LEEDS, a parish in the hundred of EYHORNE, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 5 miles (E. by S.) from Maidstone, containing 515 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, to which that of Broomfield is united, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Canterbury, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, has at the west end a remarkably low square tower. Leeds is said to have derived its name from Ledian, counsellor to Ethelbert II., who built here a fortress in 978. Subsequently, in 1119, a priory of Black canons, in honour of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, was founded by Robert de Crepito Corde, alias Creveceur, or Croucheart, Knt., the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £362. 7. 7. The abbey church was equal in magnitude and beauty to a cathedral, and the monastic buildings, considerable remains of which still exist, were of correspondent size and grandeur. Leeds castle, the residence of the family of Fairfax, is one of the most stately in the kingdom; it is seated in a beautiful park, is surrounded by a moat, and approached by a stone bridge of two arches; the buildings, which are entirely of stone, are ranged round a spacious quadrangle, and though they exhibit the architecture of diiferent periods, the structure as a whole produces a most striking and noble effect. It has two ancient gateways, a grand hall, and a magnificent suite of state apartments; there are also the remains of the inner vallum, of the keep, and of various other detached parts, said to have been erected by the Creveceurs, its ancient owners, by William of Wykeham, and by Henry VIII. George III. and his royal consort were entertained here with great splendour in their excursion to Coxheath Camp, in 1779 Courts leet and baron are held annually, at which three officers, termed Borsholders, are appointed.