672 K E 
gentleman, one of the greateft improvers and one cf the 
moll public-fpirited perfons this nation ever bred, intro¬ 
duced feveral other inventions. Copperas was alfo for¬ 
merly made,.together with britnftone, in the Ille of Shep- 
pey. But the original, and for many ages the principal, 
m ami failure of this county, was broad-cloth of different 
colours, eftablilhed chiefly at Cranbrook by king Edward 
III. who brought over Flemings to improve and perfect 
(the trade being introduced long before) his fubjeds in 
that important art. At this and other places it flourifhed 
fo much, that even at the dole of queen Elizabeth’s reign, 
and according to l’ome accounts much later, the belt for 
home-confumption, and the largeft quantities for exporta¬ 
tion, were wrought here; many fulling-mills being ereded 
upon almoft every river, and the great plenty of excellent 
fullers’-earth affording them lingular afliftance; infomuch 
that it is (fill a tradition, that the yeomanry of this 
county, for which it has been ever famous, were mottly 
the descendants of rich clothiers, who laid out the money 
acquired by their induftry in the purchafe of lands, which 
they tranfinitted, with their free and independent 1'pirit, 
to their polferity. The duke of Alva’s periecution of the 
Proteftants in the Low Countries drove a multitude of 
Walloons over hither, who brought with them that inge¬ 
nuity and application for which they had been always 
diftinguifned. Thefe diligent and adive people fettled a 
manufactory of flannel or baize at Sandwich. By them 
the filk looms were let up at Canterbury, where they Itill 
fubfilt ; and they alfo introduced the making of thread at 
Maidftone, where it yet remains, and merits more notice 
and encouragement than hitherto it has met with. 
Upon the river Dart, at the confluence of which with 
the Thames Hands the town of Dartford, was let up, in 
the reign of queen Elizabeth, the firlt mill for making- 
white paper, by Mr. John Spilman, a German, upon whom, 
long after, king James conferred the honour of knight¬ 
hood ; and king Charles bellowed upon him a patent and 
a penfion of zool. a-year, as a reward of his invention, 
and for the fupport of the manufacture. About the year 
1590, Godfrey Box, a German, erected upon the fame ri¬ 
ver the firft llitting-mill which was ever uled for making 
iron wire ; and alfo the firlt battery-mill for making cop¬ 
per-plates. Other new inventions, requiring the afliltance 
of water, have been let up on other ftreatns ; and a great 
variety of machines of this fort llill fubfift in different 
parts of this county. But thefe things are now l'o com¬ 
mon, that it would be both tedious and ufelefs to infiff 
upon them. Amongft thefe, we may reckon the making- 
gunpowder in feveral places. That manufacture, how¬ 
ever, which is now the glory of this county, and indeed 
ot Britain, is ihip-building; more efpecially at the royal 
yards; as at Woolwich, which was fettled by Henry VIII. 
and fome confiderable ihips built there. At prefent, 
there is not only a moH complete ellablilhment for the 
bujlding and equipping men of war, a rope-walk, foun- 
dery, and magazines ; but alfo many private docks, in 
which prodigious bufinefs is carried on, and multitudes 
of people are employed. 
Kent is primarily divided into five large difiriCts, called 
Laths, viz. Sutton at Hone, Aylesford, Scray, Shipway, 
and St. Augufiine. Thefe are lubdivided into bailiwicks, 
hundreds, and liberties. The whole county contains four¬ 
teen bailiwicks, fixty-three hundreds, fifteen franchifes or 
liberties, the two cities of Canterbury and Rochelter, and 
thirty-four market-towns, though in l’ome of t.hele the 
market is difcontimied. The number of houles, accord¬ 
ing to the returns under the population act of 1800, 
amounted to 52,998 ; that of inhabitants to 307,614. For 
local purpofes, the county is nearly equally divided into 
Eait and Welt Kent: the former contains the laths of Sut¬ 
ton at Hone, Aylesford, and the fouthern part of Scray; 
the latter the northern part of the lath of Scray, and thofe 
of Shipway and St. Augufiine. In each of thefe great 
difiricts, a court of feffion is held four times every year ; 
twice originally and twice by adjournment; thole for the 
N T. 
