# Teston

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Village in Kent, England

For other uses, see [Teston (disambiguation)](/source/Teston_(disambiguation)).

Human settlement in England

Teston Teston Bridge Teston Location within Kent Population 637 (2011 Census)[1] OS grid reference TQ705534 District Maidstone Shire county Kent Region South East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town Maidstone Postcode district ME18 Dialling code 01622 Police Kent Fire Kent Ambulance South East Coast UK Parliament Maidstone and Malling[2] Website Teston Parish Council List of places UK England Kent 51°15′18″N 0°26′24″E / 51.255°N 0.44°E / 51.255; 0.44

**Teston** [/ˈtiːstən/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teston.oga) [3] or [/ˈtiːsən/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teston2.oga) [4] is a village and [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) in the [Maidstone](/source/Maidstone_(borough)) District of [Kent](/source/Kent), England. It is located on the [A26 road](/source/A26_road) out of [Maidstone](/source/Maidstone), four miles (6.4 km) from Maidstone town centre. There is a [narrow stone bridge](/source/Teston_Bridge) over the [River Medway](/source/River_Medway) here.

## History

[Barham Court](/source/Barham_Court), a large country house, has now been converted into offices and apartments. It was once the home of [Randall Fitz Urse](/source/Reginald_Fitzurse), one of the knights who murdered [Thomas Becket](/source/Thomas_Becket) in 1170. It passed to the de Berham family now called the Barhams, and then the Boteler (or Butler) family. They were [Royalists](/source/English_Civil_War), William Butler was imprisoned for supporting the [Kentish Royalist Petition](/source/Roger_Twysden) 1642, which indirectly led to the [Battle of Maidstone](/source/Battle_of_Maidstone) in 1648.[5]

Sir Philip Boteler, baronet of Teston, died without issue in 1772, bequeathing Teston House to his cousin Elizabeth Bouverie.[6] When [Edward Hasted](/source/Edward_Hasted) visited in the 18th century, it was owned by the Bouveries. After that it passed to the [Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham](/source/Charles_Middleton%2C_1st_Baron_Barham).

Barham Court has been recognised by historians as the birthplace of the British [evangelical](/source/Evangelical) slavery abolitionist movement, one influential group being called the [Testonites](/source/Testonites). It was in the house in the 1780s that a young [Thomas Clarkson](/source/Thomas_Clarkson) pledged his life to the cause, and where [William Wilberforce](/source/William_Wilberforce) agreed to bring the matter before the [House of Commons](/source/House_of_Commons_of_Great_Britain) for the first time.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] In 1789, [Hannah More](/source/Hannah_More) described the village as the "[Runnymede](/source/Runnymede) of the negroes".[7]

The [parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul](/source/St_Peter's_and_St_Paul's_Church%2C_Teston). On one wall of the church, under a window, is a memorial tablet to a former vicar, the [Rev James Ramsay](/source/James_Ramsay_(abolitionist)); he was the Rector of Teston and [Nettlestead](/source/Nettlestead%2C_Kent) from 1781 until he died in July 1789. Ramsay was a friend of [Charles Middleton](/source/Charles_Middleton%2C_1st_Baron_Barham), [William Pitt](/source/William_Pitt_the_Younger) and [William Wilberforce](/source/William_Wilberforce), and he worked with them for the [abolition of slavery](/source/Abolitionism_in_the_United_Kingdom).[8]

James Ramsay had served as a surgeon under Middleton aboard [HMS *Arundel*](/source/HMS_Arundel) in the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies) but later took holy orders and served on the [Caribbean](/source/Caribbean) island of [St Christopher](/source/St_Kitts) (now St Kitts), where he observed first-hand the treatment of [slaves](/source/Slave). He briefly lived with the Middletons at Barham Court, then was given the living of the Teston and Nettlestead, by Middleton. Nestor Court is named after Ramsey's servant and companion.

[William Cobbett](/source/William_Cobbett) passed through Teston on Friday 5 September 1823.[9]

## Amenities

Teston has a village green, shop/Post Office, Village Hall and a Farm Shop.

## Sport

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Thomas Martin began making [cricket balls](/source/Cricket_ball) in a workshop above the post office. When he retired the business was taken over by Alfred Reader who expanded the business and transferred it to the factory. The current factory. on Malling Road was built in 1927. The workers at the Reader factory formed their own [trade union](/source/Trade_union) - **The Teston Independent Society of Cricket Ball Makers**, to represent their interests, it was the smallest trade unions in the country, and was only de-listed in March 2006.[8]

Cricket has been played at Barham Court since 1896.[10] The current club runs two teams, the Sunday Team representing the village in the Kent Village League.

