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Some Kent villages are very small indeed - a church, a public house and a few farm buildings. Others are large enough to aspire to the status of small towns. Some are growing, some dwindling. Several began as insignificant hamlets, grew to major importance, only to sink back again into very minor roles. One or two are even starting all over again, supported by modern industry or commuter-based economies after iron, wool or agriculture lost their buoyancy. Some villagers may feel that their village has been unfairly treated - not enough said about one feature, too much, perhaps, about another. Some may even be surprised that their village is not included. But, unfortunately, there has to be an element of selection in some cases, while in others, insufficient data is to hand. Rest assured, though, these pages will be updated whenever possible, and, any information submitted from visitors to this site is, always, most gratefully received.
This is a splendid place to start the tour of Kent villages. It is slap in the middle of the Isle of Thanet, where nearly all of Kent's history began, although the surrounding terrain has been described, a little uncharitably, perhaps, as a cabbage prairie. That is because Thanet is characteristically flat and relatively tree-less and much of the land is given over to growing market garden crops. But Acol has tried hard to be inconspicuous and perhaps only thatirrepressible cleric and author of the Ingoldsby Legends, Richard Barham, ever learned anything worth recording about it.
Barham's story begins with his prose introduction to The Smuggler's Leap - A Legend of Thanet, in which he wrote: 'Near this hamlet is a long-disused chalk-pit of formidable depth known by the name of The Smuggler's Leap'. He went on to versify the tradition of the parish that the name derived from an incident in which a Riding Officer called Anthony Gill from Sandwich, lost his wife in the early 18th century while in pursuit of a smuggler, when both rode their horses over the pit's edge. According to the Legend:
Below were found next day on the ground
By an elderly gentleman walking his round
(I wouldn't have seen such a sight for a pound)
All smash'd and dash'd, three mangled corpses
Two of them human - the third was a horse's
The story went that Exciseman Gill, in his eagerness to catch the smuggler, bargained with the Devil for a horse that could match his quarry's. He got it, but of course it was no mortal animal and so, when they all tumbled into the pit, the Devil-lent steed survived, leaving the locality to be haunted by the ghosts of Smuggler Bill and Old Gill, but only one of their horses, the smuggler's grey. The cliff-faced pit is still there.
Even the local people may well question the inclusion of Acrise among a collection of villages. There is no discernible village centre in the usual sense, and the only impression of any kind of community is to be found among the scattering of houses around the 16th century red brick mansion that is Acrise.
Actually, Acrise Place is two houses, one Tudor and the other Carolean, joined by a Georgian portico. It came into the ownership of the Papillon family in 1666 after David Papillon came to England in 1588 from France. He became a prosperous civil engineer and it was his son, Thomas, who bought the house, which he enlarged.
It was the family's home for almost 200 years until, in 1861, it was sold and changed hands several times before it was bought by the War Department in 1938. Then, in 1950, it was bought back by Arthur Papillon who began the work of restoring it from its semi-derelict condition but died in 1955 before the work was completed.
The little church of St Martin hides itself away in the grounds of Acrise Place although it is much older than the house, with some surviving Norman stonework and lots of memorials to various members of the Papillon family.
The parish of Addington contains some of Kent's most ancient antiquities although many of the houses could encourage the casual visitor to think the village is relatively modern.
In fact, it regards itself as one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in England. Stone Age people lived hereabouts 4,000 years ago. At least, they certainly died and were buried here, as evidenced by the Neolithic burial chambers in Park Road, between the village green and the village hall. They date from about 2,500 BC and the descendants of their occupants were probably still farming the area when the Romans arrived and also lived and died in the vicinity, as did their Saxon successors.
Addington was part of one of those Kentish manors that was given to Bishop Odo after he was made Earl of Kent as a reward for his part in the Norman Conquest. After his fall from grace and banishment from England, successive owners included a long line of the Watton family, who held it until 1750.
The old Manor House was demolished after WW2, but some of the present properties are built on the site, including The Bungalow in Addington Park and The Lodge in Park Road. Addington Park Lodge identifies one of the entrances to the park and the stables have been converted to chapels by the Seekers Trust, who bought the estate in the 1930s.
