In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Horton Kirby like this:
HORTON-KIRBY, a village and a parish in Dartford district, Kent. The village stands on the river Darent, ½ a mile SSE of Farningham r. station, and 4½ SSE of Dartford; and has a post office under Dartford. The parish contains also the hamlets of Pinden and DeanBottom, and part of South Darenth. ...
Acres, 2, 813. Real property, £6, 638. Pop. in 1851, 747; in 1861, 867. Houses, 1 56. The property is divided among a few. The manor was held, at Domesday, by Anschitill de Ros, under Bishop Odo: remained with the family of De Ros till the time of Lora, called the "Lady of Horton;" and went, by marriage with her, to the family of Kirkby, who previously owned adjacent lands. Horton Castle was founded, soon after the Conquest, by the De Ros; was rebuilt, in the time of Edward I., by Roger De Kirkby; seems to have been either rebuilt again or largely restored and altered, at a subsequent period; and is now represented by very considerable remains. Franks is a fine Tudor edifice; was built, in the time of Elizabeth, by Alderman Bathurst; is now the residence of R. Bradford, Esq.; and was recently restored at great expense. Extensive paper mills are at South Darenth. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £214.* Patron, the Rev. G. Rashleigh. The church is mainly early English, but has a modern tower; is cruciform, with the tower rising from the intersection; has arcades round the interior of the transepts; and contains some remains of Roman pavement. A refuge home for boys, at a cost of £12, 000, was built in 1867. There are a national school, and charities £30.
Horton Kirby through time
Horton Kirby is now part of Sevenoaks district. Click here for graphs and data of how Sevenoaks has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Horton Kirby itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Horton Kirby, in Sevenoaks and Kent | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6029
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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