Mereworth, Kent

Description
Mereworth, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands 2 1/2 miles WNW of Wateringbury station on the S.E.B., and 7 W by S of Maidstone. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Maidstone. Acreage of parish, 2556; population, 755. The manor belonged to John de Mere-worth, the crusader, passed to the Fitzalans, the Beauchamps, the Nevilles, the Fanes, the Stapletons, and the Boscawens. Mereworth Castle, the seat of the Barons Ie Deapeucer, which barony is now held by Viscount Falmouth, was built about the middle of the 18th century after the model of Palladio's Villa Capri, has at its sides detached kitchens and offices in a style similar to itself, and stands amid very beautiful scenery. Yotes Court is the seat of Viscount Torrington. Hops and fruit are extensively grown. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £520 with residence. The church was built in 1746, in lieu of a previous one which stood on part of the site of Mereworth Castle, is in the Classical style, with a portico and a lofty steeple, and contains some old monuments of the Nevilles and the Fanes, removed to it from the former church. Walpole describes its steeple as " so tall that the poor church curtsies under it like Mary Rich in a vast high-crowned hat."