SEVENOAKS, a market town of Kent, England, situated on high ground about a mile from the railway station, 25 miles south-east of London by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, and 20 by the South-Eastern Railway. It consists principally of two streets which converge at the south end, near which is the church of St Nicholas, of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, restored in 1878, and containing monuments of the Amherst family and a tablet to William Lambarde, the "Perambulator" of Kent (d. 1601), removed from the old parish church of Greenwich when that was demolished. At the grammar school founded in 1418 by Sir William Sevenoke, lord mayor of London, George Grote received his education. There is also a school founded by Lady Margaret Boswell, wife of Sir William Boswell, ambassador to Charles I. at The Hague, and almshouses founded by Sir William Sevenoke in connexion with his school. The Walthamstow Hall for 100 children, daughters of Christian missionaries, erected at a cost of £22,000, was opened in 1882. Close to Sevenoaks is Knole Park, one of the finest old residences in England, which in the time of King John was possessed by the earl of Pembroke, and after passing to various owners was bought by Archbishop Bourchier (d. 1486), who rebuilt the house. He left the property to the see of Canterbury, and about the time of the dissolution it was given up by Cranmer to Henry VIII. By Elizabeth it was conferred first on the earl of Leicester and afterwards on Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset, by whom it was in great part rebuilt and fitted up in regard to decoration and furniture very much as it at present exists. In the time of Elizabeth county assizes were held in the town. Of late years Sevenoaks has very much increased by the addition of villa residences for persons having their business in London. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 2028 acres) in 1871 was 4118, and in 1881 it was 6296.