Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHARLTON-NEXT-WOOLWICH

CHARLTON-NEXT-WOOLWICH, a village and a parish in Lewisham district, Kent. The village lies among the low hills between Blackheath and Woolwich, adjacent to the North Kent railway, near the river Thames, 8 miles E by S of London Bridge; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under London S. E., both of the name of Charlton. It formerly was a market town; and it still has a famous fair on 18 Oct., known as Horn Fair. The parish comprises 1,251 acres of land and 91 of water. Real property, £36,162. Pop., 8,472. Houses, 1,117. The manor was given by William Rufus to Bermondsey Abbey; went, at the dissolution, to the Newtons; passed to the Langhornes, the Ducies, and the Maryons; and belongs now to Sir T. M. Wilson, Bart. Charlton House was built, about 1612, by Sir Adam Newton; forms a fine specimen of the architecture of its age; contains a good portrait of Henry, Prince of Wales, to whom Sir Adam Newton acted as tutor; was the death place, in 1679, of Lord Doune; and is now the seat of Sir T. M. Wilson. The grounds connected with it have some very old cypresses; the "Hanging Wood," adjoining it, affords a charming walk; and some sand pits in the vicinity present great attractions to geologists. A farmhouse in the parish, called Cherry Garden, is said to have been erected by Inigo Jones for his own residence. Several handsome villas have recently been built. The living is a rectory in the diocese of London. Value, £350.* Patron, Sir T. M. Wilson, Bart. The church is a plain brick edifice of 1640. The rectories of St. Thomas and St. Paul, and the chapelries of Blackheath Park and St. GermansBlackheath, are separate charges. Value of St. Thomas, £400;* of St. Paul, £286. Patron of both, Sir J M. Wilson, Bart. St. Thomas' church stands at New Charlton; is a handsome structure; and was built in 1850, at a cost of £5,000. St. Paul's church was built in 1867; is in the second pointed style, cruciform, and highly ornate; and has a SW tower and spire. There are a Wesleyan chapel, the cottages on Woolwich Common, Morden college for decayed merchants, national schools, Langhorne's school and alms-houses, and other charities £80.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Charlton Next Woolwich CP/AP       Lewisham RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Charlton

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