Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Stockbury
Stockbury comes from the Old English words ‘stoc’ meaning a ‘place, secondary settlement’
with ‘ingas’ as the ‘people of, people called after’ and ‘bær’ for ‘pasture, woodland’;
therefore a ‘woodland-
Stockbury parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. It dates from the 12th century with additions in the 13th and 15th centuries. John Wilnar cast and hung four bells in 1634 and added a tenor the next year. In 1798, Edward Hasted wrote in his topographical survey that the ‘church, which is both large and losty, is very antient, and consists of a middle and two narrow side isles, a high chancel, and two cross ones. The pillars and arches in it are more elegant than is usual in country churches, and the former, on the north side, are of Bethersden marble, rude and antient. It has a square tower at the west end, in which hangs a peal of six bells’. Restoration, of the Stockbury church, took place following a fire in 1836. In 1852, the architect R C Hussey carried out a thorough restoration.