Kington is a market community, electoral ward as well as civil church in Herefordshire, England. According to the Church, the ward had a population of 3,240 while the 2011 census had a population of 2,626. The name 'Kington' is stemmed from King's-lot, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Community", similar to other nearby towns such as Presteigne meaning "Priest's Town" as well as Knighton being "Knight's Town". Kington is to the west of Offa's Dyke so probably this land was Welsh in the 8th century AD. The land was held by Anglo-Saxons in 1066, however ravaged. After the Norman Conquest Kington then passed to the Crown on the downfall of Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford in 1075. Before 1121 King Henry I gave Kington to Adam de Port, that started a new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington appears to have been a silent barony as well as was associated with the workplace of constable of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, probably the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and also fled the country. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish army, just to run away from the resulting Battle of Alnwick to the great mirth of the Norman court. With this his barony of Kington was taken by the Crown and came to be an appurtenance of the workplace of Sheriff of Hereford, ultimately being approved to William de Braose, fourth Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle after that saw action in the Braose Wars against King John of England as well as was likely to have been ruined by imperial forces in August 1216. Within a few years a new citadel was started and the close-by Huntington Castle and Kington Castle were abandoned. All that continues to be of Kington Castle today is a wonderful outcrop of rock covered by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle and Norman church on top of a defensive hillside over the River Arrow. St Mary's church, positioned on greater ground over the community centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, the name significance Kings Town or Manor, high on capital above the community where St. Mary's Church currently stands. The brand-new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was outlined in between 1175 and 1230 ashore surrounding the River Arrow and perhaps assigned as part of the Saxon open area system. Positioned on the direct route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge and also with eight annual fairs, Kington expanded in relevance as a market community as well as there is still a thriving livestock market on Thursdays. The community keeps the medieval grid pattern of streets as well as back lanes. In the chapel of St. Mary's Church, there is the alabaster burial place of Sir Thomas Vaughan of nearby Hergest Court, slaughtered at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and also his other half, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, and also that of the Black Dog of Hergest are said to haunt the area around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's discovery reputedly presages fatality. It is likewise rumoured to have actually been the model for The Hound of the Baskervilles as Conan Doyle is understood to have remained at nearby Hergest Hall shortly prior to he composed the story.
