Posted on Sep 21, 2025
JOSEPH WILLIAM MALLORD TURNER was described by the leading nineteenth-century art critic John Ruskin as the artist who could “most stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of nature”. Turner’s youthful genius as a landscape artist is captured in three surviving watercolour sketches of West Malling dated by art historian Andrew Wilton to 1791-2, when the artist was aged 15 or 16. These depict the cascade in Swan Street, Malling Abbey from the north-west, and St Leonard’s Tower under a stormy sky (unfinished, but a foretaste of his dramatic landscapes of later years). Two further pencil sketches of Malling Abbey survive dated 1798. Turner’s West Malling sketches have also proved invaluable as historical documents, not least in showing that the cascade was in existence well before 1810 (the date inscribed above the arch) and in recording the condition of St Leonard’s Tower in the late eighteenth century. The circumstances of Turner’s visits to West Malling are unrecorded, but he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1790 onwards and may well have been introduced to the picturesque ‘antiquities’ of West Malling by John Downman ARA, then a seasoned Royal Academy exhibitor who inherited Went House (opposite the cascade) following the death of his uncle in 1783. More information The Cascade Following the closure of the Abbey by Henry VIII, it seems the associated industries fell into private ownership. It is documented that in Medieval times the Abbey among, other industries, owned extensive tanning works (which probably also produced Vellum) and a mill. The Cascade is fed via an artificially elevated leet from the spring at the foot of St Leonards Tower and served these industries. The following precis of a fascinating MARRIAGE BOND of 1718 (now filed in Maidstone) describes the tanning works and mill with details referring to at least the 1600s. The Cascade is probably the site of a very ancient watermill.Anne Sedgwick and William Addison the younger are planning to marry. He is to receive £300 as a marriage settlement. If he, William Addison the younger, dies Anne’s father, Edward Sedgwick, is to receive £600 for the benefit of Anne and any children she has by William. The £600 is to be paid within six months. If the estate of Anne’s husband to be, William Addison the younger, can not raise the £600 in the event of his death, William’s father William Addison the elder will pay all or the shortfall to Anne’s father. To underwrite the security arrangement William Addison the elder puts up properties as collateral to be granted all or in part to Anne’s father in the event of Anne’s husband’s estate being unable to pay the £600 for the benefit of Anne. The properties used as collateral have lately been bought by the father of the husband to be from the father of the bride to be. Note It seems the average yearly wage...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
FRANCIS TRESS Children of West Malling have been educated on this site for over three hundred years. The plaque in this photograph is in St Mary’s Church. It states in 1623 Francis Tress, gentleman, gave £40 for building a Free School, 15 shillings and 4 pence for repairing it, two silver cups and 6 shillings and 8 pence yearly to the poor to be paid out of a piece of land called Coussin’s Plat (sic) occupied by William Chapman a gentleman. Little is known about Tress. His name could be a corruption of Tracey. There are ancient tombs attributed to the Tress family in Offham Churchyard. It is not known where Tress lived in West Malling. The house may stand today. The Historian Edward Hasted in 1798 recorded that Tress also gave the land for the school and charged one of his houses here 13 shillings and 8 pence per annum for repairs. Four principal freeholders were appointed to administer the charity for ever which is vested in the Ministry. In 1798 it was being paid out of Robert Sutton’s estate. The schoolhouse was occupied at 2 guineas per annum by the Master’s widow. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1800 shows the building. The 1865 map notes it as a school for endowed boys. The school continued, and there are still residents living who attended as pupils. In the mid twentieth century the school became private houses. The forty ton stone inglenook fireplace was removed from the Master’s house (no. 3) but the house still retains elements of Tress’s original school. The school is an important part of local social history. Anyone who has information should contact West Malling Parish...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
