Halling is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

on the North Downs in the northern part 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 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 ...

. Consisting of Lower Halling, Upper Halling and North Halling, it is scattered over some along the River Medway parallel to the Pilgrims' Way which runs through Kent. The origin of the name is uncertain. The following have been proposed at various times: Halls land (belonging to Hall), Heall land (from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

, Hall Manor), Heallgemot (the court of the

lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

), Heallingas (companions sharing the same hall).

Early history

"Halling Man", a

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 ...

skeleton discovered in 1912 behind the present railway station, is the earliest indication of activity in Halling. There is evidence of

Roman 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 lett ...

settlement indicated by a number of burials from the period as well as Roman tiles. The first written record dates from the 8th century. In the Charter for Halling (765-785 AD) Ecgberht II of Kent granted to St. Andrew of Rochester, "ten sulings at Halling with rights to pasture swine in five districts".

Modern Halling

Halling had a small industrial presence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with two

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

mining and processing factories, however these have all now been shut and the last chimney stack was demolished in 2010. Since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, quarries have been dug in Halling, at first by hand, for the extraction of chalk for

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...

manufacture. The chalk was mainly shipped by barge via the River Medway. Halling is connected with other villages and towns along the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

by the Medway Valley railway line, running from Tonbridge and Maidstone to Strood. Also there are good road links as the village sits between the M20 and the M2. The chalk quarrying industry in Halling had a great influence, including the building material of the majority of the village houses, the livelihood of many families and the improvement of its road and railway connections. However, although the area of these activities spread into what was Green Belt land, some of these areas have now reverted to the community or built upon. Parts of the village are restricted by the

Green Belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...

regulations, limiting growth of industrial and residential areas alike. Despite the influence of the chalk industry in the past in Halling, modern technology, practices and the closure of the factories have meant that there are now very few if any workers required. Instead, the working population of the village mainly commutes to London and nearby towns.

Landmarks and features

The village has a church (St John the Baptist), Post Office, two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, a small convenience store, two youth/community centres, General Practice and primary school. In addition to this, Upper Halling has both a pumping station (built recently, after a Victorian one was converted into accommodation), filter beds and small underground reservoir and spring. Halling is also the site of a former Bishop's Palace, a luxury provided by the pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

to its

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s. It is now a ruin, but publicly accessible. There are also a number of old World War II defences situated along the riverside and evidence remains of the former ferry crossing behind the church to the other side of the Medway. One of Halling's most distinguishing features is its large blue lake, which was dug due to the chalk quarrying efforts. Its blue colour comes from the suspension of chalk particles in the water. It is fed by a large spring, one of which is tapped to provide the local water supply. The water is so clean at extraction that only minimal chemical additives was required from the water company to satisfy government health and safety legislation.

Notable people

TV and radio presenter

Caroline Feraday Caroline Feraday (born 25 May 1977) is an English television and radio broadcaster currently living and working in Los Angeles. Radio In 1995 at the age of 18, Feraday joined London radio station Capital FM, after studying journalism and earl ...

grew up in the village. George Edward Brett, who was born in the village, created the first American office of

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, called Macmillan & Co. of New York.

References

;Bibliography *Fielding, Rev. C. H. ''Memories of Malling and Its Valley''. Henry C. H. Oliver (Publisher), 1893. *Igglesden, Charles. ''A Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil''. The Offices of The Kentish Express, Kent, 1903. *Gowers, Edwards and Church, Derek. ''Across the Low Meadow''. E.S. Gowers & D. Church, 1979.

External links

Halling Parish Council website
{{Medway Places in Medway