A HISTORY OF KENT 



tnoating includes within the protected area some remains of a Com- 

 mandery of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 



At Horton Kirkby, over two miles up stream, the river Darent is 

 divided into two courses, which run, at Sutton, about a quarter of a mile 

 apart ; the remains, being on the eastern side of the western course, 

 lie between the two streams, the western one forming one side of the 

 moat. 



ToNGE Castle. — Tong, or Tonga, is on the low lands south of the 

 Swale, only about 40 ft. above sea level. 



There is evidence of a castle here soon after the Conquest, and it 

 is highly probable that defences of some description guarded the site in 

 earlier days. 



With the Watling Street close by on the south and, on the north, a 

 creek of the Swale,' the importance of the position to Saxon or Dane is 



A=^.^Et8 C->^^r~D 





M//f 



ToNGE Castle. 



manifest ; either may have wrought a work here, but it was probably 

 altered in late Norman times to accommodate buildings of masonry. 



A large pond now occupies the southern portion, and though 

 possibly a sheet of water aided defence on this side, it is more likely 

 that the mill-pond is of later mediaeval date, its construction destroying 

 much of what was before-time a stronghold of more power than its 

 present poor remains suggest. 



The moat, now much silted up, was doubtless deep enough to 

 receive water from the strong springs which rise on the south-west of it 

 to fill it, and there may have been a moat enclosing the raised platform, 

 or keep, but the whole place is in so poor a state of preservation that 

 any attempt to realize its former condition is somewhat difficult. 



It will be noticed that an entrance exists on the east ; this may be 

 the original site, but in early times the access would have been by a 



' The Swale is said to have been part of the main waterway from the continent to London from 

 early days till the thirteenth or fourteenth century. 



434 



