The fast- flowing River Loose which rises near Langley runs through the centre of the village and once supported a paper-making industry, evidence of which can still be found.

South along the Loose Road (A229), terminating at the post office, ran a tram way to and from Maidstone and Barming, the trams were replaced by trolley buses on the Loose route in 1930, they were in turn replaced by motor buses in 1967.

The road is still lined with haul stones around which ropes were tied to help relieve the horses from the weight of the carts.

A local tradition has it that whoever sticks a pin in the old yew tree in the churchyard, then runs around it anticlockwise at midnight, will on looking through a small window above the Charlton Memorial against the church wall, see a vision of a woman killing a baby.

[2] The Reverend Richard Boys was vicar here and also chaplain of St Helena during Napoleon Bonaparte's exile on the island.