There are four fairly distinct areas of the parish. The Green is the most obvious part, with the 14th century one-time coaching inn, the Angel, and several other rather fine old buildings. The house now called St Vincent's was formerly 15th century Hedgehogs Farm. It was enlarged in the 1770s by Admiral Parry, who was the father-in-law of Captain Locker who taught Midshipman Nelson his seamanship and it has been said that it was Nelson who suggested the name for the new house.
On a mound behind a screen of trees, the later tower of the Norman church of St Margaret of Antioch is something of a local landmark. The four bells in the tower have been described as some of the most interesting in Kent, having sounded over the parish fro more than 500 years, although recast in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Across the road from the church is the prehistoric burial chamber known as The Chestnuts, a group of leaning Sarsen stones, all that remains of a once earth covered barrow first recorded by John Harris in the 18th century and by Josiah Colebrook, who thought it was an Ancient British temple, in 1745. Flinders Petrie recorded twenty four standing stones in 1880.
A local parson who dug into the site in 1845 found some pottery pieces and more pottery was found at the beginning of the 20th century. The barrow was in ruins by the time the site excavated properly by Dr John Alexander in 1957, when some of the fallen stones were restored to their former upright positions. Today, the site is most easily identified by a group of modern houses, called The Chestnuts, near the Angel Inn.
Addington has the A20 on one side and the parallel M20 on another side. At the foot of the Downs, its near neighbours include commercial sand pits, West Malling golf and country club and the 37 acres of Addington Park which for more than fifty years has been owned by the Seekers Trust as a centre for prayer and spiritual healing.
A link is provided here for more info on the Addington Neoliths.
This is one of the Nailbourne Valley villages, watered by that stream that, legend has it, resulted from a spring that welled up where St Augustine knelt to pray for the end of a 6th century drought. The miracle so incensed the Saxon pagan gods that they conjured up a great storm that dammed the offending stream but the greater deity prevailed by insisting that, nevertheless, the stream would flow once every seven years.
The village groups round its long, narrow main street which ends at a triangular open green where the Early English Holy Innocents' church stands on the site of a much earlier, perhaps 7th century one. The present church is an unusual (in Kent, at any rate) cruciform building with a pyramid-capped 13th century flint tower.
One of its rectors, the Rev John Bland, was among the first of the Kentish martyrs of the Marian persecutions when he was burned at the stake at Canterbury in 1555. He was accused of heresy, imprisoned, bailed and then re-arrested two months later, spending ten months in prison before he was led to the stake which he shared with a colleague from Rolvenden.
It was from Aldington that composer David Fanshawe set out on his voyage of discovery of Native African melodies that resulted in his famous African Sanctus. The village has something of a tradition for literary and musical residents. Just outside the village is Aldington Knoll, a grassy mound that rises above the surrounding countryside. Ford Madox Ford, who lived in Aldington, wrote a poem called Aldington Knoll which tells how the owner of the land once wanted to level it, but no labourers would do the work because of a local belief that anyone who disturbed it was sure of a bad end. Eventually, the landowner got a man from outside the village to do the work, and he dug up a skeleton and a sword before he died. That was the last time anyone meddled with the Knoll.
During WW2 the Knoll was used as an observation post from which, it's said, could be seen the towers of thirty six churches, and, presumably, many more enemy aircraft.
Noel Coward had a house, 17th century Goldenhurst, at Aldington from 1929 until 1956. It was there that he composed many of his most famous melodies and lyrics, including Room with a View, said to have been inspired by the view from one of the rooms of the former farmhouse.
In 1984 the village found fame through one of its residents again when Barnaby, a St Bernard's dog bred by Sheila Boulden of Middle Park Farm, starred as the dog in a poster advertising campaign for thermal insoles for shoes.
History, however, has not always blessed Aldington with such happy associations. It was the home of Elizabeth Barton, The Tudor servant girl whose visions earned her the reputation of Holy Maid of Kent. Later historians have tended to think she was probably made use of by politically motivated betters, but in her day she achieved some fame by claiming to see visions and by making remarkable statements whenever she went into one of her 'ecstasies'.
