Downe

"DOWNE, a parish in the hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, in the county of Kent, 2 miles S. of Farnborough, and 6 S.E. of Bromley, its post town. The village is small. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Canterbury, value £105, in the gift of the archbishop. The church is a neat building, with spire and three bells. It contains brasses, a piscina, sedilia, and monuments to the Petlee family, to whom the place formerly belonged, and who were lords of the manor from the reign of Edward III. to Henry VIII. The register commences in 1538. The Baptists have a chapel, and there are National and other schools, including Philip's school, endowed with £5 per annum. Sir Percival Dyke is lord of the manor. The principal residence is High Elms, the seat of Sir John W. Lubbock, Bart. The old mansion of the Petlees is now a farmhouse."

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