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The History of Kent

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History of Pluckley

Pluckley comes from the Old English ‘lēah’ meaning a ‘forest, wood, glade, clearing’ combined with a warlord’s name; therefore, ‘Plucca’s wood/clearing’. The Domesday Book chronicles Pluckley as Pluchelei.

Pluckley parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The south aisle, Dering chapel and porch all appeared in the 15th century. In 1552, there is a record of five bells in the tower. In 1798, Edward Hasted described the church as a ‘handsome building of sand-stone, consisting of two isles and two chancels. The steeple is a spire, in which are five bells. It is shingled, as is good part of the roof of the church, which appears to have been formerly all so. The south chancel of this church, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, belongs to the Dering family’. In 1853, Charles and George Mears recast the ring of five into a ring of six bells.

Pluckley railway station opened nearly two miles south of the village on the South Eastern Railway’s services through to Ashford, from London Bridge, on 1st December 1842….more