But one day she began to speak against the king's planned divorce and marriage to Anne Boleyn, saying that she had devine instructions to command His Majesty to mend his ways or suffer God's vengeance and the loss of his kingdom. Henry VIII was not a monarch who took kindly to instructions, not even devine ones, and Elizabeth was committed to the Tower of London where she confessed she had never had any visions at all. Some of her 'followers' admitted that they had been a stronger source of her inspiration than the Almighty, and that they had used her for political ends. In 1534 Elizabeth and her 'accomplices' were executed at Tyburn, after Henry had already married Anne.
Three hundred years later, the notorious Aldington Gang of smugglers had their headquarters in the village, and fought more than one pitched battle with law enforcement officers and soldiers in the neighbourhood. One of the gang leaders, farmer George Ransley, built the Bourne Tap at Aldington out of the money he had made from smuggling. It is a private house now, but the village still remembers its links with the heyday of the smuggling trade and with the infamous Aldington Gang, also known as The Blues.
The epitaph Here lieth Herbert, offspring of Simon. A man open-hearted, assured by hope of good things, fluent in words of faith is inscribed on the lid on the stone coffin of Herbert de Averenches, monk of St Radigund's Abbey at Alkham. The coffin lid is now in the church of St Anthony the Martyr, and the inscription is claimed to be the earliest to be found in any Kent church, dating as it does from the 12th century.
Alkham is a pleasant little village, snuggled into the woods and Downs west of Dover, and well worth a visit just for the pleasure of finding such a delightful spot. The church was built in the early 13th century by monks of nearby St Radigund's Abbey, the remains of which brood demurely at the end of a narrow country lane leading out of the village. When the Abbey was closed by Henry VIII, most of the stone of which it was built was carted away to help build Henry's coastal defence castle at Sandgate during the invasion scare after 1538.
Several of the villages on the Hoo peninsular, where the Thames and the Medway would meet if this fist of land were not between them, are known by the name of their churches with the addition of 'Hoo'. Thus, there is St Mary's Hoo, and Hoo St Werburgh, and this one, which is properly Hoo Allhallows, its church being All Saints.
For most of its life Allhallows has been an agricultural outpost, but in the 1930's the river frontage a mile from the village was advertised as a popular resort. It is still, patronised by thousands of holidaymakers every year, despite the fact that the railway that began its popularity and the station at Allhallows are both closed now.
There is said to be treasure buried in the grounds of Allhallows Place House, but unfortunately no-one knows where that was. The Kent historian Edward Hasted wrote in about 1760 that the house, once the home of memorably named Sir Harbottle Grimstone, bart, survived 'though much decayed'. Sir Harbottle died in 1683, aged 82. Now, though, there is no sign of the house and no-one knows quite where it was.
Allhallows boasts an unusually high level of annual sunshine. What it does not boast about, though, is the bitingly cold north winds for which it is equally noted.
This area lies to the north west of the town centre and forms part of Maidstone, but is not a parish. The nearby locks on the River Medway are popular. The £8 million Kent River Walk, Maidstone's major Millennium project, stretches from here to Teston. The moated 13th century Allington Castle stands near the river and the Mid Kent Shopping Centre can also be found in Allington.
Two miles NW of Maidstone, the village lies on a great bend of the River Medway and has a romantic looking medieval castle which was built to guard this strategic point. The castle has had an eventful history that converted it from a 13th century fortress to a grand Tudor mansion, a farmhouse, a stately home and finally a convent for Carmelite nuns.
The first castle on this site was raised in the 11th century, and was probably only a simple mound with a wooden structure on the top. A stone castle was built by Stephen of Penchester, 13th century Constable of Dover Castle, under a licence granted by Edward I in 1281, the oldest part of this early building which survives is a section of wall with a distinctive herringbone pattern.
Later, it was owned by the Cobham family and in 1492 it was bought by Sir Henry Wyatt who carried out some restoration work but is far better remembered for the legend that, while imprisoned in the Tower of London by Richard III because of his Lancastrian sympathies, he was saved from starving to death by a cat which brought a pigeon to his cell every day.
