SWINGFIELD, a parish, with a village, in Elham district, Kent; 3½ miles W by S of Ewell r. station, and 5 N of Folkestone. Post town, Canterbury. Acres, 2,638. Real property, £2,608. Pop., 418. houses, 70. A preceptory of the Knights of St. John was founded here in the time of Henry II., and has left interesting remains. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £54. Patron, the Rev. G.Lamotte. The church is good. Bishop Richard de Swingfield, who died in 1316, was a native.

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