NORTHFLEET, a parish in the hundred of TOTTINGTROUGH,
lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT,
1 mile (W.) from Gravesend, and 20 miles (E.) from
London, containing 1964 inhabitants. This place is
mentioned in Domesday-book, and is supposed to have
been more anciently a Roman and a Danish station.
The river Thames bounds the parish on the north. At
a distance from the river the face of the country is diversified
with gently rising hills and small vallies; out
to the north-west the land lies so low as to be overflowed
at high tides, and the flood would extend even beyond
the London road, if not prevented by a raised causeway
and bridge, to which flood-gates are affixed as a barrier
against the tides, and an outlet for the fresh water.
The bridge was erected at an early period, and rebuilt of
brick in 1634, which being found inconvenient, another
has been constructed in a line with the direction of the
road. Large chalk and lime works extend from the
north side of the village to the Thames. Lime is sent
in very considerable quantities for the use of the
builders in London, and is also exported to Holland
and Flanders, the refuse being used for manuring the
land in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The chalk pits
are very extensive, and strata of flint stones abound,
which are frequently wrought into flints for guns. Embedded
in the chalk are found many curious fossils,
chiefly echinites and glossopetra (or sharks' teeth);
and some of the flints enclose cockle-shells filled with
chalk, forming singular natural curiosities. Here is a
large yard for ship-building, near which is a spacious
dock excavated in the solid chalk, and capable of containing
six or seven large ships; the first vessel built
here was the Royal Charlotte, East Indiaman, in 1789.
At this place is an establishment for the manufacture
of Parker's Roman cement. Fairs are held on Easter
and Whit Tuesdays, and on the 24th of March. The
living is a vicarage, within the exempt deanery of Shoreham,
in the- peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, rated in the king's books at £21, and in
the patronage of the Crown. The .church, which is dedicated
to St. Botolph, is one of the largest in the
diocese: it displays various.styles of English architecture,
with some good decorated windows; in the chancel
are the remains of some ancient oak stalls; in the
south wall are three stone seats, and on a slab in the
pavement a. full-length brass figure of a priest standing
beneath a richly-ornamented canopy, with an imperfect
Latin inscription around the verge of the slab; the
grave beneath being opened about forty years ago, the
body of Peter de Lucy was found enveloped in leather.
Among the monuments of more modern date is a fine
alabaster tomb to the memory of Dr. Edward Browne,
physician to Charles II., and author of Travels in Hungary.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Me-
thodists.