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Westerham in Kent County England History and GeographyWESTERHAM, a market town and parish in the hundred of WESTERHAM, lathe of SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 22 miles (W.) from Maidstone, and 21 (S.S.E.) from London, containing 1742 inhabitants. The name of this town implies its situation on the western border of the county. Two remarkable phenomena, called land slips, occurred here in the years 1596 and 1756; in the former, nine acres of ground continued in motion for eleven days, and in the latter, two acres and a half, some parts sinking into pits, and others rising into hills. The town stands on the declivity of an eminence, and is of neat and clean appearance; about the centre is a large obelisk, used as a market-house. The river Darent rises in the neighbourhood, and after watering the ancient park of Squeries, takes a north-eastern direction through the parish. The market, which was granted, in the 25th of Edward III., to the abbot of Westminster, who possessed the manor, is on Wednesday; and a cattle fair is held on the 3rd of May. This place is within the jurisdiction of a court of requests held for the hundred, for the recovery of debts under £5. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Edenbridge annexed, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester, rated in the king's books at £19. 19. 4½., and in the patronage of the Rev. Richard Board. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a large, ancient, and venerable structure. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Wesleyan Methodists. A National school, for children of both sexes, has been recently built, and is supported by voluntary contributions. Bishop Hoadley and the celebrated General Wolfe were both natives of this town; in the church is a fine cenotaph to the memory of the latter; and in the grounds of Quebec House there is a pillar, with an inscription, erected for the like purpose. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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