Throwley

"THROWLEY, a parish in the hundred of Faversham, lathe of Scray, county Kent, 4 miles S.W. of Faversham, its post town, and 12 from Canterbury. The village is near the road from Faversham to Ashford. It has been held by the Sondes of Lee Court since the reign of Henry VI. The land is partly in hop grounds. The soil is a strong loam, with an admixture of flints, and rests upon chalk. The vicarage-house occupies the site of a priory, founded as a cell to the abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, in Artois, and granted in the 22nd of Henry VI. to Sion Abbey. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £200, in the patronage of the archbishop. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, contains a brass bearing date 1558, and effigies of the Sondes. The register dates from 1557. The parochial charities produce about £2 per annum, besides three almshouses supported by Lord Sondes. The Wesleyans have a chapel. There are National schools with a small endowment. The principal residence is Belmont."

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