TEYNHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Faversham, hundred of Teynham, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 3 ½ miles (E.) from Sittingbourne; containing 845 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the London and Dovor road, and comprises 2439a. 33p., of which the soil in many places is rich and fertile, and marshy in the direction of the Swale, to which the boundaries extend. An accession has lately been made to the parish, by the embankment of the island of Fowley. Conyer creek, an inlet of the sea, is terminated by a quay, to which vessels of 250 tons’ burthen come up and discharge their cargoes of coal, for the supply of the inhabitants, taking in the produce of the neighbourhood for the London and other markets. The district abounds with cherry-orchards, and there are a few plantations of hops, The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £10; net income, £179; patron and appropriator, the Archdeacon of Canterbury. The church is a handsome cruciform structure, principally in the early English style, and contains many brasses and other ancient memorials, with some fragments of old stained glass. Here are vestiges of a Roman encampment, and the ruins of a palace formerly belonging to the archbishops of Canterbury. Teynham confers the title of Baron on the family of Curzon.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV
