A church at East Farleigh is first mentioned in the Doomsday
Book.
In about 1120, The Normans rebuilt the Saxon church; all that
remains of the original church is a little tufa stonework on the
outside of the north-west corner. The tower was added in the 12th
century and the aisles in 1835.
The village's first “school” was in the church porch. Around
1820, a National School was established next to the Old Vicarage
where it remained until 1846.
Two former vicars of the church were sons of William Wilberforce
who helped to abolish slavery. Both are buried in the churchyard.
His wife is also buried there. William Wilberforce himself spent
some time at The Old Rectory shortly before he died.
The height of the cholera epidemic in September 1849 coincided
with the annual migration of the hop-pickers from London to Kent.
It is not certain whether the hop-pickers brought the disease with
them from London, but several hundred, men, women and children came
to work at a Farm at East Farleigh.
The outbreak of cholera among the hoppers resulted in 45 deaths,
43 of whom are buried in a communal grave under a wooden memorial
in St Mary's churchyard. The cross commemorating the 43 hop pickers
was replaced in 1984 by a varnished wood replica but still bearing
the same inscription :- "In memory of Forty-three Strangers who
died of cholera Sepr 1849 RIP"
Edith Cavell, the nurse who was accused of spying and was shot
by the Germans in Brussels in 1915, nursed typhoid victims at East
Farleigh during the time she was a young probationary nurse at
Maidstone in 1896. She received an award for doing so.
The cache is a 35mm film canister containing a log book and a
small pencil (So may be best to take your own writing
implement).
Please ensure that you hide the cache back correctly.
If anybody
would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that
you let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the
Church numbers and names to avoid duplication