Wichling (otherwise Wychling) is a 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 authorit ...

within the

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

, in England. The parish lies approximately to the east of

. It lies near the top of the ridge of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...

and consists mainly of isolated farms and houses: the population is therefore small in number. A small settlement was recorded in 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 manus ...

'' as "Winchelsmere". The Lord of the manor was Hugh, nephew of Herbert ("the same Hugh") who held the land from the Bishop of Bayeux, at that time Odo of Bayeux. There was ploughed land of around (half a " sulung"), there was enough woodland for 5 pigs and the church is mentioned. Before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

it had been worth 100 shillings (£5), but after the conquest was only worth 40 shillings (£2). The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

dedicated to St Margaret was begun in the 12th century and restored 1882–3 by

Clarke Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin . Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name. Irish surname origin Clarke is a popular surname i ...

. The church has two bells set for swing chiming by lever, the earliest of which is from 1430 by John Walgrave of London. The first tier of local government is a

parish meeting A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...

Footnotes

References

External links

St Margaret's Church, Wychling
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent