Plaxtol Explained

Country:England
Type:Village and civil parish
Official Name:Plaxtol
Coordinates:51.2592°N 0.2949°W
Population:1,117
Population Ref:(2011)[1]
Static Image Name:Plaxtol Church, Kent - geograph.org.uk - 321994.jpg
Static Image Width:250px
Static Image Caption:Plaxtol Parish Church
Civil Parish:Plaxtol
Shire District:Tonbridge and Malling
Shire County:Kent
Region:South East England
Constituency Westminster:Tonbridge and Malling
Post Town:SEVENOAKS
Postcode District:TN15
Postcode Area:TN
Dial Code:01732
Os Grid Reference:TQ603535

Plaxtol is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The village is located around 5miles north of Tonbridge and the same distance east of Sevenoaks. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,117.

The name Plaxtol is believed to be derived from Old English words meaning "play area";[2] there used to be a large green in the middle of the village where children would play after attending church on a Sunday.

The River Bourne flows through the parish, and formerly powered three watermills in Plaxtol – Winfield Mill (corn), Longmill (corn) and Roughway Paper Mill. The village has a primary school, a Cromwellian church, a village shop, a pottery school and a pub; it also once had a bakery and a butcher.

The 1,000-acre Fairlawne Estate adjoining the village of Shipbourne was owned by Sir Henry Vane the Elder, in the 17th century, and was owned by the Cazalet family in the 19th century. Major Peter Cazalet was a trainer of horses owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother who was an occasional guest. The estate was then owned by the Saudi Arabian horse-breeder Prince Khalid ibn Abdullah until his death in 2021.[3] [4]

Notable residents

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Civil Parish population 2011 . Office for National Statistics . Neighbourhood Statistics . 23 September 2016.
  2. Book: Mills, A. D. . 2011 . A Dictionary of British Place-Names . . 978-0-1996-0908-6.
  3. https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1990/09/10/73983/ "The billionaires"
  4. Britten, Nick. "'Little village bumpkins’ defeat Saudi prince in fight for Shipbourne footpath rights", The Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  5. [Martin Pugh (author)|Martin Pugh]
  6. Kate Dorney, ‘Tomlinson, (Philip) Richard Henry (1943–2006)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2010 accessed 8 July 2013
  7. Lawrence Goldman, ‘Hodges, Sir Lewis Macdonald [Bob] (1918–2007)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2011 accessed 8 July 2013