GOUDHURST, a village and a parish in Cranbrook district, Kent. The village stands on a hill, near the river Tees, 4 miles WNW of Cranbrook, and 5 S by W of Marden r. station; was formerly a seat of the clothing trade, and a market-town; and has now a post office‡ under Staplehurst, a news-room, and fairs on 26 Ang., and 5 Nov. The parish comprises 9, 685 acres. Real property, £13, 322. Pop., 2, 778. Houses, 535. The property is considerably divided. Goudhurst hill has an altitude of 491 feet; forms part of a range, about 3 miles long; and is skirted, on the W, by the river Tees. Bedgebury Park was long the residence of the Bedgeburys; passed to the Colepepers, the Stephensons, the Cartiers, and the Beresfords; and is now the seat of A. J. B. Hope, Esq. Combwell was once a priory, and afterwards the residence of the Campions. Finchcocks belonged to the Finchcock family in the time of Henry III.; and the present mansion was built by the Bathursts in 1725. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £432.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church stands on a lofty site; commands, from its tower, an extensive and noble view; is itself a fine old edifice; was about to be restored in June, 1865; and contains many monuments of the Colepepers and the Campions. The vicarage of Kilndown is a separate benefice. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a Primitive Methodist chapel, a national school, an endowment of £ 40 for a grammar school, and other charities with £75.

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