Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHEVENING

CHEVENING, a parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent; on the river Durent, 3½ miles NW of Sevenoaks r. station. Post town, Sevenoaks. Acres, 3, 773. Real property, £6, 416. Pop., 932. Houses, 215. The property is divided among a few. There are two manors. The one belonged to the see of Canterbury till the Reformation; and then passed to the Crown. The other belonged early to the family of De Chevening; passed to the Lennards, afterwards Lords Dacre; was purchased, in 1717, by General Stanhope, created Earl Stanhope; and is now held by his descendant. The mansion here was built, in 1630, by Lord Dacre, after designs by Inigo Jones; but has been greatly altered, both externally and internally; and it contains some interesting portraits. The grounds are crossed by the ancient British way, called the Pilgrim's road; include a fine lake and maze, and a mass of Roman monumental stones and altars, brought from abroad by the first Lord Stanhope; and command, from their highest point, a brilliant view. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £766.* Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church has some early English masonry, but is chiefly perpendicular; and it contains altar-tombs of the Dacres, and monuments of the Stanhopes. There are three dissenting chapels, a national school, and charities £59.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Chevening AP/CP       Sevenoaks RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Chevening

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