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How many bridges over the Medway are there in the
parish of West Farleigh? If you
study the Parish boundary map you will find three, Bow, Teston and Barming Bridges. None of them are entirely in the parish as the boundary crosses the
centre of, or runs down the middle of, each of these bridges.
However this is not
the whole story. It is possible and several historical documents suggest, that a
fourth bridge existed between Court Lodge Farm and Barnjet in Teston Parish.
Built around 1760 it is thought this wooden bridge was swept away by flood
waters in January 1795. Barming Bridge, again of wooden construction, was also lost during this flood.
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This crossing is historic. Farleigh,
or Ferlaga, is a Saxon word and in some
translations means "safe crossing point". There has been a crossing in
St Helens Lane since before Roman times. There was a ford here which the Romans
made durable by placing cobbles down. These can still be seen on the river bed
if you dive down to the bottom. The piles of the wooden bridge stood on them.
Kettle Lane is derived from Cattle Lane and was the road along which
cattle herds were driven to the ford so they could be taken up to Chatham for
slaughter. Houses at the top of the road were used by bakers and shoe makers and
played a part in smuggling. Boats would moor here and the smugglers given the
all clear to unload their booty by signals inside the bakers house window.
The wooden bridge was
built around 1743 because the river level was
raised with the installation of locks. This allowed boats up the river to Tonbridge allowing
goods such as paper, beer and meat to be taken out to the dockyards at Chatham,
to London and abroad.
It is known that a slaughterhouse was
once positioned on Yalding bridge where cattle were loaded onto barges and taken
to Maidstone or the Medway estuary ports. When the river level was raised to
allow the barges to navigate the river by installing locks at Aylesford and
Teston the fords
were replaced with bridges to preserve the crossing points.
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On Tuesday 29th April 1914, four men driving a ten ton
traction engine pulling two trucks were directed by a passer-by down St Helens
Lane to Barming Bridge. Not realizing the bridge was not strong enough they started to cross it. There was a loud crack as the first span gave way and
the engine and one of the trucks fell into the river.
Two of the men jumped clear, the other
two were thrown out of the engine into the water. Of these, one managed to swim
to the bank
but the other was pinned under the water by the truck. Fortunately for him one
of his
legs was raised above the water level so his friends were able to see and rescue him.
Apart from a sore leg he was fine again in a couple of hours.
The engine was hauled up the next day, remarkably free of any major damage. The bridge was repaired and opened again for pedestrians by the
following Saturday.
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