Place:


Boxley  Kent

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Boxley like this:

BOXLEY, a village and a parish in Hollingbourn district, Kent. The village stands at the foot of a barren range of chalk hills, 2 miles NE by N of Maidstone; has a post office under Maidstone; and was once a market-town. The parish includes part of Penenden Heath; and comprises 5,745 acres. Real property, £11,677. ...


Pop., 1,470. Houses, 289. The property is much subdivided. The manor was given by Richard I. to Boxley Abbey; passed, at the dissolution, to Sir Thomas Wyatt; and belongs now to the Earl of Romney. The Abbey was founded, in 1146, by William d'Ypres, Earl of Kent; stood 1½ mile WSW of the village; was Cistertian, mitred, and well endowed; had an image of St. Rumbald and an automaton crucifix, which attracted crowds of pilgrims, and were publicly burnt at the Reformation; and is now all effaced except the foundations. Boxley Abbey Mansion, adjacent, is the seat of Major M. G. Best; Boxley House is the seat of Mrs. Mercer; and Boxley Park is the seat of E. Lushington, Esq. A deep thick vein of fuller's earth occurs at Grove; and was worked so early as 1630. Fulling-mills stood on the neighbouring rivulets; and have been succeeded by papermills. A Roman urn and several other Roman relics have been found in the neighbourhood of Grove. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £834.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church is decorated English; and contains the remains of the poet Sandys, and tombs of the Wyatts and others. There is a national school.

Boxley through time

Boxley is now part of Maidstone district. Click here for graphs and data of how Maidstone has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Boxley itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Boxley, in Maidstone and Kent | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4431

Date accessed: 29th March 2024


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