Leybourne is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to

New Hythe New Hythe is a village in mid-Kent, England on the banks of the River Medway approximately northwest of the county town of Maidstone. It derives its name from the Old English word Hythe, meaning haven or landing place. It is in the parish of E ...

, Larkfield and

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

. As of 2020 Leybourne Parish had a population of 4,372. Historically, the area was extensively quarried, leaving a number of flooded

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eithe ...

s. These have recently been developed into Leybourne Lakes Country Park, and a housing development. Several of the houses on the development feature in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

TV Series Cape Wrath. Nearby

was also home (until 2004) of

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

's newsroom and studio for the South East. Leybourne's name is the origin of that of the French city

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émil ...

History of the church

Despite its small size, Leybourne Church has a long history. The church was built in Saxon times but the church building was changed greatly in 1874. The Leybourne history started when the ancestor of the Leybourne family came over with

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was granted land by William I in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and lived there with his family for a long time. His descendant, Sir Philip Libourne, decided to live in a village in

called Lillieburn. The names mixed to call the place Leybourne. He built Leybourne Castle and was the first baron of Leybourne; his new name was Sir Philip Baron de Leybourne. Two people who were quite important were barons of Leybourne. The first, the baron of Leybourne, Sir

Roger de Leybourne Sir Roger de Leybourne (1215–1271) was an English soldier, landowner and royal servant during the Second Barons' War. Origins Roger was the younger son of another Sir Roger de Leybourne, by his first wife, Eleanor, the daughter and heiress ...

who was the great grandson of Philip, was good friends with Prince Edward (later to become Edward I). In 1270 he set off with Edward on a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

to the Holy Land. On the way he was ill so was sent back; in

on the way to Leybourne he died. His heart was sent back to Leybourne and put in the left-hand side box of the niche; the one on the right is empty. The second is Sir William Baron de Leybourne, son of Sir Roger, who was the first Englishman to have the title ''admiral''. On 25 October 1286 King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castille visited William at Leybourne Castle. They left two crowns as gifts, which hang above the wooden plaque about Sir William, which was unveiled in 1956 by Richard Talbot. Leybourne Church-by-Hywel-Williams

In the church tower there used to be three bells, but now there is only one. It is because the tower collapsed in 1580; they then only restored two bells. Then in Friday 10 June 1966 a bolt of lightning hit the tower and it caught fire, then they decided only to have one bell. The tower was Norman, but in 1874, architect Sir Arthur Blomfeld encased it in an extra layer of wall. The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

says about Leybourne:

"Adam holds Leybourne of the bishop. It is assessed at 2 sulungs. There is land . In demesne are 3 ploughs; and 16 villains with 2 bordars have 7 ploughs. There is a church, and 10 slaves, and 1 mill rendering 7s, and 12 acres of meadow, woodland for 50 pigs. In the time of King Edward it was worth £8; when received, £7; now £8. Richard of Tonbridge holds in his lowy what is worth 24s. The king holds as a recent gift from the bishop what is worth 24s2d. Thorgisl holds this manor of Earl Godwine."

The blank entry above is as shown in the Domesday Book; either it was left blank for future addition, or the original entry was erased.

Amenities

Leybourne has a primary school, pre Norman-conquest church, 13th-century castle (dating back to Norman times), hairdressers, shop, newsagent and general store, village hall, pub/restaurant (The Old Rectory) and a Brewers Fayre restaurant and motel. Leybourne and the neighbouring town of

elect three councillors to

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. It also has its own Parish Council. There are junior football teams aging from Under 6's to Under 18's and also a cricket club for adults and children on the school premises: Leybourne St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary school (Voluntary aided). Nearby

Leybourne Lakes Country Park Leybourne Lakes Country Park is near Snodland, in Kent, England. The park, which opened in 2004, was created from disused gravel pits that have been flooded and landscaped to make fishing and wildlife lakes. History In the 1930s a river fed from ...

offer fishing, scenic walking and cycle paths plus water sports such as windsurfing and scuba diving. In the 2000s the new settlement of Leybourne Chase was developed in the west of the parish, on the former Leybourne Grange mental hospital site.Kent Online https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/are-you-living-on-an-old-hospital-214894/

Bypass

In mid-2005 work was started on the Leybourne bypass to handle the additional traffic from nearby

Kings Hill Kings Hill is a civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It is one of several new villages built in Kent since the 1950s (other examples including Vigo and New Ash Green). Development started in 1989 near West Mall ...

. The bypass was opened late in October 2006, with the aim of reducing traffic coming off the motorway and through Leybourne along Castle Way.

Leybourne Woods

Leybourne Woods is a small area of wood & heathland set between the communities of Leybourne and West Malling in Kent. Used by local residents for dog walking, leisure walks, running, mountain bike & horse riding the woods also conceal an amazing amount of wildlife.

References

External links

A228 Bypass InfoParish CouncilLeybourne church
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent