LEE PRIORY, a seat in Ickham parish, Kent; on the Little Stour river, 4 miles E by S of Canterbury. It belonged to the Leighs; passed to the Southlands and the Barretts; had three fronts of an appearance like that of a small convent; was entirely re-modelled, toward the end of last century, by T. Barrett, Esq., after designs by Wyatt; went, in 1803, to the eldest son of Sir Egerton Brydges, then a minor; was afterwards inhabited by Sir Egerton himself, who established at it the famous Lee Priory press; and was purchased, about 1860, by Francais Philips, Esq., and afterwards restored and enlarged, in the domestic Gothic style, after designs by G. G Scott. Some fine old cedars are in the grounds.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))