TEYNHAM, a parish in the hundred of TEYNHASH,
lathe of SCRAY, county of KENT, 4 miles (B.) from
Sittingbourne, containing 600 inhabitants. The living
is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Canterbury,
rated in the king's books at £10, and in the
patronage of the Archdeacon of Canterbury. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome cruciform
structure, principally in the early style of English architecture;
it contains many brasses and other ancient
memorials, and the windows exhibit fragments of old
stained glass. An accession has lately been made
to the parish by the embankment of the island of Fowley.
Conyer creek, an inlet of the sea, is terminated
by a quay, to which vessels of two hundred and
fifty tons' burden come up and discharge their cargoes
of coal, for the supply of the inhabitants, taking in
the produce of the neighbourhood, for the London and
other markets. The parish abounds with cherry orchards,
and there are a few plantations of hops. Here are vestiges
of a Roman encampment, and the ruins of a palace
formerly belonging to the Archbishops of Canterbury.
Teynham confers the title of baron on the family of
Curzon.