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| St Luke's Churchyard |
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Charlton is referred to in the Domesday Book as Cerletone, but there was an earlier settlement in the district during the Roman occupation. A church is mentioned in 1077 and the manor came within Bermondsey Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. On the nearby village green Charlton Hornfair was held on St Luke's Day, 18 October, until 1816, and may have dated from the time of King John granting the rights to hold the fair to a miller. When the green became part of Charlton House grounds the fair moved to Fairfield but was later stopped in 1872. The medieval parish church was rebuilt in the 1630s with money given by the family of Adam Newton who built Charlton House nearby, a rare example of a church built during the reign of Charles I. Monuments to Sir Adam and his wife Lady Newton are in the church, which also has a portrait bust of Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister, who was assassinated in the House of Commons in 1812. The church helped ships on the river find their way in the past. |
