Tour Introduction

Welcome. We do hope that you will enjoy this online tour of our church.

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 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.