Kington
Kington is a market town, selecting ward as well as civil parish in Herefordshire, England. According to the Parish, the ward had a population of 3,240 while the 2011 census had a population of 2,626. The name 'Kington' is derived from King's-load, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Community", similar to various other neighboring towns such as Presteigne significance "Priest's Town" as well as Knighton being "Knight's Town". Kington is to the west of Offa's Dyke so most likely this land was Welsh in the 8th century AD. The land was held by Anglo-Saxons in 1066, however devastated. After the Norman Conquest Kington after that passed to the Crown on the failure of Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford in 1075. Before 1121 King Henry I offered Kington to Adam de Port, who founded a brand-new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington appears to have been a silent barony as well as was related to the office of constable of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, most likely the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and also fled the nation. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, only to take off 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 ended up being an appurtenance of the office of Sheriff of Hereford, lastly being given to William de Braose, fourth Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle then saw activity in the Braose Wars against King John of England and also was most likely to have actually been destroyed by imperial forces in August 1216. Within a few years a new citadel was begun and the nearby Huntington Castle and Kington Castle were deserted. All that stays of Kington Castle today is an excellent outcrop of rock topped by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town gathered around the castle as well as Norman church on top of a protective hillside above the River Arrow. St Mary's church, situated on greater ground above the community centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Publication in 1086, the name definition Kings Town or Manor, high up on capital above the community where St. Mary's Church now stands. The new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was laid out in between 1175 and also 1230 ashore surrounding the River Arrow and perhaps assigned as part of the Saxon open field system. Positioned on the direct route the drovers extracted from Hergest Ridge and also with eight annual fairs, Kington expanded in importance as a market community and also there is still a thriving animals market on Thursdays. The community keeps the middle ages 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 close-by Hergest Court, killed at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and his better half, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, as well as additionally that of the Black Dog of Hergest are claimed to haunt the location around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's sighting reputedly presages fatality. It is additionally rumoured to have been the prototype for The Hound of the Baskervilles as Conan Doyle is known to have actually remained at nearby Hergest Hall shortly before he wrote the novel.