It was afterwards that he was knighted and came to Kent where his son, later Sir Thomas, was born at Allington in 1503. Thomas became a renowned soldier, scholar, statesman, poet and self-confessed lover of Anne Boleyn. His son, another Sir Thomas benefited substantially from Henry VIII's Reformation by the acquisition of property of the dissolved priory at Aylesford, and when Queen Mary declared her intention to turn back the clock and marry the Catholic King Philip of Spain, Wyatt led an insurrection against the marriage. But he misjudged the support he could expect in London. He was arrested and, a few months later, executed and the castle was forfeited to the Crown while Maidstone lost its Charter for five years for supporting him.
When Elizabeth came to the throne she restored Maidstone's Charter and leased Allington Castle to to one of her courtiers, John Astley, but after his successors moved into Maidstone, the castle was left to deteriorate. By the mid-19th century, the whole place was derelict and remained in that state until, in 1905, it was bought by British traveller Sir Martin Conway, who spent œ70,000 on restoration.
The castle again changed hands in 1951 when it was bought by the same group of Carmelite Friars who rebuilt Aylesford Priory. They carried out further restoration work and used Allington Castle as a retreat and study centre until they, in their turn, sold it and it became an international conference and residential training centre.
The last service was held in the old riverside church of St Lawrence, just outside the castle gates, in 1969, after which it was converted into a private residence. During conversion, efforts were made to open an old safe in the vestry, the keys to which had been long lost. In the end, oxyacetylene cutting equipment was used and the old safe yielded up its secret at last - a single sheet of lining paper charred by the heat of the cutting!
The new development of Allington, on either side of the A20 brought demands for a new church during the 1930s, St Nicholas' church was built in Poplar Grove. Then, in 1973, the present church, still St Nicholas', was built next to the previous one, in Poplar Grove, continuity being achieved by furnishing it with the font, a bell and three stained glass windows from old St Lawrence's.
Five miles SE of Tenterden on the B2080, this peaceful village on the edge of Romney Marsh was once a port on the estuary of the River Rother, but in the 13th century violent storms changed the course of the Rother and gradual silting-up left Appledore 8 miles or so inland. Not far enough, however, to escape a raid by the French in 1380 during which they burned the 13th century church. Its chunky tower survived and the rest was reconstructed shortly afterwards.
In 1381 Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasant's Revolt, attacked Horne's Place, a 14th century farmhouse with a gem of a chapel. More peaceful days followed, and markets and a fair licenced by Edward III were held in its broad, grassy main street. In 1804 there was the threat of an invasion by Napoleon, and the Royal Military Canal was built, curving around the marsh. Today, Appledore lies quietly to the north of the canal, most of it along the main street, its buildings a mix of styles and ages from the 16th century onwards.
Locally it is enough to simply call it Ash, of course, but on a county scale it is necessary to distinguish this one from at least three other villages in Kent also called Ash. They are all smaller, this being one of the largest parishes in the county.
Strangers to East Kent have no excuse for not finding it. The distinctive green copper spire of St Nicholas' Church is a landmark for miles around, and the church is noted for having the best collection of medieval effigies in Kent.
A long straight village, Ash is noted for its market gardens and the nearby hamlet of Marshborough claims to include land that has probably been cultivated as long as or longer than any other in the country. It is an attractive place, with timbered houses, old cottages and welcoming inns, a mere remnant of the number the village had in the days when it had its own brewery.
The parish, which celebrated its 700th year in 1982 by winning the county's Best Kept Village competition, is one of the largest in Kent and when the villagers undertake the traditional ceremony of beating the bounds they have to reckon on taking a full twelve hours over it. According to persistent legend, somewhere within those beaten bounds lies the hiding place of a fabulous solid gold image of the Saxon god Woden, three, some say four, feet high. Stranger legends have been proved true.
Certainly, when Bryan Faussett excavated in the area in 1759 he uncovered a series of Saxon graves. Perhaps the burial place of the golden treasure remains to be found somewhere near them.
