HAWKHURST

hawkhurst, a town in the southern parliamentary division of kent, england, 47 m. s.e. of london, on a branch of the south-eastern & chatham railway. pop. (1901), 3136. it lies mainly on a ridge above the valley of the kent ditch, a tributary of the rother. the neighbouring country is hilly, rich and well wooded, and the pleasant and healthy situation has led to the considerable extension of the old village as a residential locality. the kent sanatorium and one of the barnardo homes are established here. the church of st lawrence, founded from battle abbey in sussex, is decorated and perpendicular and its east window, of the earlier period, is specially beautiful.