HALDEN (HIGH), a parish in the hundred of
BLACKBOURNE, lathe of SCRAY, county of KENT, 3
miles (N. E. by N.) from Tenterden, containing 724
inhabitants. -The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Canterbury, rated in the king's
books at £19. 4. 7., and in the patronage of the Archbishop
of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to-St.
Mary, is" a large edifice, remarkable for a singular
steeple built in the reign of Henry VI. There is an
endowed- school, under the direction of ten trustees,
possessing an estate of the value of £26 per annum,
founded in 1725, by Mr. James Tyldeh; about twenty
children are educated in it. The rivers Tarn and "the
River" (so called for the sake of distinction, having no
proper name,) run through the parish in their course
to the Medway. The clay being of an excellent quality
for common earthenware, there are many manufactories
for articles of that kind. A mineral, called by
the inhabitants " Crownstone," consisting of the oxyde
of iron, clay, and manganese, is found here in great
quantities; also hones of a particular quality, resembling
those of Turkey; and strata of marble of about three
quarters of an inch thick.