East Malling - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

EAST MALLING and West, . two populous villages in the Medway parliamentary division of Kent, England, respectively 5 and 6 m. W. by N. of Maidstone, with a station on the SouthEastern and Chatham railway. Pop. (1901), East Mailing, 2391; West Malling, 2312. They are situated in a rich agricultural district on the western slope of the valley of the' Medway, and East Malling has large paper mills. At West Malling are remains of Malling Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery founded in logo by Gundulf, bishop of Rochester. The remains, which are partly incorporated in a modern building, include the Norman west front of the church, the Early English cloisters, the chapterhouse, gate-house (the chapel of which is restored to use), and other portions. About Addington near West Malling are considerable prehistoric remains, including mounds, single stones, stone circles and pits in the chalk hills; while at Leybourne are the gateway and other fragments of the castle held by the Leybourne family from the 12th to the 14th century.