Ditton is a large village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The village is west-northwest of Maidstone and east of West Malling. The parish, which is long and narrow, straddles the A20 (the old Dover to London road), with farmland to the south and industry to the north. It lies in the Medway Valley, on the northern edge of the Kent Weald, and adjoins the ancient parishes of Larkfield, Aylesford and Barming. In 2011 it had a population of 4,786.
History The origins of the village can be traced to the stream which runs through the parish and gave rise to many corn mills along its length. The earliest recorded mention of the village is in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village contains a number of listed buildings, which include a 12th-century church, an old mill house, and two oast houses.
More recently, ragstone and newsprint industries have developed and become essential sources of local employment. The population of the village snowballed with the overspill of housing from the nearby town of Maidstone. Today Ditton has a mixed agricultural and industrial economy, with a wide range of social and leisure facilities. In 2001 it had a population of 4,786.
The name Ditton comes from the Saxon "Dictune" meaning the village situated on the dike, or trench of water. This derives from the Bradbourne Stream which rises near East Malling and passes through the village. The stream supplied the now defunct Aylesford Newsprint site, once the largest paper recycling factory in Europe, with part of its water supply.
Evidence of the early occupation of Ditton is scant. A Mesolithic tranchet axe, a sharpening flake, three microliths and 36 blades were found at Ditton, but the exact site of the find is now unknown. Mesolithic flint implements, Iron Age pottery and pit dwellings have also been reported in the Holt Hill area of Ditton.
An Anglo-Saxon spearhead was found in July 1962 by D. Tamkin in cutting through a natural knoll of sand on Messrs Reed's playing fields at Cobdown, Ditton. It is possible that the spearhead came from a grave on the top of the knoll, destroyed during the making or widening of the cutting. The first recorded mention of Ditton is in the Domesday Book, with an entry dated 1086. At that time the village had 31 dwellings. The Domesday Book states:
There was another estate (manor) in the parish at that time called Sifletone, which also belonged to the Bishop of Baieux (Bayeux), and was entered into the Domesday Book: "Vitalis holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Sifletone. It was taxed at three yokes. The arable land is one carucate. In demesne, there is one carucate and a half, and six villeins, with one borderer, having half a carucate. There are six servants, and one mill of 10s. There are ten acres of meadow and thirty acres of pasture. In the time of the Confessor, it was worth 40 shillings when he received it four pounds, now 100 shillings. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, two men, Leuuin and Uluuin, held this land in coparcenary, and could turn themselves over with this land to whomever they would."
Thus there were three manors within the parish; Ditton Manor, with the appendant Brampton Manor, and Sifletone, all of which were owned by the Bishop of Bayeux at this time. The Bishop of Bayeaux was Odo, Earl of Kent, half brother of William the Conqueror. In 1082, after it was discovered that Odo planned a military expedition to Italy, he was imprisoned, and his estates (including Ditton, Brampton, and Sifletone) were confiscated to the Crown. Following this, Ditton Manor appears to have been held by the Clares, earls of Gloucester, by a family who assumed their surname from Ditton. Likewise, Sifletone was confiscated and went to another family who took their surname from it.
Ditton has a ford which, along with St Peter's Ad Vincula's Church, is situated in a conservation area on the west of a large green. The church is dated to the 12th century with a later 14th-century tower, and the first bell of Ditton church was hung there in 1656. Ditton parish register has as its opening words, "The Register book of Ditton beginning Anno Dom. 1663. William Jole, rector, inducted Rector of Ditton, 1st August, Anno Dom. 1663." Also at the commencement, it is recorded, on 1 August 1711, that every acre of woodland in the parish of Ditton by immemorial custom pays tithe to the rector. In 1798 Ditton was recorded as being within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rochester, and deanery of Malling. This parish, among others, was obliged to contribute to the repair of the fifth pier of Rochester bridge. The church was restored in 1860 by Sir George Gilbert Scott.
The north nave window has fragments of 14th-century glass, and the nave has a good selection of hanging wall monuments and a benefactions board. A lead plaque on the nave wall, removed from the tower roof in 1859, has a picture of a ship from Nelson's time scratched on it. The mill that was recorded in the Domesday Book, Church Mill, was located close to the ford and closed down around 1912.
In 1798 the parish was described in the following terms: "The high road from London, through Wrotham, to Maidstone, crosses the middle of it, at the thirty-first milestone; the village stands on it, and the church about a quarter of a mile further southward, on an ascent, beyond which, the parish reaches into the large tract of coppice woods, which extends as far as Teston and Barming. The stream from Bradborne Park runs through this parish and village, across the above road, and having turned two mills, one above and the other below it, runs on to the River Medway, which is the northern boundary of this parish, near the north-west extremity of which, on the road leading from Larkfield to Newhith, and not far distant from that hamlet and the river, is Borough Court. This parish is rather an obscure place, and has nothing further worthy of notice in it."
