Otterden, Kent

Description
Otterden, a parish in Kent, 2 miles SSW of Eastling, and 3 1/2 from Lenham station on the L.C. & D.R. Post town, Faversham; money order office, Lenham; telegraph office, Doddington. The manor belonged formerly to the St Legers, the Auchers, the Lewins, and the Curteises, and, with Otterden Place, belongs now to the Wheler family. Otterden Place is a pretty mansion, partly of the time of Henry VII., was the scene of experiments by Gray and Wheler in 1729 allied to those of Dr. Franklin, leading to the identification of lightning with electricity, and commands fine views over the wooded country toward Faversham, with distant glimpses of the sea. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury ; gross value, £350 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1753, of brick and stone, and a chancel was added in 1894. It contains handsome monuments of the Lewins, the Bunces, and the Curteises, as well as several monumental brasses.