EASTCHURCH, a hamlet, a parish, and a sub-district in Sheppey district, Kent. The hamlet lies on Hensbrook, on the north side of Sheppey-Isle, 6 miles E by S of Queen borough r. station, and 7½ NE of Sittingbourne. It has a post office under Sittingbourne. The parish comprises 7, 511 acres of land, and 1, 110 of water. Real property, £11, 014. Pop., 996. Houses, 191. The property is divided among a few. Shurland manor here belonged to a family of its own name before the time of Henry III.; passed in 1323 to the Cheneys; and went afterwards to the Herberts. A mansion was built on it in the time of Henry VIII., with materials from Chilham castle; and is now a farm house. Eastchurch living is a rectory and a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £1, 724.* Patron, J. Swainson, Esq. The church is perpendicular English; has a conspicuous tower; belonged early to the Cistertian convent of the Dunes, in Flanders; and was transferred to Boxley abbey in Kent. There are chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans. A school has £13 from endowment; and other charities have £38.—The sub-district contains four other parishes. Acres, 19, 548. Pop., 1, 557. Houses, 296.

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