Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EYNESFORD

EYNESFORD, a village and a parish in Dartford district, Kent. The village stands on the river Darent, adjacent to the Seven Oaks branch of the London and Dover railway, 5½ miles S of Dartford; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Dartford. The parish includes also the hamlet of Crockenhill. Acres, 3, 503. Real property, £6, 682. Pop. in 1851, 1, 323; in 1861, 1, 738. Houses, 261. The increase of population arose from house-extension at Crockenhill, and from the carrying on of railway works. The manor belonged anciently to the archbishops of Canterbury; was held, under them, till the time of Edward I., by the family of Eynesford, or Ainsford; passed then to the great family of Criol; and went afterwards to numerous proprietors. A castle was built on it, by the Eynesfords; seems early to have fallen into decay; and is now represented by little more than the walls. These enclosed nearly an acre of ground; are of Norman architecture; consist of flints from the chalk, with intermixture of many Roman bricks; and include fragments of the keep. The moat has been converted into an orchard. There are large paper-mills, amid orchards and cherry-gardens. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £410.* Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is chiefly early English; has a rich Norman W door: is cruciform; and has a later English N transept. The vicarage of Crockenhill is separate. There are a Baptist chapel, two public schools, and charities £48.


(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: Eynsford CP/AP       Dartford RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Eynsford

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