East Barming / Barming

"BARMING, (or Barming, East), a parish in the hundred of Maidstone, lathe of Aylesford, in the county of Kent, 2 miles to the W. of Maidstone, its post town. It is situated in a beautiful and highly cultivated district on both banks of the river Medway, and comprises valuable hop-grounds and fruit-gardens; the produce of the latter being sent to the London market. Two bridges cross the river. There are quarries of the stone called Kentish rag. The abbess of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate-street, had a residence here, this place being among the possessions of that nunnery. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury, of the value of £598, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church is a small edifice with a good spire, and is dedicated to St. Margaret. Remains of a Roman villa, and many ancient coins, Roman and English, have been found here. Dr. John Harris, who wrote a history of the county, was once rector of Barming; and here, too, was the residence of the Smarts, the family to which belonged Christopher Smart, the poet."[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]