Newington - Kent Past

Newington means 'new village' from the Saxon spelling of Newtone simply indicate a 'new' with 'tun' - 'village'.

The church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. The tower was once intended to be used as a beacon, connected with a line of other churches from London to the coast.

In 1936, a great stone was moved from the corner of Church Lane to the entrance of St Mary the Virgin church. It is known as The Devil's Stone. Apparently, the Devil was so disturbed by the ringing of the church bells that he went to the belfry, one night, and gathered them up in a sack. Then, with the sack over his shoulder, he jumped down, tripped over the great stone and fell, leaving his footprint stamped into the stone and spilling the bells out of the sack. They rolled down the lane towards Halstow and into a stream, which, from then on, flowed as clear as a bell.

The East Kent Railway's first operational section of line between Faversham and Chatham commenced on 25th January 1858, but at this time no station was provided at Newington, it only being a very small community. A station was eventually built there, some four and a half years later, opening on 1st August 1862.