Kent.
The stranger who chances to attend Divine service in Farnborough parish church on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, has his attention arrested by the floor of the porch being strewed with reeds. By an abstract of the will of George Dalton, Gent., of Farnborough, dated December 3rd, 1556, set forth on a mural tablet in the interior of the church, he learns that this gentleman settled a perpetual annuity of 13s. 4d. chargeable upon his lands at Tuppendence: 10s. to the preacher of a sermon on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, and 3s. 4d. to the poor. Local traditional lore affirms that Mr. Dalton was saved from drowning by reeds, and that the annual sermon and odd manner of decorating the porch are commemorative of the event. This day is called by the inhabitants of the village, Reed Day or Flag Day.—Maidstone Gazette, 1859.