## River

Teston Lock and Weir.

The [River Medway](/source/River_Medway) at Teston Bridge is 5.41m above mean sea level, and 7.31m upstream of the [weir](/source/Weir) and [lock](/source/Lock_(water_transport)). It lies 10.4 km upstream of [Allington](/source/Allington%2C_Kent) where the river becomes tidal. The bridge is mediaeval, being widened for river traffic in 1749. The lock was originally constructed in the 1740s, when 14 locks were built to make the river navigable from [Maidstone](/source/Maidstone) to [Tonbridge](/source/Tonbridge), enabling the transport of iron products from the [Weald](/source/Weald). The current lock dates from 1911 and will take craft up to 24.5m by 5.6m with a draft of 1.7m.[11][12]

At Teston Bridge there is a country park on a 12 hectare meadow, with public day ticket fishing. There is a continuous footpath along the bank of the Medway, which at this point is within the boundaries of the Maidstone Millennium River Park and forms part of the Medway Valley Walk.[12]

## Media

Teston Bridge was used as a location in the 1958 feature film *[Dunkirk](/source/Dunkirk_(1958_film))*.

## See also

- [Listed buildings in Teston](/source/Listed_buildings_in_Teston)

Places adjacent to Teston King's Hill East Malling Barming Wateringbury Teston East Barming Nettlestead Green Yalding West Farleigh

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Civil Parish population 2011"](https://web.archive.org/web/20161020211057/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11129502&c=Teston&d=16&e=62&g=6437426&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1474105328938&enc=1). *Neighbourhood Statistics*. Office for National Statistics. Archived from [the original](http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11129502&c=Teston&d=16&e=62&g=6437426&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1474105328938&enc=1) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Parliamentary 2024 Constituency Map for Maidstone and Malling"](https://streetguide.co.uk/maps/parliament/2023/Maidstone-and-Malling). *streetguide.co.uk*. Retrieved 28 February 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-glover_3-0)** The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-905270-61-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-905270-61-4)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-bbc_4-0)** BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names — ["Language Log: A quaint and curious English village name"](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=53789#comments).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-civil_5-0)** ["British Civil Wars Website accessed 6/2007"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090220005314/http://british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1648-maidstone-colchester.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1648-maidstone-colchester.htm) on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Sturt, Sarah. ["The splendour of Barham Court"](https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/kent/22581788.splendour-barham-court/). *Kent Life, 19th April 2017*. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 26 March 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Brown, Christopher Leslie. *Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism*. University of North Carolina Press. p. 342. [ASIN](/source/Amazon_Standard_Identification_Number) [0807856983](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0807856983).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-village_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-village_8-1) [Village History Website viewed 2007](http://web.ukonline.co.uk/johnno/test.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070930204716/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/johnno/test.htm) 2007-09-30 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-cobbett_9-0)** [A Vision of Britain through Time. From Dover to the Wen:Cobbett](http://vision.edina.ac.uk:8698/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Cobbett&c_id=15&p_id=38)[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** History of Teston Cricket Club ["Teston CC - Play-Cricket - Colonel got the ball rolling"](http://testoncc.play-cricket.com/content/view.asp?id=10054603&cid=202). Retrieved 14 June 2009.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NRA_11-0)** The Medway navigation, Leaflet, March 1991, NRA-National Rivers Authority

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-signboard_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-signboard_12-1) Signboard at Teston Lock, 2001, Maidstone Millennium River Park 2001

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Teston](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Teston).

v t e Towns and villages in the Maidstone borough of Kent, England Allington Barming Bearsted Bedmonton Benover Bexon Bicknor Boughton Green Boughton Malherbe Boughton Monchelsea Boxley Bredhurst Broomfield Caring Chainhurst Chart Sutton Chegworth Collier Street Coxheath Detling Downswood East Barming East Sutton Fairbourne Heath Frinsted Grove Green Harrietsham Hawkenbury Headcorn Hollingbourne Horden Hucking Hunton Kingswood Laddingford Langley Leeds Lenham Lidsing Linton Loose Maidstone Marden Marley Milebush Nettlestead Nettlestead Green Otham Otterden Park Wood Penenden Heath Pollhill Ringlestone (hamlet) Ringlestone (suburb) Sandling Sandway Shepway Staplehurst Stockbury Sutton Valence Teston Thurnham Tovil Ulcombe Walderslade Weavering West Farleigh Wichling Wormshill Yalding Yelsted List of places in Kent

Authority control databases: National Israel

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Teston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teston) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teston?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.