Nearby Richborough Castle was once a stronghold of Roman legions and for about 350 years it was the foremost trading and military Channel port in England. Today, the castle is an imposing ruin but the old port was pressed into service again during WW1 as a supply base for the British Expeditionary Force in France. In WW2, part of the D-Day Mulberry Harbour was assembled there. Since then, though, the great cooling towers of Richborough power station have been the dominant landmark on the rather flat landscape thereabouts.
Situated at the confluence of the East and Great Stour, Ashford is an important touring and shopping centre. Medieval, Tudor and Georgian houses have survived, despite development. As a market town, Ashford has for centuries been a local communications hub for surrounding villages and has stood at the centre of five railway lines, (Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line, Ashford via Maidstone East Line, South Eastern Main Line, Kent Coast Line and the Marshlink Line) since the 19th century and with the opening of the International Passenger Station is now an important European communications centre, with new lines running between London and the Channel Tunnel (via the Channel Tunnel Rail Link).
The Borough of Ashford lies on the eastern edge of the ancient forest of "Andredsweald" or "Anderida". This originally stretched as far west as Hampshire and formed the basis from which the Weald is formed. It is likely that the town originates from an original settlement established about AD 893, although a Roman road passed through here from the iron making area to Canterbury. It is listed in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, as having a church, two mills and a value of 150 shillings, under its original Saxon name of "Essetesford" (or "Eshetisford," "Esselesford", "Asshatisforde", "Essheford"). The manor was owned by Hugh de Montford, Constable of England at the time. Writer Philpot believed Essetesford stood for "ash trees growing near a ford", while Lampard, a 16th century local historian, suggested that it meant "a ford over the river Eshe or Eshet", which was the old name for the tributary of the River Stour between Lenham and Ashford.
Its closeness to London has always made Kent a strong influence on the capital, and vice versa. Thus by the end of the 16th century Cade (of Cade’s Rebellion) was credited by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, part 2 as being from Ashford. The play includes an Ashford butcher called "Dick" who looks forward to removing officialdom after the rebellion and says: first thing, let’s kill all the lawyers.
Ashford’s importance as a growing agricultural and market town was confirmed in 1243 when it was incorporated, and by the end of the 16th century it had risen to become an important market town, primarily for livestock. The market was held in the High Street until 1856 when local farmers and businessmen relocated to Elwick Road and formed a market company that claims to be the oldest surviving registered company in England and Wales. There is still a regular street market in the town, although the market company has relocated outside the town and is used by some 5,000 farmers.
Parts of the parish church date from the 13th century but was substantially restored in the 15th century with many alterations since. In 1638 a free grammar school was founded here, it was built on the churchyard’s west side, and remained there until 1846, now used as a museum.
The Joint Services School of Intelligence was based at Templer Barracks in Ashford, until the barracks were decommissioned in 1997 and then demolished to make way for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.[6] In 1982, Prince Andrew, Duke of York was involved with the "School".
Essentially a modern town, little is left of the old Ashford, apart from some half-timbered buildings in Middle Row and around the churchyard in the town centre. A number of old buildings were removed to make way for the controversial ring road around the centre, built in the early 1970s. Three modern shopping centres are located in the town: Park Mall, County Square and the new Designer Outlet. Bank Street and High Street are traffic-free shopping thoroughfares. As of 2005, Ashford is adding about 800 new homes each year.
Ashford was one of the towns that became a hub when the roads were turnpiked in the second half of the 18th century.[citation needed] Today it is at junctions 9 and 10 of the M20 motorway to London, Maidstone and Folkestone. Operation Stack on the M20, usually implemented in response to industrial action in Calais, brings Ashford to a halt several times each year,[citation needed] and on 29 November 2006 is estimated to have cost the town £2 million. Local and central government have spent 12 years studying the problem, but have yet to implement a solution. Other main roads are the A20, which parallels the motorway; the A28 to Canterbury and Tenterden; the A251 to Faversham; and the A2070 to Romney Marsh and Hastings.
