COOLING, a parish in the hundred of SHAMWELL,
lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 2 miles (N. by E.)
from Rochester, containing 124 inhabitants. The living
is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester,
rated in the king's books at £ 14, and in the patronage
of T. Best, Esq. and H. Fox. The church is dedicated
to St. James. This parish, originally called Colniges,
or Colneges, from its bleak situation, comprehends the
two villages of Cooling-street and Church-Cooling, and
contains the remains of a castle formerly of great
strength, but long since dismantled.