Newington, Kent

Historical Description

Newington, a village and a parish in Kent. The village-stands on Watling Street, with a station on the L.C. & D.R., 42 miles from London, and 3½ WNW of Sittingbourne. It occupies the site of the Roman station Durolevum; was known to the Saxons and at Domesday as Neweton; is now, in contradistinction to other Newingtons, sometimes called Newington-juxta-Sittingbourne. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sittingbourne. Acreage of the parish, 2115; population, 968. The manor belonged afc Domesday to Queen Editha; was given to a nunnery founded soon after Domesday, on a site 1½ mile W of the parish church; passed in the time of Henry II. to a secular canonry of seven priests on the same spot; went soon afterwards to Sir Richard de Lucy; took then the name of Newington Lucies; was exchanged in 1278, by Almericus de Lucy, with the monks of St Augustine in Canterbury for other lands;. went at the Reformation to the Crown; and passed in 1680 to Roger Jackson, in the end of Queen Anne's time to the Pembertons, in 1771 to the Mills, and in 1831 to the Leighs. The transference of it from the nunnery arose from the prioress having been found strangled in a bed; and that from the secular canonry arose from the murder of one of the canons by four of his brethren. The manor house was, some years ago, taken down, and a new street, called Leigh Street, was formed over its site to The railway station. Many entrenchments of Roman origin, very numerous Roman coins and other Roman relics, and distinct vestiges of a Roman burying-place, have been found in and near the village; and many lines of ancient earthwork, and very numerous Roman urns, have been found at Keycol Hill, about 1 mile from the village, and supposed by some writers, though with little-evidence, to have acquired its name by corruption of Caii Collis, signifying " Caius Julius Caesar's Hill." About 250 acres are disposed in hops, and a considerable area is occupied with orchards. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £200 with residence. Patron, Eton College. The church stands half a mile from the centre of the village; is partly Decorated English, partly modern; consists of nave, aisles, and two cliancels, with fine W embattled tower; and contains a remarkable octagonal font, an ancient tomb, three brasses, and other monuments. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

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.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Newington from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Newington 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.