Welcome to the home page of Halling Historical Society's web-site.

The next talk in our 2026 lecture programme will be on Monday 14th September, details as below:

Chips, Strong Beer & Low Pay - Chatham's Naval Dockyard

by Dr. Philip MacDougall

Annual outing update:

Some of you may be aware that Medway Council have now handed over the management of Upnor Castle to English Heritage (the full story of this can be found here). This means that unfortunately, we've had to cancel our planned visit to Upnor Castle on July 10th.

However, a 60 minute guided tour of Rochester Cathedral has now been booked for 10th July. See below for details:

If interested, please contact our programme secretary to book a place by using the email below. 

Hallinghistoricalsocprogsec@gmail.com 

Closing date for booking is 12th June. Places are limited so please book early if you are interested.

Nearer the time we'll issue further details about the visit to those who have secured a place.

About the Halling Historical Society . . . . .

The main aim of Halling Historical Society (HHS) is to promote an interest in local history, especially about Kent and the Medway Valley.

To achieve this, each year we organise a public programme of talks on subjects of local historical interest.

Talks are free to members and usually take place at least every two months mostly on a Monday evening at the Jubilee Hall, Browndens Road, Upper Halling, ME2 1JH. Talks usually start at 7.30 pm (doors open 7.00).

We also try and arrange at least one visit a year to a local site of historical interest - note that these visits may require payment of an entry or tour fee

(Some talks may take place at other venues depending on the subject however, so check carefully in the programme.   See the programme page for details.)

Our full lecture programme for 2026 can be found here.

The Society was formed in 1985 and is run voluntarily by its members who appoint a committee annually. 

Annual membership is £12.00, payable from February, and entitles members to attend any of our annual lectures free of charge. 

Entrance fee to our talks for non-members is £3.50. 

Talks usually include a break for refreshments and a raffle. 

Other Society Activities:

A Society project in 2021 was to place a historic blue plaque on the house in Halling High Street from where the village local World War 1 hero, Sergeant Thomas Harris VC MM enlisted in 1914, aged 22 (see  https://www.hugofox.com/community/halling-historical-society-18475/sergeant-thomas-harris-vc-mm/ ).  The unveiling was on Saturday, 7 August 2021, followed by tea in Halling Community Centre kindly put on by Halling Sapphires WI.  The date was two days short of 103 years since Thomas was killed.   As well as many Harris family, there were  representatives of Thomas's successor regiment and of the VC and GC Association and the grandson of Sidney Upfold who was with Thomas when he died and recommended the VC.  See full details and photos on the News page.

In 2025 the Society has placed blue  historic heritage plaques on thirteen of the oldest buildings in the village  to develop a Halling History Trail.

If you'd like to share your story of growing up in Halling before 1980  - see Villagers' Reminiscences page at:  https://www.hugofox.com/community/halling-historical-society-18475/villagers-reminiscences-of-old-halling/   -  please email hallinghistorical@gmail.com .

If you can add any other historical detail to this website, or see an error, please email hallinghistorical@gmail.com

The Society is affiliated to Kent Archaeological Society and members can use the KAS study facilities free of charge, using a membership card available from the Secretary. 

This website is dedicated to the memory of Ted Gowers, a founder member of the Society,  who did so much to record the history of Halling and especially in his book, co-written with Derek Church, 'Across the Low Meadow  - a history of Halling  in Kent’  (1979), sadly out of print but available from local public libraries.  Much historical detail on this website is sourced from Ted's book.

Thanks are also due to Frank Smith, Stu Cunningham and Paul Bullivant for their help in putting this website together, with their many historical resources about the village.