Kent county cricket teams matches at Town Malling between 1836 and 1841. The expense of running county games meant that Town Malling proved too small to support a county club, despite the large attendances that games attracted, and in 1842 Pilch moved to the Beverley club at Canterbury. Kent struggled against the prominence of Sussex in the early roundarm years but then enjoyed a glorious period in the middle of the century. Rowland Bowen has recorded that a Maidstone newspaper in 1837 described a match between Kent and Nottinghamshire as for the County Championship. This is the earliest known use of the term although
Gillingham, Kent Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a town in the county of Kent in South East England. For local government purposes it is also in the unitary authority of Medway. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Wigmore, Parkwood, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall. Gillingham means a "homestead of Gylla's family", from Old English "ham" ("village, homestead") and "ingas" ("family, followers"), and was first recorded in the 10th century as "Gyllingeham". Also referred to in old texts as "Jillyingham Water", hence the pronunciation being Gillingham (the G sounds as a "J" as in the girls' name Jill). Gillingham became