Snargate

Snargate is a village in Kent, England, four miles West of New Romney and on the route of the old watercourse Rhee Wall. The name is derived from sluice gates that were used to control water levels on the Rhee. St Dunstan Church, dating from around 1200, was (like other isolated churches in this area) associated with smuggling.

Cleric and novelist Richard Barham (aka Thomas Ingoldsby) was ordained in 1813 and found a curacy at Snargate, marrying Caroline Smart the following year. While there he wrote his first novel Baldwin, published in 1820, which was unsuccessful. He began his second novel, My Cousin Nicholas, though this was not published until 1834. Barham moved to London in 1821, but remained vicar of Snargate until 1824 when he was appointed as rector of St Mary Magdalen and St Gregory by St Paul's, living at Amen Corner in St Paul's Churchyard.