During the Civil War, Simon de Montford’s forces occupied Malden for five months.

Read about Monfort’s Last Stand.

The Black Death struck England; a new vicar was appointed in 1349 and another in 1350, reflecting the likely impact of the epidemic locally.

The church was in a state of decay.

In 1596 the villagers of Malden petitioned Queen Elizabeth I asking for her help – but nothing was done.

By the end of the century the church was almost in ruins.

The church was beyond repair, but a successful appeal led to its rebuilding, completed in 1611.

Thomas Ravis, Bishop of London, and John Goode, Lord of the Manor, were involved in rebuilding the nave and tower in red brick, retaining parts of the older church walls.

The church windows were shattered when the gunpowder mill on the Hogsmill River exploded; the blast was heard as far away as London.

A significant gunpowder mill explosion occurred on the Hogsmill River in Old Malden in 1742, shattering the windows of St John the Baptist Church.

This incident was part of the wider history of powder mills in the area, which also included sites in Long Ditton, Tolworth, and Epsom & Ewell. 

• Location: The mill was situated on the Hogsmill River in Old Malden.
• Damage: The 1742 blast was powerful enough to shatter windows at the nearby St John the Baptist Church.
• Context: These mills were part of the extensive 18th-century gunpowder industry in the surrounding Surrey countryside, which frequently saw explosions due to the dangerous nature of the work.
• Other Incidents: Historical records mention other nearby mills, including those in Ewell, where a notable explosion occurred in April 1863. 

The site of the Old Malden mill is part of the local heritage, highlighting the dangerous, yet essential, industrial history of the Hogsmill area.