PETER WOOLRIDGE TOWNSEND joined the Royal Air Force in 1933. He was one of three pilots that shot down the first enemy aircraft over England at the start of World War 2, which led to him being awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In 1940 he was a notable pilot in the Battle of Britain, acting throughout the action as squadron Leader of 85 Squadron in Hurricanes. In August 1940 he was shot down and wounded over Tonbridge. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1941. He went on to fly Spitfires and led a night flying squadron. In 1943 he became commanding officer of RAF West Malling, and was promoted to Group Captain in 1948. Douce’s Manor was used as accommodation, and also served as the headquarters for RAF West Malling and the officers’ mess. Townsend was credited with a total of eleven kills. He is also known for his romance with Princess Margaret, whom he met when, after the war, he became equerry to King George VI. Unfortunately Townsend was divorced, and in the social environment at the time a marriage would have been met with severe disapproval, so the Princess broke up the relationship. He spent most of his later life as a writer. Also stationed at RAF West Malling between April and December 1941 was Guy Gibson, then acting Squadron Leader of 29 squadron of Bristol Beaufighters. Later Wing Commander Gibson went on to lead the famous Dam Busters raid in 1943 for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military award for bravery. More...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
Admiral CHARLES STEWART bought Malling Place in 1718 and installed in it a captured Spanish ship’s mast and leather covered doors. The son of a Viscount, he saw service in the Nine Years War, wars of the Spanish Succession, Quadruple Alliance, Austrian Succession and other campaigns. Early in his career he lost a hand. In 1720 he commanded a squadron against the Sale Rovers and Mediterranean Pirates. He negotiated a treaty with Morocco and obtained the release of 296 British prisoners. He served as Commander in Chief in the West Indies becoming a Member of Parliament for Malmesbury 1723-1727 and Portsmouth 1737 until his death. A mahogany Spanish ship’s mast in the staircase and leather covered doors in Malling Place come from his active service. More information...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
THOMAS SELBY was born in November 1791 in Gillingham, Kent. At the time of writing, we know little about his early life and any additional information would be gladly welcomed. What is known, however, follows. His parents were Thomas and Mary Selby who were living in the Bishop’s Palace, Otford around the time of his birth. In 1817 he married Louisa Cline at Hythe, but sadly she died in 1831 and in the same year he married Marie de Loecker (a Belgian) in Lambeth. Basic information on Thomas Selby can be found here, although the mention of a third wife is believed to be incorrect. In 1828 he went into partnership with his younger brother George, who was a solicitor practising in London, and his cousin Silas Norton joined as well. (There is a separate plaque in West Malling to Silas Norton.) Thomas continued to practise in West Malling, but in the 1850s the practice ran into financial difficulties. What actually went wrong is very complex, but it seems that he and his brother had accumulated enormous debts, amounting to over £20M in 2021’s value. The partnership dissolved in 1844 and all three went bankrupt. Thomas Selby and Silas Norton applied for discharge certificates in November 1855, and George Selby followed soon after in December of the same year. Perhaps Thomas was already thinking of retiring, but in the middle of 1855, he sold off his considerable assets (probably including Abingdon House) and a little later moved to France. His wife Marie died in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1858, and Thomas died there in 1874 leaving less than £200 to his son Thomas. The story of the bankruptcies is a very complex one and they were no doubt very notable and scandalous events of the time. There is more information with links to external documents here. In 1827, while he was living in West Malling, he and two others, Silas Norton and Lord Harris, founded the West Malling, then Town Malling, cricket ground (see the blue plaque for Norton). In 1835 Selby enticed Fuller Pilch to move to Kent (see the blue plaque for Pilch), and in 1836 Selby inaugurated a new Kent County Cricket Club with the West Malling ground as its headquarters, and he became the team selector for matches. Thomas Selby was also a cricketer himself, and played on the Kent cricket team from 1839 to 1841. In this period West Malling was the centre of Kent cricket. Here Kent played the Town Malling Club itself as well as sides from Sussex, Nottinghamshire and England. Crowds of over 6,000 spectators would gather for these matches, in an outer circle surrounding only about half the current ground, in the pavilion corner. The circle would contain carriages of the nobility and gentry, hop wagons covered with awnings made of hop cloths, marquees and booths. Order was kept by the cracking whip of a “ringmaster”. The...
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