Ospringe / Ospringe-Liberty

"OSPRINGE-LIBERTY, a parish in the hundred of Faversham, lathe of Scray, county Kent, 1 mile W. by S. of Faversham. This place is an independent franchise, governed by its own constable. On a stream which flows through the village are gunpowder-mills, a range of infantry barracks, and the union workhouse for the union of Faversham. The appropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £832, and the vicarial for £305, and the glebe comprises 32 acres. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £389, in the patronage of St. John's College, Cambridge. The church is an ancient structure dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul. There is a village school. There are remains of Roman fortifications and earthworks, supposed to indicate the site of the ancient Durolevum. Henry III. founded a hospital here, dedicated to the Holy Cross, in 1235, which, falling into decay, was escheated to the crown in the reign of Edward IV., and converted into dwelling-houses."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]