ASHURST, a parish in the hundred of WASHLINGSTONE,
lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 4 miles
(W.) from Tonbridge-Wells, containing 208 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Rochester, rated in the king's
books at £5. 4. 7-, endowed with £200 private benefaction,
and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage
of Earl De la Warr. The church, a low mean building,
was, before the Reformation, famous for a rood or
crucifix, the supposed miraculous powers of which
attracted numerous pilgrims. The river Medway,
which is here but an inconsiderable stream, bounds
the parish on the north-west.