The old name of Walton-le-Soken (still visible on the Church today) shows that the area once formed a “soken” with its neighbours Kirby and Thorpe, under the jurisdiction of St Paul's Cathredral, the principal landowner of the area. Due to coastal erosion, the original village of Walton now lies a mile out to sea, and with it, the old parish church, which finally succumbed to the waves in 1798. The current church on an inland site was built from 1873 onwards, the tower completed in 1896 using Kentish ragstone.