FARNINGHAM, a parish in the hundred of AXTON-DARTFORD-and-WILMINGTON,
lathe of SUTTON at HONE,
county of KENT, 5 miles (S. E. by E.) from Foot's
Cray, containing 586 inhabitants. The living is a
vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of
the Archbishop of Canterbury, rated in the king's books
at £9. 5. 10. The church, dedicated to St. Peter and
St. Paul, is principally in the early style of English
architecture, having at the west end a handsome flint
tower, and containing brasses and other remnants of
antiquity, with an octagonal font curiously and elaborately
carved. Farningham, anciently Fremingham,
signifying the village by the brook, is situated on the
high road from London to Maidstone, on the river
Darent, which is crossed by a bridge of four arches,
and has some paper-mills on its banks: it had formerly
a market on Tuesday, and a fair for four days, commencing
annually on the eve of St. Peter's day; there is still
a fair for horses and cattle on the 15th of October.