Davington, Kent

Description
Davington, a parish in Kent, adjacent to the Swale estuary, and 1 mile N by W of Faversham station on the L.C. & D.R. Post town, Faversham. Acreage, 541 ; population, 179. In the neighbourhood have been found Roman remain£-, but it is very doubtful whether any part of Davington contains the site of the Roman Durolevum as some tliink. In the year 1153 Fulke de Newnham founded a priory here for Benedictine sisters. The nuns' chnrch is now used as a parish church, since the original parish church, which stood at the east end of the present one, was destroyed in the 16th century. What remains of the priory besides the church, are the western alley of the cloister, the prioress' parlour, the entrance hall and buttery. The place became deserted in 1535, not because of the poverty of the house, but on account of no one caring to take charge of it after the death of Matilda Dynemack (the last prioress) with the dissolution of the smaller religious houses in view. The church is built in the Norman style of architecture, with a north aisle added during the Early English period. The other remains of old work are of the Decorated. period. After the desertion of the monastery, Henry VIII. gave it, with its revenues and appurtenances, to Sir Thomas. Cheney, Knt., who pulled down and built according to his, fancy, as the successive owners have done since. In 1845 Mr T. Willement, F.S.A., bought the place and restored it. The conventual buildings now form the residence of Mrs J. West-Bramah, in whose gift is the living of Davington, which is a donative, in the diocese of Canterbury.