Cowden

This parish, wholly within the Weald, lies at the confines of this county, adjoining to Sussex southward, from which it is parted by a stream of the Medway, which comes from one of its four principal heads, which rises at Gravely-hill in that county, whence directing its course eastward along the southern bounds of this parish, it joins the principal stream of it at Penshurst The parish of Cowden is but little known, being situated in a deep soil of clay, very wet and miry. The village, having the church on the east side, stands on a rise, though at a small distance only from the river, which here forms an elbow round the south side of it, where it turns a corn-mill; close to the river about a mile from hence is the Moat farm, and about half a mile westward that now called the Wood, both described hereafter, and at a small distance from the latter is Cowden-furnace. A small quantity of land, and two houses in this parish, were in Kilburne's time, reputed to lie within the hundred of Axstane, but more probably in that of Ruxley, as being perhaps a small part of the borough of Linkhill, parcel of that hundred. A fair is held here on the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, now on the second of August, for cattle and pedlary ware. extract from Hasted's History of Kent published in 1797

Cowden directory of homes, farms, churches, schools, inns, and other places of interest that existed prior to 1900 has been compiled from Census data, Ordnance survey maps and books of the period

Parish & other records		Before 1500	1500 to 1550	1550 to 1600	1600 to 1650	1650 to 1700	1700 to 1725	1725 to 1750	1750 to 1775	1775 to 1800	1800 to 1825	1825 to 1850	1850 to 1875	1875 to 1900	1900 to 1925	1925 to 1950	1950 to 1975	1975 to 2000	After 2000
1735	Births				2	19	18	21	59	138	298	399	443	331	7
656	Christenings				2	18	17	24	59	121	179	180	29	22	5
240	Marriages				12	6	6	8	32	40	58	26	14	18	10	10
58	Deaths					1	3	2	1	8	10	12	7	4	4	4		2
69	Burials					1	3	2	1	7	10	20	9	3	5	4	4

Books and other documents

The History of Tunbridge Wells by Thomas Benge Burr in 1766 - Page 167

The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent - Volume III by Edward Hasted in 1797 - Page 203

The Tunbridge Wells Guide by J. Sprange in 1797 - Page 147

Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex in 1839

New Guide for Tunbridge Wells by John Colbran and edited by James Phippen in 1840 - Page 383

Cowden and its Neighborhood by Robert Willis Blencowe in 1858 - Page 111

Ancient Parochial Account Book of Cowden by The Rev. Edward Turner, M.A. in 1868 - Page 91

Richard Tichbourne's House of Crippenden, in Cowden by Rev. W.A. Scott Robertson in 1882 - Page 153

Kelly's Directory of Kent by E. R. Kelly, M.A., F.S.S. in 1882

Cowden Church by J. Oldrid Scott, F.S.A. & Granville Leveson-Gower, F.S.A. in 1895 - Page 81

The Rectory of Cowden by Leland L. Duncan in 1895 - Page 87

Notes on Three Ancient Houses in the Parish of Cowden by Granville Leveson-Gower, F.S.A. in 1895 - Page 103

Cowden - The Records of a Wealden Parish by Guy Ewing in 1926 - Page 1

Extracts from the Maidstone Journal by Lionel Cole in 2010

Cowden pictures	Cowden Church 1808	Cowden Church Interior 1808	Bazing Farm 1895	Waystrode Farm 1895	Waystrode c 1900	Cowden 1905	Cowden Station 1920
	Claydene 1920