Kington is a market town, electoral 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-heap, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Community", similar to various other nearby communities such as Presteigne meaning "Priest's Town" and also Knighton being "Knight's Town". Kington is to the west of Offa's Dyke so presumably this land was Welsh in the 8th century AD. The land was held by Anglo-Saxons in 1066, yet ravaged. After the Norman Conquest Kington then passed to the Crown on the downfall of Roger de Breteuil, second Earl of Hereford in 1075. Before 1121 King Henry I offered Kington to Adam de Port, that established a new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington appears to have actually been a silent barony as well as was related to the workplace of sheriff of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, possibly the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled as well as took off the nation. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, just to leave from the resulting Battle of Alnwick to the terrific 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, lastly being provided to William de Braose, fourth Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle then saw action in the Braose Wars versus King John of England as well as was likely to have been damaged by imperial forces in August 1216. Within a few years a brand-new citadel was started and also the neighboring Huntington Castle and Kington Castle were deserted. All that continues to be of Kington Castle today is a great outcrop of rock topped by a few fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle and Norman church in addition to 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 over the town where St. Mary's Church now stands. The new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was laid out between 1175 and also 1230 on land bordering the River Arrow and potentially designated as part of the Saxon open field system. Positioned on the direct route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge and also with eight annual fairs, Kington expanded in value as a market community and there is still a thriving livestock market on Thursdays. The community maintains 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 close-by Hergest Court, slain at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and also his spouse, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, as well as also that of the Black Dog of Hergest are said to haunt the location around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's sighting reputedly presages death. It is likewise rumoured to have been the prototype for The Hound of the Baskervilles as Conan Doyle is understood to have remained at nearby Hergest Hall shortly prior to he wrote the novel.