Patrixbourne

"PATRIXBOURNE, a parish in the hundred of Bridge, lathe of St. Augustine, county Kent, 3 miles S.E. of Canterbury, its post town. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the Little Stour, and is wholly agricultural. It was formerly held by Bishop Odo, at the time of the Domesday Survey, and subsequently by John de Pratis, who founded a priory of Augustine canons here in 1200, as a cell to Beaulieu Abbey, in Normandy. In 1400 it was made subject to the priory of Merton, in Surrey, and at the Dissolution passed, with Merton Abbey, to the Says, and through them and others to the Cheyneys. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The land is partly in hop grounds. The soil is a rich loam, alternated with gravel and chalk. The great tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £876, and the vicarial for £395 16s. The glebe comprises 48 acres. The impropriation belongs to the Dowager Marchioness Conyngham. The living is a vicarage annexed to that of Bridge, in the diocese of Canterbury, value £350. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has a spired tower. It has several stained windows, a carved altar-piece, and tombs of the Taylors, Dennes, &c.; also a white marble monument to the late Marquis of Conyngham. There is a school at Bifrons. The Marquis of Conyngham is lord of the manor and principal landowner."

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