In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Leybourne like this:
LEYBOURNE, a village and a parish in Malling district, Kent. The village stands on a small affluent of the river Medway, 2 miles W by N of Aylesford r. station, and 5 NW of Maidstone; was known, at Domes day, as Leleburne; and took that name from the ''little burn ''which runs past it. The parish contains also the hamlets of Great and Little Comp. ...
Post town, West Malling, under Maidstone. Acres, 1,510. Real property, £2,922. Pop., 289. Houses, 57. The property is divided among a few. The ma nor belonged ancient to the Leybournes; had a moated castle of theirs, in.which they entertained Edward I.; was given by the last of the Leybournes, the ' ' lnfanta of Kent, ''to Edward III.; was given by him to the newly-founded Cistertian abbey of St. Mary Graces, in London; went, after the dissolution, through varions hands; and, with the fine seat of Leybourne Grange, belongs now to Sir Joseph H. Hawley, Bart. Remains of the castle, including a fine gate way, still stand close to the church. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £504.* Patron, Sir J. H. Hawley, Bart. The church is partly early English, partly perpendicular; has, in the N aisle, a remarkable niche of the decorated period; and includes two small tabernacles, within one of which a heart, probably that of a Leybourne of the time of Edward II., was recently found in a leaden box. There are endowed schools at Leybourne and two other places, with £324 a year, and other charities for L. £7.
Leybourne through time
Leybourne is now part of Tonbridge and Malling district. Click here for graphs and data of how Tonbridge and Malling has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Leybourne itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Leybourne, in Tonbridge and Malling and Kent | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6258
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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