Farningham 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 ...

in the

Sevenoaks District Sevenoaks is a local government district in west Kent, England. Its council is based in the town of Sevenoaks. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Sevenoaks Urban District, Sevenoaks Rural District and part of Dartford Ru ...

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. It is located south-east of

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226. History ...

. It has a population of 1,314.

History

Farningham is believed to be home to

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

history – flint and other tools have been discovered and can be found in the Dartford Museum. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

occupied the general area after their invasion in the 1st century AD and, along with large evidence of habitation down the road in

Lullingstone Lullingstone is a village in the county of Kent, England. It is best known for its castle, Roman villa and its public golf course. Lullingstone was a civil parish until 1955, when it was annexed to Eynsford. The parish was in Axstane Hundred an ...

, there is also evidence of Roman habitation in Farningham. Three farmhouses and three villas have been unearthed. Charles Dickens was a visitor during his time for the trout fishing that the Darent provided. 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 ...

records that before the Norman conquest, Farningham was owned by an

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

called Alstan. In the nineteenth century ''Farningham'' was adopted as the assumed surname of

Marianne Farningham Mary Anne Hearn (17 December 1834 – 16 March 1909) who wrote under the nom de plumes Marianne Farningham in ''The Christian World'' and for ''A Working Woman's Life'', Eva Hope, and Marianne Hearn, was a British religious writer of poetry, biogr ...

, a religious writer and editor, who was born here. Used only for

WW1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...

there used to be an

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

used by the RAF for emergency landings. 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, ...

is dedicated to

St Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

and

St Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. The parish was part of

Axstane Hundred Axstane was a hundred in the county of Kent, England. The Hundred of Axstane lay south-east of Dartford and Wilmington Hundred. It is called Achestan in Domesday Book, but by the reign of Edward I it was called Axstane. Its name has been interp ...

and later

Dartford Rural District Dartford Rural District was a rural district with an area of in the county of Kent, England. In 1971 it had a population of 64,561 and an electorate of 43,911. At dissolution it was the most populous rural district council in Kent, but ha ...

Transport

Roads

Farningham is situated upon the historic route of the A20, Kent's second major road between the capital and the channel ports. The village itself, with its narrow bridge over the River Darenth, and its narrow streets, was bypassed to the north east in the 1930s. The A225 runs along the Darenth valley and intersects the A20 at the village. The construction of the first sections of the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

and

M20 motorway The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long. Although not signposted in Eng ...

in the late 1970s bypassed the village again.

Rail

The nearest

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

stations are Farningham Road located 2 miles north in

Sutton at Hone Sutton-at-Hone is a village in the civil parish of Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 3.5 miles south of Dartford & 3.6 miles north east of Swanley. History The place-name 'Sutton-at-Hone' is fir ...

with services to

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

via Bromley South and to Gillingham and

Eynsford Eynsford ( or ) is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south east of Swanley, south of Dartford. The village including its farmland and woods occupies the northern half of the triangle formed ...

located 2 miles south with services to

London Blackfriars Blackfriars, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway station and connected London Underground station in the City of London. It provides Thameslink services: local (from North to South London), and regional (Bedford and ...

via Bromley South &

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...

and to

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

Buses

* 2 to

or to

. 2 journeys each way Monday to Saturday, Operated by

Go-Coach Go-Coachhire Ltd is a bus operator running a total of 40 bus services (including school services) across Kent and Sussex. The majority of these services are operated on behalf of Kent County Council from their depot in Swanley. History Go-C ...

. * 429 to

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

via Swanley &

Joydens Wood Joyden's Wood is an area of ancient woodland that straddles the border between the London Borough of Bexley in South East London and the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located north west of Swanley, south east of Bexleyheath and ...

or to

West Kingsdown West Kingsdown is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England, on the A20 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Swanley, 5.5 miles (9 km) northeast of Sevenoaks and from London. The Area The parish was part of A ...

. Monday to Saturday, Operated by Go Coach.

Mills

Farningham had a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

, powered by the River Darent, the building of which survives. There was a

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

at Chimham's Farm, which was moved in 1880 to

, where it still stands.

Fort Farningham

One of fifteen small

polygonal fort A polygonal fort is a type of fortification originating in France in the late 18th century and fully developed in Germany in the first half of the 19th century. Unlike earlier forts, polygonal forts had no bastions, which had proved to be vulnerabl ...

s, known as the London Mobilisation Centres, which were built around London in the 1890s as part of the

London Defence Positions The London Defence Positions were a late 19th century scheme of earthwork fortifications in the south-east of England, designed to protect London from foreign invasion landing on the south coast. The positions were a carefully surveyed contingen ...

scheme. It is sited overlooking the River Darent, around west of Farningham. A

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

surrounding the fort was filled-in during the second half of the 20th century. The site was protected by three projecting

caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...

s and a

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from " The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

and

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

which could be used by infantry. The interior has a central row of three

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" me ...

s and a

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

. During the 1960s, a monitoring post for the

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

was constructed in the moat, part of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and intended for the reporting of nuclear explosions during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. The fort became a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

in 2000, and is in private ownership.

Sport

Home to Farningham Cricket Club along Horton Way the club has been in existence since 1857 providing cricketing facilities for the local community. Currently fielding two senior league Saturday teams and one Sunday friendly team along with a thriving junior section.

References

External links

Views of Farningham
{{Authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent