Headcorn (St. Peter and St. Paul)

HEADCORN (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Hollingbourne, hundred of Eythorne, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, 8½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Maidstone; containing 1292 inhabitants. This is a place of some antiquity: Moddenden Priory, for Trinitarian friars, was founded here about the year 1224, by Sir Robert de Rokesby, and flourished till the Dissolution, when its revenue was £60. 13.; the site was granted to Thomas, Lord Cromwell, and after his attainder, to Sir Anthony Aucher. The parish is situated on a branch of the river Medway, and comprises 5011 acres, of which 302 are in wood. The village, formerly a market-town, is regularly built: a fair is held in it on the 12th of June. The South-Eastern railway passes close to the place. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15. 13. 4.; net income, £294; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury; impropriators, the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge. The church is principally in the later English style, and contains some remains of painted glass in the windows on the north side. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.