Teston

Teston (pronounced ’’Teesun’’The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. ISBN 0905270 614 ] ) is a village in the civil parish of Barming in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It is located on the A26 road out of Maidstone, four miles (6.4km) from the town centre. There is a narrow stone bridge over the River Medway here.

Barham Court is the 'big house'. It has now been converted into offices and apartments. It was once the home of Randall Fitz Urse, one of the knights who murdered Thomas Beckett in 1170. It passed to the de Berham family now called the Barhams, and then the Boteler (or Butler) family. They were Royalists, William Butler was imprisoned for supporting the Kentish Royalist Petition 1642, which indirectly led to the Battle of Maidstone 1648. [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1648-maidstone-colchester.htm British Civil Wars Website accessed 6/2007] ] When Edward Hasted visited in the 18 th century it was owned by the Bouveries. After that it passed to the Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham .

The village church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. On one wall of the church, under a window, is a memorial tablet to a former vicar, the Rev James Ramsay, he was the Rector of Teston and Nettlestead from 1781 until he died in July 1789. He was a friend of Charles Middleton, William Pitt and William Wilberforce and he worked with them for the abolition of slavery. [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/johnno/test.htm Village History Website viewed 2007] ]

Rev. James Ramsay, who served as a surgeon under Middleton aboard HMS Arundel in the West Indies but later took holy orders and served on the Caribbean island of St Christopher (now St Kitts), where he observed first-hand the treatment of slaves. He briefly lived with the Middletons at Barham Court, then was given the living of the Teston and Nettlestead, by Middleton. Nestor Court is named after Ramsey's servant and companion.

William Cobbett passed through Teston on Friday 5th September 1823. [http://vision.edina.ac.uk:8698/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Cobbett&c_id=15&p_id=38 A Vision of Britain through Time.From Dover to the Wen:Cobbett] ]

There is a village green, shop/Post Office, Village Hall, [Teston Club] [http://www.testonclub.co.uk] and a Farm Shop.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Thomas Martin began making 'cricket balls in a workshop above the post office. When he retired the business was taken over by Alfred Reader who expanded the business and transferred it to the factory. The current factory. on Malling Road was built in 1927. The workers at the Reader factory formed their own trade union - The Teston Independent Society of Cricket Ball Makers, to represent their interests, it was the smallest trade unions in the country, and was only de-listed in March 2006.

River

. The current lock dates from 1911 and will take craft up to 24.5m by 5.6m with a draft of 1.7m.The Medway navigation, Leaflet, March 1991, NRA-National Rivers Authority] Signboard at Teston Lock, 2001, Maidstone Millennium River Park 2001]

At Teston Bridge there is a picnic site on a 12 hectare meadow, with public day ticket fishing. There is a continuous footpath along the bank of the Medway and at this point is included in the Maidstone Millennium River Park, and the Medway Valley Walk.

Media

Teston Bridge was used as a location in the 1958 feature film Dunkirk.

References

External links

* [http://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/test_c01.htm Teston church]
* [http://www.testonpostoffice.com Teston Post Office]