Eastling is a small village 4½ miles to the southwest of

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is set in a designated

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

on the slope 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 ...

. The village's Conservation Area boasts some excellent buildings and gardens, and the Eastling

Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

St Mary's Church

The village church of St Mary's is believed to have been built on the foundations of an earlier place of worship before the 11th century. The oldest surviving parts are the base of the southwest tower, the nave and the western part of the chancel. The chancel was extended eastwards in the 14th century to create a sanctuary. About the same time, the St Katherine Chapel and an arcade was added to the southeast corner. The nave, north aisle and south arcade were substantially rebuilt by the architect R.C. Hussey in 1855–56; the west porch added and the nave re-roofed. St Mary's

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s, pulpit, lectern, rector's stall and choir stalls all date from that era.

Eastling school

Eastling County Primary School opened on Kettle Hill on 7 February 1881 with 80 children. The first head was Bessie Higham; since February 2002 it has been Dave Walsh. It replaced a schoolhouse built before 1842 in Newnham Lane and which doubled as a church hall. Currently (January 2020) the school has a roll fluctuating around 100 pupils with spaces for 15 new pupils each year at ages 4 and 5.

Transport

A public bus service (the number 660) links the village to Faversham, every day except Sundays.

References

External links

Eastling Village website
{{authority control Villages in Kent Borough of Swale Civil parishes in Kent