Cuxton - History

History

Archaeological evidence suggest the first human occupation was around 200,000 years ago. A hoard of 196 handaxes from the Acheulian era was excavated in 1962. This is now displayed in the British Museum. The name is believed to have developed from "Cucula's stone".

Remains of a Roman villa was found under the church yard. The Saxons occupied the village and it became known as Cuckelstane. The church and parish was given by Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons to the Cathedral church of St. Andrew, Rochester. The church contains much Norman architecture, and is unusual as it lies on a southeast northwest axis. This gave rise to the rhyme, He that would see a church miswent / Let him go to Cucklestane in Kent.

In Tudor times the principal house in the village was Whorne's Place, erected on the river by Sir William Whorne, Lord Mayor of London in 1487. This was later owned by Sir Joseph Levinson (1556-1615) the privateer. This was taken over by the Mashams, strong royalists who moved on to the Mote in Maidstone. The mansion was demolished in 1782 and only an outlying granary, now a house still bearing the name Whorne's Place, survives in 2011.

The only other manor in Tudor Cuxton was that of Beresse or Beresh, now known as Bush. It doesn't survive.

In 1610, William Laud was rector of Cuxton; he later became Archbishop of Canterbury under Charles I and was executed by the puritans in 1645 because of his strong royalist loyalties.

In Upper Bush there are four houses dating from 14th century and a Tudor Kentish Yeoman's house. A tin chapel from Cuxton was dismantled and re-erected at the Museum of Kent Life, Sandling.