PROLOGUE.
The
decision was made to write this guide after the Kent Archaeological Society, in
association with the Friends of Kent Churches, appealed to parishes to produce
guides for their churches. The project received the personal commendation of the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester. The aim was for every
church and chapel in the county to have a written guide available for the
growing number of people visiting our churches.
This is not the type of work that needs to be crammed with copious notes
detailing the sources of every scrap of information. However, it may be helpful
to list a few of the major sources used for this work.
General data - Kent Archive Office, Maidstone.
Plan (1853) - Lambeth Palace Museum.
Bell data - Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd.
'How to study an old church',
A.Needham, Batsford, 1957.
M.J.Fuller,
AN INTRODUCTION.
Our
church was built on a green field site during the 1850s, and was consecrated in
October, 1854. Thus it does not have a rich and ancient history. Nor does it
contain features of great historical significance. There are. though, quite a
few aspects of its construction, design, and history, that we hope you will find
interesting. We love it, and look after it as well as we are able, acknowledging
that we are holding it in trust for future generations.
The Parish.
The
character of the community served by the church has altered out of almost all
recognition, in a relatively short space of time. The area used to be
predominantly agricultural. Dairy, arable, fruit, and hop farming, with
horticulture and chestnut coppicing, covered much of the parish.
It was in this essentially rural environment that Holy Trinity was raised for
the parishioners of New Hythe and Larkfield. Very little happened to alter the
nature of the area until A.E.Reed's papermaking operations started here, in New
Hythe, in about 1920. The business expanded dramatically, over the next fifty or
so years, until Reed became the largest employer in this part of Kent. Industry
already established in the parish prior to the arrival of papermaking, included
a haulage business, a coal depot, and an oiltar refinery/ distillery. More
recently, sand and gravel extraction has played a large part in shaping the
appearance of the northern part of the parish.
Then, in the late 1950s, began the massive urbanisation programme that
resulted from the inclusion of this district in the Mid-Kent Growth Area for
national planning purposes. The development continued, in stages, until the late
1980s, and provided, amongst other things, recreational facilities, shops,
surgeries, a bank, a library, an old people's home, a fire station, in addition
to a very large number of houses. Commercial and industrial units thrive on
trading estates, and there are several supermarkets and large retail outlets.
The Kent Messenger Group headquarters is situated just below the church. This,
then, is a thumbnail sketch of the community served by Holy Trinity.
New Hythe and Larkfield used to form part of the ecclesiastical parish of
East Malling. Our parish church was, during that time, St. James, East Malling,
about a mile and a half to the south of here. The patronage of the living was
held by the Wigan family. Many of its members were both prominent, and
important, in this locality. Two successive members held the living at East
Malling for fifty years. The principal seat was at Clare House, East Malling,
but a branch of the family lived at Larkfield House.
