West Kent

West Kent and East Kent are one-time traditional subdivisions of the English county of Kent, kept alive by the Association of the Men of Kent and Kentish Men: an organisation formed in 1913.

Residents of West Kent, those living west / north of the River Medway, are called 'Kentish Men', as opposed to residents of East Kent, who are known as 'Men of Kent'.

Simplistically the division is considered to be the river Medway, but apparently corresponds roughly to the Diocese of Rochester.

The division apparently derives from the ethnic differences between the Jutish settlement of the east of the county and the Saxon presence in the west, although its origins are somewhat obscure.

However some towns, such as the Medway Towns - Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham (although Rainham was annexed from Swale, and is thus considered part of East Kent) and Maidstone, lie on the east / south bank of the river.

West Kent had its own Quarter Sessions based in Maidstone until 1814, when the administrations of East and West Kent were merged. The West Kent Quarter Sessions Division consisted of the Lathe of Aylesford, the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone and the lower division of the Lathe of Scray. [Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. II, 1831]

Places in West Kent included

*Dartford
*Gillingham
*Gravesend
*Maidstone
*Northfleet
*Rochester
*Sevenoaks
*Swanley
*Tonbridge

The historic area of West Kent included a number of places now in Greater London; specifically the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham, including:

*Bexley
*Biggin Hill
*Bromley
*Chislehurst
*Deptford
*Greenwich
*Lewisham
*Orpington
*Sidcup
*Woolwich

References