East Farleigh, Kent

Description
Farleigh, East, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the river Medway, 2 miles SW of Maid-stone, and has a station on the S.E.R., 41 miles from London. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Maid-stone. The parish comprises 1967 acres; population of the civil parish, 1611; of the ecclesiastical, 1436. The manor belonged at Domesday to the Archbishop of Canterbury£ East Farleigh was the residence in his closing years of William Wilberforce, whose two sons were vicars of the parish. Hops of prime quality are extensively grown. A quondam hop-grower here, called James Ellis, began life in a. humble way, and left such a wealth of hop-farms at his death, that the poles alone were said to be worth £70,000. A picturesque ancient bridge, with ribbed arches, here spans the Medway. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £500 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church has some traces of Norman, but is chiefly Late Decorated English, and has a handsome spire." It was restored in 1891 by Mr Herbert Ellis of the priory as a memorial to his father. There are union workhouse schools within the parish.