CHARLTON, a parish (formerly a market-town) in the hundred of BLACKHEATH, lathe of SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 6 miles (E.) from London, containing 1626 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester, rated in the king's books at £ 10. 7. 8., and hr. the patronage of Sir T. M. Wilson, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Luke, was rebuilt of brick about 1640; it has a square embattled tower at the west end, and in the windows are various armorial bearings in stained glass; it contains some pieces of ancient armour, banners, and'several handsome monuments, among which last is one to the memory of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, who was interred here. A charity school was built by Sir William Langhorn, who endowed' it, in 1714, with a bequest of £300; it is conducted on the National system, and affords instruction to sixty boysand forty girls. Sir William also left £ 1000 to increase: the rector's income. An infant school is supported by subscription, and there are four ancient almshouses.- Charlton, in old records called Cerletone and Ceorletone, from Ceorle, the Saxon term for husbandman, is a- neat village, situated on rising ground, commanding a fine prospect of the Thames. A weekly market on Monday, and a fair on Trinity eve, were formerly held here, under a grant from Henry III. to the monks of Bermon'dsey, who possessed the manor from the close of the eleventh century until the period of the dissolution of religious houses: the market has been long discontinued; the fair, now held 'on St. Luke's day, is termed Horn fair,- from the numerous articles made of horn brought for sale from London. The jurisdiction of the court of requests for the recovery of debts under 40s., which is held alternately at Bromley, Greenwich, and Woolwich, extends over this parish, the inhabitants having the right to nominate six commissioners. Sir Thomas Wilson, as lord of the manor, holds a court leet occasionally. In the vicinity are many neat villas; and- nearly opposite the church stands the manor-house, a spacious building crowned with turrets, erected in 1612, in front of which there is a row of cypresses said to be the first planted in England. In 1665, the neighbourhood suffered severely from the plague, and from a violent tempest.