Leybourne, Kent

Historical Description

Leybourne, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on a small affluent of the river Medway, 1 mile from Mailing station on the L.C. & D.R., 35 miles from London, and 5 NW from Maidstone; was known at Domesday as Leleburne, and took that name from the little burn which runs past it. The parish contains also the hamlets of Mailing and Little Comp. There is a post, money order, and telegraph office at Maidstone. Acreage, 1523: population, 270. The manor belonged anciently to the De Leybournes, had a moated castle of theirs in which they entertained Edward I.; was given by the last of the De Leybournes, the " Infanta of Kent," to Edward III.; was given by him to the newly-founded Cistercian abbey of St Mary Graces in London; went after the dissolution through various hands, and, with the fine seat of Leybourne Grange, belongs now to the Hawley family. Remains of the castle, including a fine gateway, still stand close to the church. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £300 with residence. The church is partly Early English, partly Perpendicular, has in the N aisle a remarkable niche of the Decorated period, and includes two small tabernacles, within one of which a heart, probably that of Roger de Leybourne, of the time of Edward II., was found In a leaden box. The building was restored in 1874. There are endowed schools at Leyboume, East Mailing, and Southborough.

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 Leybourne from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Leybourne (St. Peter and St. Paul))

Maps

Online maps of Leybourne 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.