STROUD, (Kent) is parted from Rochester by the Medway. Its Ch. anciently but a chapel of ease to Frindsbury, wan given by Gilbert Glanvil, Bp. of Rochester, to St. Mary's hos. which he founded here; but after the Diss. it was settled by Henry VIII. on the D. and C. of Rochester. The manor, in the R. of Henry III. was granted to the Kts.-Templars, whose mansion here is to this day called the Temple; but after their Diss. it came to the crown, and was granted by Edw. III. to Mary Countess of Pembroke, who gave it to the nuns of Denny-Abbey in Cambridgeshire; but at the Diss. was granted by Henry VIII. to Edw. Elrington, who sold it to George Ld. Cobham, whose grandson, Henry, forfeiting it to the crown in the R. of James I. the K. gave it to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury, whose son, William the Earl, sold it to Mr. Hide, a commissioner of the customs, who sold it also to James D. of Lennox; and thence it was alienated to Mr. Blague, and descended to his son Isaac. Here is a Fair Aug. 15.