West Malling home of inter-county cricket in Kent, and it is known that in 1705, "West of Kent" played Chatham at Malling. The setting for the cricket match between All Muggleton and Dingley Dell in Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers is reputed to be based on an amalgamation of the grounds at West Malling and Maidstone. There is a resemblance to West Malling in the original illustration of the match, a version of which featured on the back of the £10 banknote featuring Dickens, first circulated on 29 April 1992. Dickens, however, was a regular visitor to Dingley Hall in the village of
Dickens in America feminine. Dickens also sat for a bust by Henry Dexter. (There are copies of the bust in the Charles Dickens Museum in London and the Philadelphia Free Library’s Rare Book Department) The original bust is now lost. Miriam also sits for a bust by a young sculptor from Boston, Kalman Gacs. Dickens stayed at the Tremont House (Boston) in 1842, but by the time he returned in 1868, it “has now become contemptable.” Miriam stays at the Omni Parker House. Dickens stayed there for his second visit, when it was just called the Parker House. Miriam says it was noted