East Farleigh
East Farleigh Village
East Farleigh village is located 2 miles up stream of Maidstone. The village appears in the Doomsday book noted under ‘Ferlaga’ and in the Textus Roffensis (The Book of the Church of Rochester through Bishop Ernulf) as ‘Fearnlega’. This roughly translates as the place or the way of passage, referring to the passage of crossing available at both East and West Farleigh.
The land in this area is very fertile and hence the large abundance of hop and crop plantations.
The land was granted to the church in 961 by Queen Ediva. In the doomsday book it states that:
‘The bishop himself holds Ferlaga. It was taxed at 6 sullings. The arable land is 26 carucates. In demesne there are 4, and 35 villeins, with 56 borderers having30 carucates. There is a church and 3 mills of 27 shillings and 8 pence. There are 8 servants, and 6 fisheries, of 1200 eels, and 4 acres of meadow and wood for the pannage of 115 hogs.’
The land was church owned until the dissolution of the monasteries by king Henry VIII .When it became state owned.
See the links above right for more information on the features of East Farleigh.