Frindsbury, Kent

Description
Frindsbury, a village and a parish in Kent. The village is suburban to Strood, stands on the Medway Canal, adjacent to the river Medway and to Strood station on the S.E.R., 1 mile N of Rochester, and was known to the Saxons as Esling-ham. It has a post and money order office under Rochester; telegraph office, Rochester. Acreage of the civil parish, 3083; population, 5060; of the ecclesiastical, 2338. The manor was given in the 8th century by King Offa to the see of Rochester. Upnor Castle here was erected by Queen Elizabeth to defend the passage of the Medway; beat off the Dutch in 1677 in their attempt to go up the river; comprises an oblong centre building and two round towers at the end, all encompassed by a moat; was for some time used as a powder magazine, and has been converted into barracks. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester; gross value, £350. Patron, the Bishop of Rochester. The church stands, on an eminence with a fine view; dates from the latter part of the llth century, and has a tower with octagonal spire. It was well restored in 1884. There is a Wesleyan chapel in St Mary's Strood, but in the civil parish of Frinds-bury, in which also are the church and vicarage house of St Mary, Strood.