St Peter and St Paul, Milton, Gravesend, Kent - geograph

Milton-next-Gravesend is an

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

in the north-west of

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, which is now part of the

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

built-up area.

History

Feudal ownership of land in the parish was the subject of a legal action of 1076, ''

Abbot Scotland v Hamo the Sherrif Abbot Scotland v Hamo the Sherrif or more precisely versus Hamo the Steward, Sheriff of Kent as agent for (or chief tenant of) Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the Earl of Kent (1076) was a determination by William the Conqueror of an English land law suit ...

'' ic leading to

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

taking back its stake in ownership.'Houses of Benedictine monks: The abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury', in A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1926), pp. 126-133. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/kent/vol2/pp126-133 ccessed 28 February 2020 Neighbouring

became a town under

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

in the 13th century and included Milton. The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

's founding was heralded by Henry VIII's split with Rome and the Dissolution of the Monasteries by which all of the abbots were retired, and their institutions' endowments – such as in this parish – were confiscated. Until about the 1840s, much of the population was scattered in rural farmhouses, country houses and cottages or those living along the east side of the High Street and thus not in Gravesend parish. The boundary between the two parishes is along the middle of Gravesend's High Street (which puts the old Town Hall in Milton, not Gravesend) then Windmill Street and Singlewell Road. Just as

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfl ...

developed to the west of Gravesend, so decennial censuses record that this parish saw an almost fourfold increase in population between 1831 and 1901 (from 4,348 to 9,256, in 1851, to 15,534 in 1901). In the next ten year census the number of houses slightly increased, as did occupation rates; the population next stood at 14,994.

Churches

Two churches co-exist: the ancient parish church, dedicated to St Peter and Paul (at ) at the heart of the old settlement; and Christ Church at the western end of the parish, built in 1856 when the town of Gravesend began to grow eastwards. In other faith centres, the parish has the more protestant place of worship of St Paul's

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

, and two small independent churches/chapels. St Peter and St Paul saw five of its bells cast in 1656 by John Hodson. A treble was added in 1810 (cast by Thomas Mears II) and the

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

was augmented to 8 by two new trebles in 1930 (cast by

Mears & Stainbank Mears or Meares may refer to: People *Ainslie Meares (1910–1986), Australian psychiatrist and authority on medical hypnotism * Anna Meares (born 1983), Australian cyclist *Ashley Mears (born 1980), American sociologist *Brian Mears (born 1932), B ...

). The tenor is just under , tuned to F#.

Notable people

Sarah Baker (c.1735–1816), actress and theatre manager, was born here.

References

{{reflist

External links

Milton Church
– Gravesham Borough Council
Christ Church

Milton-next-Gravesend
– North West Kent Family History Society Gravesend, Kent