BEXLEY, a parish partly in the hundred of LESSNESS,
but chiefly in the hundred of RUXLEY, lathe of
SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 3 miles (W.) from
Dartford, containing 2311 inhabitants. The living is a
vicarage, in the exempt deanery of Shoreham, the whole
of which is within the peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, rated in the king's books at
& 13. 4. 7., and in the patronage of Viscount Sidney.
The church is dedicated to St. Mary. In the reign of
Elizabeth, the manor belonged to Camden, the celebrated
antiquary, who bequeathed it in trust to the
Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford, for
the foundation and endowment of a professorship in
history. A National school for the instruction of sixty
boys and sixty girls was established in 1809, and is
supported by voluntary subscription and an endowment
of £ 8 per annum: there are also almshouses for twelve
persons. The Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart, on retiring
from the chancellorship of the Exchequer, was
created Baron Bexley, March 1st, 1823.