamlets of Lenham Heath and Sandway. Acreage, 7145; population of the civil parish, 1896; of the ecclesiastical, 1551. The manor was given by Kenulf, King of Mercia, and Cudred, King of Kent, to Canterbury Abbey, continued in possession of the abbey till the dissolution, and belongs now to the Akers-Douglas family. Torry Hill and Swadelands are chief residences. The surface extends across a valley between chalk hills and sand hills, contains the sources of the rivulet Len and a head-stream of the Stour, and is salubrious and of average fertility. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value,, £339 with residence. The church is partly Early English with alterations, partly Decorated, consists of nave, aisles, and two chancels, with a tower, and contains sixteen ancient oaken stalls, which were used by the monks of Canterbury when visiting the manor, a stone chair or sedile, with solid arms and a cinquefoil-headed canopy, a piscina under a very wide arch, a richly-carved pulpit of the 17th century, the effigies of a priest, probably of the time of Edward III., monuments of the Colepepers, and a brass of a grandson of Mary Honeywood, who lived to see 367 of her descendants. There are a Congregational chapel, a neat literary, institute built in 1867, and almshouses. S58 Lenton, a town, a township, and a parish in Nottinghamshire. The town is on the river Leen, near its confluence with the Trent, on the Nottingham Canal, adjacent to the Nottingham and Mansfield railway, near its junction with the M.R., 1½ mile WSW of Nottingham. It consists of two portions, New and Old, and is now included in the county borough of Nottingham. Lenton had anciently a rich priory of Cluniac monks, a house of Carmelite friars, and an hospital of St Anthony; carries on industry in numerous lace factories, machine works, tanneries, chemical works, starch works, and bleachfields; and has a post, money order, and telegraph office, of the name of New Lenton, under Nottingham, a station at Old Lenton on the Nottingham and Mansfield railway, two churches, five dissenting chapels, national schools, an industrial training institution and orphanage, and fairs on Whit-Wednesday and 11 Nov. for horses, cattle, and swine. The Cluniac priory was founded by William Peverel, son of the Conqueror, went at the dissolution to John Harrington, was partially dismantled in 1844, and remained in that state until 1884, when it was rebuilt and used as a chapel of ease to the parish church. The parish church was built in 1842, superseded a previous one of the 14th century, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower, and contains a Saxon font. The dissenting chapels are Baptist, Congregational, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Free Methodist. Area of township, 1968 acres of land and 60 of water; population, 10, 957. The parish originally included the township of Bestwood Park, 5 miles N of Nottingham, and also part of Hyson Green ecclesiastical parish. It contains many fine residences. The manor belongs to the Pearson Gregory family. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Southwell; net value, £420 with residence. The livings of Bestwood Park and Hyson Green are separate benefices.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Lenham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Lenham (St. Mary))

Maps

Online maps of Lenham are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• Dover Express
• Kentish Gazette
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Kentish Chronicle
• Maidstone Telegraph

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.