PENSHURST, a parish in the hundred of SOMERDEN, lathe of SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Tunbridge, containing 1392 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, rated in the king's books at A 30. 6. Of., and in the patronage of Sir J. S. Sidney Bart. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, has a spire steeple and three chancels, and is rich in ancient monuments. There is a place of worship for Independents. The river Eden here meanders in divided streams, and unites with the Medway in its course to Tunbradge. Penshurst castle, adjoining the village, is a noble pile erected in the reign of Henry VIII., on the site of an ancient mansion, which, in the time of William the Conqueror, belonged to the Penchester family; but, since that of Edward IV., to the Sydneys, from whom Sir Philip Sydney was descended. A fair is held here on June 25th and 26th; on the evening of the latter day, as soon as it is dusk, the young peasants in the vicinity, and sometimes the gentry, have been accustomed, time immemorially, to resort to a flat wooden bridge over the river Medway, about a quarter of a mile off, and there dance all night; a public house, two or three cottages near the bridge, and the bridge itself, being illuminated. In the neighbourhood are remains of a Roman fortification. Penshurst gives the inferior title of baron to the family of Smythe, Viscounts Strangford.