AYLESFORD, a parish in the hundred of LARKFIELD,
lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 3 miles
(N. N.W.) from Maidstone, and 34 (S.E.) from London,
containing 1136 inhabitants. This place was called
Saissenaig-hobail by the Britons, in commemoration of
their having here defeated the Saxons; and by the latter,
after their settlement in the country, Eaglesford, of which
the present name is a corruption. In the battle above
mentioned, which took place in 455, Horsa, the brother
of Hengist, was slain. In 893, Alfred defeated the
Danes at Fenham, in this parish} and, in 1016, Edmund
Ironside, in a fierce encounter with those invaders,
pursued them to this place with great slaughter, and
drove them hence to Sheppy. In 1240, Ralph Frisburn,
on his return from the Holy Land, founded a Carmelite
monastery, under the patronage of Richard, Lord Grey
of Codnor, many parts of which are still entire, though
the greater portion of the site is occupied by a mansion,
erected by Sir William Sedley, and now the residence of
the Earl of Aylesford. The town is pleasantly situated
on the north-east bank of the river Medway, over which
is a neat modern stone bridge of six arches: it consists
of one principal street, on the east side of which the
ground rises abruptly to an elevation of one hundred
feet. A paper-mill, by the side of a small stream, is the
only manufactory in the place: a pleasure fair is held
on the 2Qth of June. The living is a vicarage, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester, rated in the
king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Dean
and Chapter of Rochester. The church, dedicated to
St. Peter, is situated on rising ground to the east of the
principal street. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan
Methodists. A school for the education of poor
children was endowed, in 1766, by Mr. William Milner,
with a rent-charge of £20, which is paid to a master for
instructing twenty-five boys: the school-room was built
in 1773. An hospital, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was
founded for six aged persons, in 1617. Fragments of
military weapons are frequently discovered here. At
Horsted is a monument of upright stones, erected, as it
is supposed, to the memory of Horsa; and three miles
distant is another, called Kit's Cotty house, to the
memory of Certigorn, brother of Vortimer, who was slain
with that prince in the battle with Hengist and Horsa.
Aylesford confers the title of earl on the family of
Finch. Sir Charles Sedley, a celebrated wit and poet in
the reign of Charles II., was a native of this parish.