PECKHAM (WEST), a parish in the hundred of
LITTLEFIELD, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT,
6 miles (N.E.) from Tunbridge, containing, with Oxenoath,
498 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester,
rated in the king's books at £7. 5. 10., endowed with
£200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and
in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester.
The church, dedicated to St.Dunstan, is a small building,
with a tower surmounted by a spire, situated on an
eminence nearly in the centre of the parish. There is
a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. Hops and
fruit are cultivated to a considerable extent, and a fair
is held on Whit-Thursday. A preceptory of Knights
Hospitallers was founded here., in 1408, by John Colepepper,
one of the Justices of the Common Pleas.