Kington
Kington is a market community, electoral ward and also civil church 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 stemmed from King's-bunch, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Town", comparable to various other close-by communities such as Presteigne definition "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 devastated. After the Norman Conquest Kington after that passed to the Crown on the failure of Roger de Breteuil, second Earl of Hereford in 1075. Before 1121 King Henry I provided Kington to Adam de Port, that established a new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington seems to have actually been a silent barony as well as was connected with the workplace of constable of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, most likely the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and took off the nation. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, only 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 office 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 and was most likely to have actually been damaged by imperial forces in August 1216. Within a couple of years a brand-new fortress was begun and the nearby Huntington Castle and Kington Castle were deserted. All that continues to be of Kington Castle today is a fantastic outcrop of rock covered by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town gathered around the castle and Norman church on top of a protective hillside over the River Arrow. St Mary's church, situated on higher ground over the community centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, the name definition Kings Town or Manor, high up on the hill over the town where St. Mary's Church currently stands. The brand-new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was laid out in between 1175 and also 1230 ashore bordering the River Arrow and potentially marked as part of the Saxon open field system. Situated on the direct route the drovers drew from Hergest Ridge and also with 8 yearly fairs, Kington expanded in value as a market community and there is still a flourishing animals market on Thursdays. The community keeps the medieval grid pattern of streets and 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, slaughtered at the Battle of Banbury 1469, as well as 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 area around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's sighting reputedly presages death. It is likewise rumoured to have actually been the prototype for The Hound of the Baskervilles as Conan Doyle is known to have actually stayed at neighboring Hergest Hall shortly prior to he composed the story.
