TENTERDEN, a market-town and parish within
the cinque-port liberties, having separate jurisdiction,
though locally in the hundred of Tenterden, lathe of
Scray, county of KENT, 18 miles (S. E. by S.) from
Maidstone, and 53 (S. E. by E.) from London, containing
3259 inhabitants. This place, of which the
present name appears to be a corruption of Thelnwarden,
or the ward of Thanes, that is, the guard in the
valley, was one of the first places in which the woollen
manufacture was established, in the reign of Edward III.
It became a scene of opposition to the Church of Rome
at an early period, prior to the Reformation, when, in
the time of Archbishop Warham, forty-eight inhabitants
of the town and its vicinity were publicly accused
of heresy, and five of them condemned to be burned.
The town stands upon a pleasant eminence, surrounded
by some fine plantations of hops; the houses are well
built and of respectable appearance. The town-hall
was built in 1792, the former having been destroyed by
fire, and contains a commodious room occasionally
used for public assemblies. The Royal Military canal
passes within six miles of the town. The market,
principally for corn, is held on Friday; and there is a
fair for horses, cattle, and pedlary, on the first Monday
in May. The inhabitants were incorporated, by the
style of " The Bayliffe and Commonaltie of the Town
and Hundred of Tenterden," and the town annexed as
a member to the town and port of Rye, by Henry VI.;
a new charter was granted in the 42nd of Elizabeth,
changing the style to " Mayor, Jurats, and .Commons,"
according to the provisions of which the town is governed
by a mayor, twelve jurats, and admitted freemen
(not limited as to number), who are the commons: the
mayor,' who is also coroner, annually elected on the
29th of August, and the jurats, are chosen by the
commons, and the latter by the mayor and jurats: a
town clerk, chamberlain, and two Serjeants at mace,
are appointed by the corporation: the mayor and
jurats hold a court of quarter sessions, with power to
try for all offences, except treason, and choose k high
constable and six borsholders for the town and him,
dred. The mayor, and two or more jurats, also hold
a court of record, every fifteen days, for the recovery
of debts to any amount, and for trying all pleas it!
jurisdiction extending over the hundred, which includes
only this parish and part of Ebony.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Canterbury, rated in the king's books ai
£33. 12. 11., and in the patronage of the Dean and
Chapter of Canterbury. The church, which is dedicated
to St. Mildred, is spacious and handsome, with a ldy
tower at the west end, to which a beacon was formerly
attached. There are places of worship for Baptists
Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians. At Smallhythe'
in this parish, is a chapel, erected about 1509, dedicated
to St. John the Baptist, and licensed by faculty
from Archbishop Warham: it is repaired and maintained
out of lands in this parish and that of Wittersham,
vested in feoffees, and the chaplain is appointed
by the inhabitants. It appears that, at the time of
the erection of this chapel, the sea came up to Smallhythe,
as power was then given to inter in the chapelyard
the bodies of shipwrecked persons cast on
shore. The free grammar school founded, at an early
period, by an ancestor of the late Sir Peter Haymah,
was endowed, in 1521, by William Marshall, with a
rent-charge of £10, and, in 1702, by John Mantel,
with the sum of £200, which was laid out in land:
the present income is £58. 15. per annum, which siim
is appropriated to the support of the National school,
six scholars being always kept distinct, and taught the
Latin tongue, on the original foundation; one hundred
boys and eighty girls are instructed; and the vicar
and the members of the corporation are governors;
the remainder of the expense is defrayed by voluntary
contributions. In 1660, Dame Jane Mayhard bequeathed
land for apprenticing children and the maintenance
of poor widows. Hoole, the translator of Tasso,
resided at this place. Tenterden confers the title of
baron on the family of Abbot; Sir Charles Abbot,
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, having
been raised to the peerage by that title, on the 30th
of April, 1827.