Charing

"CHARING, a parish in the hundred of Calehill, lathe of Shepway, in the county of Kent, 6 miles N.W. of Ashford, its post town, and 42 miles N.E. of the Pluckley station of the South-Eastern line. It is situated on the high road between Maidstone and Ashford. It is the Cheringes of Domesday, and was given by the Saxon kings to Christ Church, Canterbury; but when Lanfranc divided the revenues of that monastery, it was allotted to the archbishops, whose palace, rebuilt in the 14th century, is now a farmhouse. It was hero that kings Henry VII. and VIII. were entertained, and, at the Dissolution, Cranmer made over to the king this palace and manor, and all his other estates in this parish. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £475, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, is an ancient cruciform structure in the perpendicular style, and was partly burnt in 1590. It contains monuments to the Brent and Sayer families, and one to Mrs. Ludwell, a benefactress. Adjoining the chancel is a small chapel, built in the reign of Richard III. as a burial-place, by Amy Brent, a member of the Brent family, who then occupied the manor-house of Wickens, in this parish. Here are endowed and National schools. Charing gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry of Maidstone and diocese of Canterbury. Fairs are held on the 29th April and October, for cattle and sheep."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]