England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Luddesdown St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Luddesdown sits towards the northwest of central Kent, being approximately 5 miles west of the town of Rochester. Luddesdown is a tiny place, little more than a hamlet, today, which sits, in lanes, about 2 miles east of the A227 road which connects Gravesend with Tonbridge. Modern day Luddesdown is just a scatter of farms and cottages across the northern part of The Weald, indeed the Weald Way trail passes through the parish on its way from Gravesend to Eastbourne. A farming settlement Luddesdown would have enjoyed a mixed regime, supplemented with some orchards. There is little obvious surface drainage within the parish but the Medway lies just 3 miles east so much ends up there then heading north to join the outer Thames and the North Sea. Luddesdown is sited at around 60 metres above the sea and sits in a shallow valley with land rising to double that height westwards towards Meopham. Luddesdown parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just under 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Luddesdown was one of the many holdings of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, a small place even then it offered 7 ploughs together with small meadows & woodlands.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits on the western side of the cobbled lane leading to Luddesdown Court, a route followed by the Weald Way. Whilst the church is mediaeval in origin little remains of that period as the church was extensively rebuilt in the 1860s. A scatter of 13th and 14th century remains, the southern doorway, the chancel arch and the two-bay arcade. The remainder of the chancel, the nave, southern porch and western tower were all virtually rebuilt during the major restoration and both chancel and tower were increased in height too. The lane to the church continues the same direction as Luddesdown Road extending south from the village hall, alternative access on foot is from a set of steps and stile from the triangle of land at the junction. There are trees grouped tightly around that western tower limiting the views available.