Dunkirk, Kent

Description
Dunkirk, formerly an extra-parochial district in Kent, 2 1/2 miles NE of Selling station on'the L.C. & D.R., and 4^ W by N of Canterbury. Post town, Faversham; money order and telegraph office, Boughton. Acreage, 5338; population, 813. The land formerly was part of Blean Forest, and a large portion of it now belongs to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The name Dunkirk was first given to it about the middle of last century by a body of squatters who took free or forcible possession of the land, and who became notable for smuggling practices. Many of the persons implicated in the extraordinary outbreak of 1838, connected with Sir William Cour-tenay or Thorns, were inhabitants of Dunkirk. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £300. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is a flint structure with a tower, and was built after the outbreak of 1838; it was enlarged in 1872.