Paddock Wood may have been derived from the nearby 'Manor of Parrock', or from the local woodland and paddocks.
It was nothing more than one of several hamlets in Brenchley parish until the coming of the South Eastern Railway on 31 May 1842. The railway station was first known as Maidstone Road Halt, and even that only happened because the original proposal for a halt, further up the line at Monckton's Crossing, met with opposition from a local farmer.
Yet, the railway brought such change, that by 1851 there was a sizable village and by 1900, Paddock Wood was established as the hub of a network of branch lines throughout the Weald, many of which have since fallen victim to British Rail economies. It was the railway that brought thousands of London hop-pickers into Kent for the annual 'hopping working holiday'. Many of them changed at Paddock Wood to go on to other areas, although this was already a centre of the hop growing industry and very many of them remained in the vicinity, travelling to local farms on foot or by horse-drawn wagon, sent to collect them.
In 1847, cottages had begun to appear, and by 1851, a fairly sizeable community had developed, and a church built. The area around Paddock Wood had always had a history of hop farming, and the growth of the village is partly due to the seasonal influx of hop pickers, which at the height of the season would see up to 8000 people, arrive to work on the farms.
The church dedicated to St Andrew was built in 1851. However, on the night of 4th November 1940 a bomb, one of 15 to fall on the village, hit the church. In 1953, the foundation stone for a new church, to be built to the design of Mr Cecil Burns, was laid. Ragstone from the old church formed the foundations and base.
