Lamberhurst

"LAMBERHURST, a parish and post town partly in the hundred of Loxfield and Pelham, rape of Pevensey, county Sussex, and partly in the hundred of Brenchley, lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 7 miles S.E. of Tunbridge Wells, 4 E. of the Frant railway station, and 15 S.W. of Maidstone. The village, which is considerable, is situated on the road from London to Hastings. There are brick-kilns and a brewery. The place was formerly noted for its iron smelting furnaces, at which the balustrades for the cathedral of St. Paul's were manufactured. A great portion of the land is in hops, and part in woodland. The surface is hilly, and the lowlands are watered by a rapid stream. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £401, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure, with a square embattled tower, surmounted by a low spire. Adjoining the S. aisle is the mortuary chapel of the Scotney family. There is a National school for both sexes. The Wesleyans and Baptists have places of worship. Bayham Abbey, Scotney Castle, and Lamberhurst Court Lodge are the principal residences. At Scotney Castle is a mineral spring similar to those of Tunbridge Wells."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]