Bishopsbourne, a parish in Kent, with a station on the Elham Valley railway, 4 miles SE by S of Canterbury, under which it has a post and telegraph office ; money order office, Bridge. Acreage, 2024; population, 316. The manor belonged once to the Archbishops of Canterbury, and afterwards to the Colepeppers and the Auchers. Bourne Park is a seat in the neighbourhood. Some Saxon barrows on the higher ground were opened in 1844. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £600 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is Perpendicular English, was restored in 1843, and again in 1872; has a modern east window of five lights to the memory of Richard Hooker. Hooker was rector from 1595 till his death in 1600, and the parsonage, though greatly modernized, retains parts which probably were in it in his time.
