Kingsdown (hamlet)
| Kingsdown | |
|---|---|
 Kingsdown
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| Kingsdown shown within Kent | |
| OS grid reference | TQ9057 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Sittingbourne |
| Postcode district | ME9 |
| Dialling code | 01795 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
Kingsdown is a small hamlet surrounded by the villages of Frinsted, Milstead, Doddington and Lynsted in Kent, England.
The hamlet is within the civil parish of Lynsted with Kingsdown. The area around the hamlet includes the Torry Hill estate.
The hamlet was described by John Marius Wilson in his 1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as a settlement of no more than 18 houses incorporating a population of 96.
The Barony of Kingsdown was a hereditary peerage conferred on Thomas Pemberton Leigh around 1858. Lord Kingsdown never married, and his title therefore became extinct on his death in 1867. Lord Kingsdown's seat was at Torry Hill (see below) which stayed in the family, later to be known as the Leigh-Pembertons. The manor extended to the environs of the hamlet of Kingsdown and was recorded as such by Wilson in 1872.
The title was resurrected this time as a life peerage for Robin Leigh-Pemberton (from a related family line) becoming Baron Kingsdown in 1993.
Torry Hill, approximately 3 km due southwest of Kingsdown hamlet, is the family estate of the Leigh-Pemberton (formerly Pemberton Leigh) line.
The estate typifies a style of environmental management encouraged by downland landed gentry. What was once simple enclosed farmland has been variously sculpted into ornamental parkland through a process of tree thinning, augmentation and managed grazing. The estate property includes eccentric country house follies such as a private cricket ground (which has been in use since the mid-19th century) and the only private Eton Fives court in the world. The association of the estate with leisure pursuits, particularly of the upper classes, is evident from at least the mid-19th century as illustrated by one report in a local newspaper:
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Wikipedia