Charing Heath And Lenham Heath Memorial Hall

For seven hundred years, from the 8th century to 1545, Charing was one Of the estates of the arch

bishopric of Canterbury, and at first the settlement existed to supply service the palace which the archbishops used as a staging post in the course of their travels. By the end Of the Middle Ages it was no longer dependent on the palace. The 15th century prosperity of the village is reflected in the tower of the parish church and the surviving houses of the High Street. After the Reformation, Charing was the centre of a small, self-contained, rural community with outlying settlements on the sandy outcrops at Charing Heath and Westwel Leacon. The economy was almost who were concerned with agriculture; and in effect this state of affairs persisted until well into the 20th century.

 

It is only since the Second World War (WW2) that the village has been drawn into the multifarious activities of the technological age, in which the distinction between town and country is no longer dear-cut. Traditional boundaries have been redrawn (Westwel leacon became part of the parish in the 1950s). But the principal consequence has been a huge increase in population.

The rate of growth is reflected in the following statistics. In 1664, there were 170 households in the parish. This had not yet doubled by the end of the 19th century, when there were 300. Rapid escalation came only after WW2. By 1999, there were 1180 dwellings, Of which 700 were centred on the village and the roads leading from it, 100 in Charing Heath village, and about 30 in Westwel Leacon. The remainder were dispersed across the parish, including 75 in two mobile home parks, and a smaller number in the hamlets created out of the old farm complexes at Pett and Newlands. As yet, despite this increased population, the parish has managed to retain its rural character.

 

 

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