The name is recorded in the Domesday Book as Trevelai, which corresponds with a Brittonic origin, where "trev" means a settlement or farm house and "elai" typically relates to a fast moving river or stream (cf.

At the end of the civil wars of 1139-53, King Stephen's chief lieutenant William of Ypres gave the churches of Throwley and Chilham to the Abbey of Saint Bertin in Saint-Omer, France.

It was dissolved as part of Henry IV's general suppression of alien priories in 1414[3] and granted to Thomas Beaufort, the half-brother of the king's father.

[4] A Royal Flying Corps airfield was established in the Parish during the First World War to provide a landing ground for fighter biplanes defending London, the Thames Estuary and Kent.

The Parish church is St Michaels and All Angels which is built of flint, inside are monuments to the Harris and Sondes families.