1 
eafiern divifion at Canterbury, for the wefiern at Maid- 
Hone. The jufiices, though appointed for the whole 
county, generally confine their attention to that difiriiSt 
in which they refide. The county-town is Maidfione, 
where the affiles are held, and the knights of the fliire are 
elected. Kent returns eighteen members to parliament; 
viz. two for the county, and two each for Canterbury, 
Rochefier, Maidfione, Queenborough, Dover, Sandwich, 
Romney, and Hithe. The four latt are reckoned among 
the Cinque Ports. The ecclefiaftical jurifdidion is di¬ 
vided between the archbilliopric of Canterbury and the 
bilhopric of Rochefier; the former having eleven deane¬ 
ries, containing 281 parilhes; the latter four deaneries, 
containing 132 parilh.es. 
The general afped of Kent is very beautiful; a riling 
from the inequality of the furface, the diverfity of the fee- 
nery, and the variety in the verdure. “The whole coun¬ 
ty,” Mr. Halted oblerves, “ excepting the marlhes and 
the Weald, is a general duller of final! hills ; two chains 
of which, higher than the reft, run through the middle of 
Kent, from weft to eaft, in general at about eight miles 
difiance from each other, (though at fome places much 
lels,) and extending from Surrey to the fea.” Thefe are 
called the Upper and Lower Hills, and are inoftly covered 
with coppice and woodlands. The northern range, and. 
indeed the whole north fide of the county, is compofed 
principally of chalk and flints, as well as a large trad on 
the eafiern coalt; the fouthern range is chiefly of iron- 
ltone and rag-ltone ; to the weltward, clay and gravel 
prevail on the eminences. 
The .hop-grounds, extending from Maidfione and Can¬ 
terbury to Sandwich, are very produdive, and under a 
good lyftem of management; though the foils are dif¬ 
ferent, as well as the kind of hops cultivated. The plan¬ 
tations have of late years been greatly increafed, particu¬ 
larly in thole parts contiguous to Maidfione, Feverlham, 
and Canterbury ; the plantations called the City Grounds 
extend through a circuit of two miles and a half round 
Canterbury, and are eftimated to include fropi 2500 to 
3000 acres. The hops grown here-, and in the grounds 
running hence to Sandwich, are very rich in quality, and 
in much requeft for their great ftrength ; if well managed, 
they are alfo of a good colour. Thofe grounds are found 
molt produdive which have a deep rich loamy furface, 
with a fub-foii of deep loamy brick earth ; and this kind 
of land forms the principal part of the plantations of Eaft 
Kent; though there are fome good grounds where the 
furface is very flinty. The produce is fubjed to great 
fluduation ; in fome years amounting to fourteen or fif¬ 
teen hundred weight per acre ; in others not exceeding 
two hundred. In drying hops, a fmall quantity of brim- 
ftone is fometimes ufed, in order to fuffocate the infeds, 
and occafion a more fpeedy evaporation of the fuperfluous 
xnoifture ; by the ufe of the fulphur, the hops are thought 
alfo to be improved in colour. In the plantations of 
Maidftone, and its vicinity, very great crops of hops are 
grown; but they are inferior in quality to thofe of Can¬ 
terbury and Eaft Kent. The hop-plantations afford em¬ 
ployment to great numbers of the poorer claffes, not only 
of this, but of other counties ; and the motley groups that 
affemble to affill in hop-picking are truly amufing. Hops 
are generally regarded as having been introduced into this 
country about the time of Henry VI. and in the year 
1428, they were petitioned againft as wicked weed. This, 
however, can only refer to the ufe of them, for they are 
found wild in almoft every part of Britain. They came 
into more general ufe in the reigns of Henry VIII. and 
Elizabeth. Nearly one-fourth of the whole produce of 
the hop-duty in England is paid from the plantations of 
Eaft Kent. 
The Weald of Kent is a confiderable and remarkable 
trad, ftretcliing along the fouth fide of the county, from 
Romney Marlh to Surrey ; on the north it is bounded by 
the range of hills which enter the county near Well- 
ftreet, and extends, in nearly a due-wefterly diredion, to 
Suttou 
