STONE-near-DARTFORD, a parish in the hundred
of AXTON-DARTFORD-and-WILMINGTON, lathe of SUTTON
at HONE, county of KENT, 2 miles (E. by N.) from
Dartford, containing 514 inhabitants. The living is a
rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester,
rated in the king's books at £26.10., and in the patronage
of the Bishop of Rochester. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary, is much admired as being a peculiarly
fine specimen of the later style of English architecture;
it contains several ancient stalls, remarkable for
the elegance of their workmanship and the delicacy
of their pillars, which are of crown, marble. The river
Thames bounds the parish on the north. Stone Castle
stands to the south of the high Dovor road, and is said
to be one of the one hundred and fifteen castles which
were not dismantled in accordance with an express
stipulation to that effect between Stephen and Henry II.
From the rents of the lands attached to it twenty-six
sermons are annually preached, one on each Wednesday
during summer, alternately at Gravesend and Dartford,
agreeably to the will of Dr. Plume, founder of the PIumian
Professorship at Cambridge.