Luddesdown () is a
civil parish in the
Gravesham District of
Kent, England.
Geography
This very rural parish, forming part of the North Downs
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is located in a dry valley to the south of
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
and is named after a scattered group of houses and farms around ''Luddesdown Court'' and its church next to it.
The civil parish also contains its main neighbourhood or street, Henley Street, and separate
hamlets of Great Buckland (though split down the side with
Snodland having essentially the Church) and Boughurst Street to the south; the valley narrows quickly the south to the appropriately named Buckland at the top of the dry valley floor. In this steep valley, facing west, is a
vineyard, Monk's Vineyard; east are these woods: College, Haydown, Brazenden, Scrubes, Wrenches, Goss Hilly and Red Wood to the north east. Apart from this eastern edge, there are Fowles/Brimp, Luxon, Molehill, Freezelands, Round, Tom Loft's, Longfield and Henley Woods. These are part of the now long and narrow
Rochester Forest, much of which would have been used for the
chandlery
A chandlery was originally the office in a wealthy medieval household responsible for wax and candles, as well as the room in which the candles were kept. It could be headed by a chandler. The office was subordinated to the kitchen, and only exist ...
/
shipbuilding of the Medway towns.
[Matthews, Brian (1971) ''The History of Strood Rural District'', Strood Rural District Council.] Most afford access under the
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
Act. There are two country
public houses within the area.
History
Luddesdown is first recorded in 975 as ''Hludes duna'' (Hlud's hill); in 1186 it was Ludesdon and in 1610 Luddesdowne. It is pronounced ''Ludsdun''. In 939 there was a mound nearby called Hludes beorh - suggesting that Hlud was a prominent citizen.
[Glover, Judith (1976) ''The Place Names of Kent'' London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., ]
The church, originally belonging to the local
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul has only II* listing status; it is part of the
ecclesiastical parish of
Cobham to the north. The church school now operates as a village hall.
The small
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
Chapel of
Dode, now just inside Snodland parish, was also associated with Luddesdown. Dode village was ravaged by the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
in 1349; it never recovered and was erased from the map. The Chapel was restored in the 1990s and is an approved premise to conduct civil ceremonies such as weddings.
[The Lost Village Of Dode]
/ref> It is on the W side of the minor road S of Great Buckland.
Luddesdown was a parish in Strood Rural District
Strood Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England.
It was subject to boundary reforms in 1934 and 1935.
It consisted of the following civil parishes:http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10074137&c_id ...
, though local tax levels were set and services were also provided by Kent County Council
Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...
prior to 1974.
The Court itself is early mediæval and Grade I listed for its (inter alia) oak beam supported hall with 10 windows, five to each side, with flint and stone dressing of the whole building. It has wall paintings to the lower chamber and 16th and 19th century extensions. There is a 14th-century fireplace.
Sport and Leisure
The parish also contains a picturesque cricket club, founded in 1947, Luddesdowne CC.Luddesdowne CC
/ref>
References
External links
*
Luddesdown Parish Council website
{{authority control
Villages in Kent
Gravesham
Civil parishes in Kent