St Mary's church in Goudhurst was an important sighting point for triangulation during the Anglo-
French survey of 1784-90, an undertaking that led to the creation of the Ordnance Survey. The measured base line for this triangulation, undertaken by General William Roy, RE ran across Hounslow Heath from Kings Arbour (a location in what is now the northern side of London Heathrow Airport) to Hampton Poor House (now Roy Grove, Hampton, west London)