Gad, Kent

Historical Description

Gad's Hill, an eminence 1 mile NW of Strood, in Kent. An obelisk is on it, to the memory of a local celebrity of the name of Larkins; an inn is on it, called the Sir John Falstaff Inn; and a red brick house on it was inhabited by the novelist, Charles Dickens. The hill got its name from being a resort of " gads," or highway robbers; it formerly had thick woods which gave them shelter; it possessed such bad reputation in the time of Elizabeth as to be appropriately selected by Shakespeare for the scene of the robbery of Falstaff.