Charing, Kent

Description
Charing, a village and a parish in Kent, on the L.C. & D.R., 53 miles from London. There is a post, money order, and telegraph office under Ashford. Acreage, 4681; population of the civil parish, 1314; of the ecclesiastical, 1019. The village stands on the ancient road called the Pilgrims' Way, near the source of the Len. It is an ancient place, known in Domesday as Cheringes. The manor belonged early to the see of Canterbury; was held some time by the Saxon kings; reverted to the archbishops; was given up by Cranmer to Henry VIII., and passed to the Whelers of Otterden. A palace of the archbishops stood here, was rebuilt in the 14th century, and gave entertainment to Henry VII. and Henry VIII. The edifice was in the Early Decorated style, and badly executed, and considerable ruins of it still exist. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £221 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's. The church was chiefly rebuilt after a destruction of it by fire in 1590, but retains portions in Early English and Perpendicular, and it contains monuments of the Brents, the Sayers, the Honeywoods, and Mrs Ludwell. It was restored, and a peal of six bells added in 1877-79. A charity, bequeathed by Mrs Ludwell, who died in 1765, has £88 a year from endowment, and two exhibitions at Oriel College. This ch£irity is divided among ten poor householders and the national schools of Charing and Charing Heath, and the apprenticing of boys educated in these schools. There is a Wesleyan chapel.