Halling is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

on the North Downs in the northern part of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Consisting of Lower Halling, Upper Halling and North Halling, it is scattered over some along the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

parallel to the

Pilgrims' Way A pilgrims' way or pilgrim way is a standard route that pilgrims take when they go on a pilgrimage in order to reach their destination – usually a holy site or place of worship. These sites may be towns or cities of special significance such a ...

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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, Hall Manor), Heallgemot (the court of the

lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

) and Heallingas (companions sharing the same hall).

Early history

"Halling Man", a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

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. Ch ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 mi ...

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 stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end 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 or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

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, New Town social Club run by Peter Humphreys,two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, 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, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to its

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s. It is now a

ruin Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

, 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 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 in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

, 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

* {{Medway Places in Medway