Westerham, Kent

Description
Westerham, a small town and a parish in Kent. The town stands on a gentle acclivity, with a station on the S.E.R., 25 miles from London, and 5 1/2 W of Sevenoaks, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. It was the birthplace of the martyr Frith, Bishop Hoadley, General Wolfe, and Dean Coomber, is a pleasant place, and has a hotel, a public hall and corn market built in 1866, a fine large church, a Congregational chapel, a suite of twelve almshonses erected in 1874, a weekly market on Wednesday, and a fair on 3 May. The parish includes Crockham hamlet. Acreage, 5804; population of the civil parish, 2631; of the ecclesiastical, 2061. The manor was given by Edward I. to Westminster Abbey, passed to the Greshams and the Wardes, and, with Squerryes Court, belongs now to the Warde family. Valence and Dunsdale are handsome residences in the neighbourhood. Landslips occurred in the greensand hills here in 1596 and 1756. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £225 with residence. The church is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, contains numerous brasses and memorials, and has been restored at a cost of £5000. The vicarage of Crockham is a separate benefice.