The three manors (estates) of Ditton, Brampton, and Sifletone were back in common ownership in the reign of Henry VII, when they belonged to "Thomas Leigh of Sibton in Liminge". The subsequent history of the manors is as follows:
The manor of Ditton included a mansion called Ditton Place, not to be confused with Ditton Court. Ditton Place was built in the late 16th century by the Brewer family and stood on the site now occupied by Troutbeck House. It remained in the Brewer family until 1701 when, by default of mortgage, it came into the possession of Thomas Golding of Leybourne Castle who, in 1703, served as Sheriff of Kent. He bequeathed Ditton Place to his nephew, Thomas Golding of Ryarsh, who sold it to John Brewer, a prominent lawyer and member of parliament. John Brewer's daughter, Mrs Carney of West Farleigh, re-conveyed the house back to Thomas Golding again in about 1735. His son, John Golding, inherited it in 1769. There is a reference in Organa Britannica to an organ built by renowned organ builder John Avery which was moved in the late 18th century from West Malling Parish Church to a recess in the hall of Ditton Place, described as the manor house of the area and owned by the Golding family. John Golding's son, also called John, was the last of his family to reside there. He died at Ditton Place in 1856, whereafter it was purchased by Septimus Maitland, a former plantation owner from Jamaica, who substantially remodelled the house around 1860. In 1876, it was purchased from Maitland by the Rev. John Young Stratton, a prominent campaigner against rural poverty, and Rector of Ditton for 48 years. Ditton Place was destroyed by arson in 1987. Today, Troutbeck House lies at the centre of a modern housing estate. One of the roads of the estate takes its name from the original house.
was located just to the west of St Peter's Church. Court is a term used widely in Kent in place of manor. Ditton Court was the seat of the Lord of the Manor of Ditton, but over the centuries most holders of the manor were possessed of landholdings elsewhere and held Ditton in absentia. When the lord was in attendance, it was often to preside over the manorial court, which decided local issues relating to land tenure, services owed to the lord by his tenants, and even petty crime. Ditton Court was demolished in 1972 to make way for a modern housing development that bears its name.Ditton - The Story of a Kentish Village, Alan Dodge, 2011, p.13
probably stood on the site of the New Road Industrial Estate. After the manor was destroyed the site was known as Brampton Field, at least until the 18th century, and indeed one of the streets of the housing estate which covers the site today is named Brampton Field.
Sifflington Manor (Sifletone) was an estate within Ditton parish and appeared to have been incorporated into Ditton Manor at some stage before the 19th century.
A manor house, Borough Court (also known as Brooke Court), stood in the northernmost part of the parish; though it no longer exists it probably stood in the vicinity of the modern Aylesford Newsprint site. The Culpepper family of Aylesford owned the house during the reign of King Edward III (1327–1377). The High Sheriff of Kent in 1426–27, Walter Culpeper, was the owner until the house devolved onto his heirs, eventually passing to Richard Culpeper (later Sir Richard Culpepper) who also owned the manor house at Oxon Hoath. Sir Richard Culpepper died in 1484 without issue, and the house was divided amongst his three daughters, one of whom was Joyce Culpeper—whose daughter was Catherine Howard and would become the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. The house was then sold to Francis Shakerly who hailed from Shakerly, Kent.
Notable people William Kempe, the parson of Ditton, was sued for £80 in 1534 for being absent from his parish and for taking a stipend for saying prayers for the souls of the dead (which was prohibited by a statute of 1529). Although Kempe admitted being absent, he claimed that he was chaplain to Baron John Zouche and thus entitled to receive two benefices.Leasor, James, The Plague and the Fire, House of Stratus (2001) pp. 45–7
The Rev. John Young Stratton (1829/30 – 1905) was an author, essayist, social reformer, campaigner against rural poverty, and Rector of Ditton for 48 years. He is now remembered chiefly for his tireless campaigning to improve the lives of farm labourers and hop-pickers. In terms of the latter, the remaining hopper huts across Kent and further afield are a testament to his legacy. In 1868, he advocated for a system of national insurance to be administered through the Post Office, which closely resembles the modern welfare state.Suggestions for legislation relating to Friendly Societies, and for a system of insurances for the wage-paid classes by means of the Post Office, J Y Stratton, pub. William Ridgway, 1868 A highly respected figure, his obituary referred to him as “probably the best known clergyman in Mid-Kent” and “the Hoppers’ friend”.Kent and Sussex Courier, 7 April 1905 John Stratton was also responsible for the restoration and alteration of St Peter’s Church in 1860, under the supervision of Sir (George) Gilbert Scott.