Lullingstone, Kent

Description
Lullingstone, a parish in Kent, on the river Darent, near Eynsford station on the L.C. & D.R., and 6 miles S of Dartford. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Dart-ford. Acreage, 1557; population, 64. The manor belonged. to the Peches, passed to the Harts and the Dykes, and, with, Lullingstone Castle, belongs now to the Hart Dyke family. The old castle, sometimes called Shoreham Castle, was held by tho Aldhams under the Archbishops of Canterbury; stood on a spot now occupied by a farmhouse, and has left some fragments. The present castle is partly ancient, but chiefly of the latter part of the 18th century; stands near the church in a valley between chalk hills, and is surrounded by a beautiful park of about 700 acres. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £350. The church is. ancient, and contains a good oak chancel screen, some fragments of stained glass of the Decorated period, and remarkably fine 16th century monuments of the Peche and Hart families.