Wateringbury

"WATERINGBURY, a parish in the hundred of Twyford, lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 5 miles S.W. of Maidstone, its post town, and 3 S. of Town Malling. It is a station on the South Eastern line of railway. The village, which was formerly a market town, is situated on the road from Maidstone to Tonbridge, near the river Medway, which bounds the parish on the S. It is lighted with gas from works constructed in 1856. The land is partly in hop-grounds and orchards. There are two large breweries in the vicinity. The parish includes the hamlets of Lillyhoo and Watering Cross. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £600, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, has lately been enlarged; it contains tombs of the Styles family. There are a National school for both sexes, and an infant school. 1'. L. Lucas, Esq., is lord of the manor and chief landowner."

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