The Testonites were an influential group of English abolitionists active in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
17-532: The group of activists is named after Teston, Kent , where they began to meet at Barham Court , home of Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham in the early 1780s. The informal group came together soon after James Ramsay , a former naval officer, who chose to take holy orders and work on the Caribbean island of St Christopher (now St Kitts ), returned to England in 1781. In the West Indies , Ramsay saw
34-455: A workshop above the post office. When he retired the business was taken over by Alfred Reader who expanded the business and transferred it to the factory. The current factory. on Malling Road was built in 1927. The workers at the Reader factory formed their own trade union - The Teston Independent Society of Cricket Ball Makers , to represent their interests, it was the smallest trade unions in
51-689: Is a continuous footpath along the bank of the Medway, which at this point is within the boundaries of the Maidstone Millennium River Park and forms part of the Medway Valley Walk. Teston Bridge was used as a location in the 1958 feature film Dunkirk . St Peter%27s and St Paul%27s Church, Teston St Peter's and St Paul's is a parish church in Teston , Kent . It is a Grade II* listed building and
68-502: Is mediaeval, being widened for river traffic in 1749. The lock was originally constructed in the 1740s, when 14 locks were built to make the river navigable from Maidstone to Tonbridge , enabling the transport of iron products from the Weald . The current lock dates from 1911 and will take craft up to 24.5m by 5.6m with a draft of 1.7m. At Teston Bridge there is a country park on a 12 hectare meadow, with public day ticket fishing. There
85-593: Is the 'big house'. It has now been converted into offices and apartments. It was once the home of Randall Fitz Urse , one of the knights who murdered Thomas Becket in 1170. It passed to the de Berham family now called the Barhams, and then the Boteler (or Butler) family. They were Royalists , William Butler was imprisoned for supporting the Kentish Royalist Petition 1642, which indirectly led to
102-686: The Battle of Maidstone in 1648. When Edward Hasted visited in the 18th century, it was owned by the Bouveries. After that it passed to the Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham . Barham Court has been recognised by historians as the birthplace of the British evangelical slavery abolitionist movement. It was in the house in the 1780s that a young Thomas Clarkson pledged his life to the cause, and where William Wilberforce agreed to bring
119-512: The Middletons at Barham Court, then was given the living of the Teston and Nettlestead, by Middleton. Nestor Court is named after Ramsey's servant and companion. William Cobbett passed through Teston on Friday 5 September 1823. Teston has a village green, shop/Post Office, Village Hall and a Farm Shop. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Thomas Martin began making cricket balls in
136-414: The angles between tower and nave feature small round arched windows in the north and south sides. The spire is octagonal and covered with wooden shingles with a weather vane . The nave, chancel and the transepts are buttressed externally at each side of the gable ends. The north and south facades of the nave feature pairs of round arched windows. The north and south windows to the transepts and
153-593: The country, and was only de-listed in March 2006. Cricket has been played at Barham Court since 1896. The current club runs two teams, the Sunday Team representing the village in the Kent Village League. The River Medway at Teston Bridge is 5.41m above mean sea level, and 7.31m upstream of the weir and lock . It lies 10.4 km upstream of Allington where the river becomes tidal. The bridge
170-474: The east window of the chancel are pointed arched 19th century and three-lighted. A medieval stone ambry is located west of the sedile which is located on the south wall of the chancel and formed from a relocated medieval trefoiled two-light window. The east end of the chancel is occupied with a five panel wooden reredos of circa 1736 featuring the Ten Commandments on the central panel with
187-665: The founding of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in May 1787. Clarkson had pledged his energies to a national campaign for slave trade abolition in the autumn of the previous year. Closely associated with the group later was the young William Wilberforce , (MP for Kingston upon Hull and then Yorkshire ), who first met the group during the winter of 1786–87. He later went on to steer through Parliament
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#1732772257907204-653: The legislation that finally led, almost twenty years later, to the passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807. Teston, Kent Teston /ˈtiːstən/ or /ˈtiːsən/ is a village in the Maidstone District of Kent , England. It is located on the A26 road out of Maidstone , four miles (6.4 km) from the town centre. There is a narrow stone bridge over the River Medway here. Barham Court
221-455: The living of the nearby village of Hunton, Kent and had been influenced by Ramsay's writings; as well as Middleton and his wife Margaret (née Gambier), Lady Middleton. Their activism was instrumental in "channel[ing] the reform currents that shaped the cultural landscape in Britain", and, through the influence they exerted on such men as Thomas Clarkson , they were indirectly responsible for
238-623: The matter before the House of Commons for the first time. In 1789, Hannah More described the village as the " Runnymede of the negroes". The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul . On one wall of the church, under a window, is a memorial tablet to a former vicar, the Rev James Ramsay ; he was the Rector of Teston and Nettlestead from 1781 until he died in July 1789. Ramsay
255-441: The suffering of slaves and was shocked at the cruelty inflicted upon the enslaved Africans and campaigned against the owners and planters who were largely responsible. Ramsay was offered the livings of Teston and Nettlestead, Kent in 1781. Other significant campaigners who became part of the Teston circle were Hannah More , philanthropist and writer; anti-slavery campaigner Beilby Porteus , Bishop of Chester , who also held
272-417: Was a friend of Charles Middleton , William Pitt and William Wilberforce , and he worked with them for the abolition of slavery . James Ramsay had served as a surgeon under Middleton aboard HMS Arundel in the West Indies but later took holy orders and served on the Caribbean island of St Christopher (now St Kitts), where he observed first-hand the treatment of slaves . He briefly lived with
289-400: Was rebuilt in 1736 for Sir Philip Boteler of Barham Court . The church is constructed to a cruciform plan in roughly coursed and galleted ragstone with ashlar dressings. It features a plain tiled roof. The west tower is two stages with round-arched belfry windows in the north, south and west facades of the upper stage and a brick parapet over a band of ashlar stonework. Infil in
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