In the 1970s the A292 Ashford Ring Road was created around the town centre and is popular with boy racers. The road was conceived to relieve congestion along the previous main thoroughfare in the town centre, the narrow East Hill. There is work under way to convert the Ring Road to two-way operation to minimise the "race track" feel and help bring the isolated town centre back into the rest of the area. There are plans for a fast public transport link between the town centre and the suburbs and main amenities, called "SMARTLINK".
The South Eastern Railway's London to Dover mainline opened between 1842 and 1844, and the company established its locomotive works here. The railway community had its own shops, schools, pubs and bathhouse, and much of the area retains the look of a "railway town", however the works closed in 1981. Ashford became a junction with a line to Margate that was opened in 1846; in 1851 the Marshlink Line to Hastings was opened, and on 1 July 1884 the final connection, from Maidstone, was made.
The Ashford International station opened with the Channel Tunnel in 1994. It now serves Eurostar trains on the high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link that opened in 2003, with trains to London, Brussels, Lille, Paris and connections to the rest of Europe. It is planned that direct services to Brussels will be withdrawn and that frequencies to Paris will be reduced when Ebbsfleet International railway station, in Dartford, opens late in 2007. Local firms, residents and politicians are amongst those seeking a less drastic change in the Eurostar timetable. With the introduction of domestic train services along the new line to St Pancras and Stratford in East London, it is expected to pull the outer limits of the London commuter belt to the town and beyond, as travel time from Ashford to London is reduced from 83 to about 37 minutes.
London Ashford Airport is based at Lydd, approximately 17 miles (27 kms) from Ashford, with regular flights
3 miles NE of Maidstone off A20. There is a record of a bridge spanning the Medway at Aylesford in 1287. In the 14th century this was replaced by the Kentish flagstone bridge that serves today. The view from this bridge is one of the best there is of the picturesque brick and half timbered, steeply gabled cottages. The river once powered the paper mill that has operated here since the turn of the century. In AD 455 the Britons were defeated in battle by Jutish invaders, and in AD 893 the Danes were seen off by King Alfred, while in 918 BC Edmund Ironside routed Canute and the Vikings. Later, the Carmelites came to England and founded their first Friary in this country at Aylesford in 1240.
It is said that Aylesford is one of the oldest continually occupied sites in England. The actress Dame Sybil Thorndike's father was vicar of Aylesford and he gave her away in the church when she was married there in December 1908 by the Bishop of Rochester and her uncle the Bishop of Thetford. Her mother played the organ during the ceremony. Dame Sybil's last visit to the village was in 1972 when, at the age of 90, she opened the new village community centre.
Only just outside the village is The Friars, the Carmelite Priory which monks of the order bought when they came back to Aylesford in 1949. The original Carmelite priory there was closed, like many others, by Henry VIII in 1538 and the building became a country mansion. Then, one night in June 1930, the building was virtually destroyed by fire and although there was no loss of life, a rare collection of Venetian glass and other valuables were lost.
A little further from the village in the opposite direction is Kent's little 'Stonehenge', the 5,000 years old Kits Coty House, the awe-inspiring remains of a Neolithic burial chamber. It stands surrounded by iron railings, on a steep hillside on one side of the Blue Bell Hill road between Maidstone and Chatham. The three great upright stones capped by an equally massive table stone are all that remain of a 200 feet long burial chamber that was still recognisable 200 years ago before soil erosion bared it to today's visitors.
A little lower down the same hillside is a tumbled heap of stones with trees growing among them, known as The Countless Stones. Legend has it that a local baker once thought he would invalidate that name by placing a loaf of his bread on each stone as he counted it. But he found that the loaves were disappearing in his wake. Convinced that the Devil himself was guarding the secret of the number of the stones, the baker abandoned his task, leaving the stones still un-numbered. Unfortunately, that particular legend is told, pretty well exactly the same in every detail, of other heaps of old stones all over Britain.
Included in Aylesford parish is the Royal British Legion Village, established between the wars to provide homes for First World War casualties. The great house that railway contractor Edward Ladd Betts built in 1848 and called Preston Hall became a hospital, and nearby the British Legion set up British Legion Industries where disabled servicemen can work in sheltered conditions.