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-heap, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Town", comparable to other neighboring communities such as Presteigne significance "Priest's Town" and also 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, yet devastated. After the Norman Conquest Kington then passed to the Crown on the failure of Roger de Breteuil, second Earl of Hereford in 1075. Before 1121 King Henry I offered Kington to Adam de Port, who established a brand-new Marcher barony in this part of the very early Welsh Marches. Kington appears to have actually been a silent barony and was connected with the office of sheriff of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, possibly the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and also fled the country. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, only to flee from the resulting Battle of Alnwick to the wonderful mirth of the Norman court. With this his barony of Kington was taken by the Crown and became an appurtenance of the workplace of Sheriff of Hereford, lastly being approved to William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle then saw action in the Braose Wars against King John of England and also was likely to have actually been destroyed by royal forces in August 1216. Within a couple of years a brand-new citadel was commenced and the neighboring Huntington Castle and also Kington Castle were abandoned. All that remains of Kington Castle today is a fantastic outcrop of rock covered by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle and Norman church on top of a protective hill above the River Arrow. St Mary's church, located on greater ground above the town centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Publication in 1086, the name definition Kings Town or Manor, high on capital above the community where St. Mary's Church now stands. The new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was set out in between 1175 and 1230 ashore bordering the River Arrow and possibly assigned as part of the Saxon open area system. Situated on the direct route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge as well as with 8 yearly fairs, Kington grew in importance as a market community and there is still a flourishing livestock market on Thursdays. The community retains the middle ages grid pattern of streets and also back lanes. In the chapel of St. Mary's Church, there is the alabaster tomb of Sir Thomas Vaughan of nearby Hergest Court, killed at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and also his partner, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, as well as also that of the Black Dog of Hergest are claimed to haunt the area around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's discovery 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 neighboring Hergest Hall soon before he composed the story.