Ashford, Kent
Historical Description
Ashford, a town and a parish in Kent. The town stands on the Esshe or Esshet river, the western branch of the Stour, and has a station on the L.C. & D.R. and S.E.R., 54 miles from London. It was anciently called Esshetford, from its situation on the river, and it belonged to Hugo de Montfort, and passed to successively the Asshetfords, the Criols, the Leybornes, the Auchers, the Smyths, and the Footes. The original town is situated on an eminence, on the N bank of the river, and has a High Street of considerable width, about half a mile long. A new town, called Alfred or Newtown-Ashford, was built by the railway company, adjacent to the station, and includes extensive workshops, constructed at a cost of upwards of £100,000, and about 200 dwellings and a school, used as a church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £456. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The parish church, in the old town, is a spacious structure, in fine Perpendicular English, built or restored by Sir John Fogge in the time of Edward IV., comprises nave, transept, and three chancels, with a lofty tower, resembling the Bell Harry Tower of Canterbury Cathedral, and contains a figured font, the tomb of Sir John Fogge, a brass of the Countess of Athole of 1375, and some fine monuments of the Smyths of Westenhanger, one of whom was the Saccharissa of Waller. An ecclesiastical college was founded by Sir John Fogge as a pendant to the church, but was dissolved in the time of Henry VII. A church, in the Second Pointed style, was built in the new town in 1867. There are chapels for five dissenting bodies and Roman Catholics; police station, the headquarters of Ashford Division Kent County Constabulary; mechanics' institute, assembly rooms, and reading-room; four-arched bridge, market-house, corn-exchange, and a head post office. There is also a neat cemetery, with two chapels. A fine swimming bath was built in 1867, which has an area of nearly one acre of water. Ashford Cottage Hospital, a red brick building, was erected in 1887 by W. Pomfret Pomfret, Esq., of Godinton House. Whitfield Hall, now taken by the Ashford Institute, was erected to the memory of Mr Henry Whitfield in 1874, and is used for public meetings. New sewerage works were completed in 1888 at a cost of £14,000. A great stock market is held every Tuesday, and fairs on 17 May, 9 Sept., and 12, 13, and 24 Oct. There are two banks, and two weekly newspapers are published. Wallis the mathematician, Glover the antiquary, and Milles the herald, were natives. The 'headstrong Kentish man' of Shakespeare, also, is 'John Cade of Ashford.' The Osborne family, Dukes of Leeds, are said to have originated here; and the Keppels, Earls of Albemarle, take from the place the title of Baron. Area of parish, 2850 acres; population, 10,728.
Ashford Parliamentary Division, or Southern Kent, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 67,820. The division includes the following:- Ashford-Appledore (part of), Ashford, Bethersden, Bilsington (part of), Bircholt, Bonnington (part of), Boughton Aluph, Brabourne, Brenzett (part of), Brook, Brookland (part of), Challock, Charing, Chart (Great), Chart (Little), Chilham, Crundale, Eastwell, Ebony (part of), Egerton, Fairfield, Godmersham, Hastingleigh, Hinxhill, Hothfield, Ivychurch (part of), Kennardington (part of), Kennington, Kingsnorth, Mersham, Midley, Molash, Orlestone (part of), Pluckley, Romney, (New, the part in the county), Romney (Old, part of), Ruckinge (part of), Sevington, Shadoxhurst, Smarden, Smeeth, Snargate (part of), Stone-in-Oxney, Warehorne (part of), Westwell, Willesborough Wittersham, Woodchurch, Wye; Cranbrook-Benenden, Biddenden, Cranbrook, Frittenden, Goudhurst, Halden, Hawkhurst, Horsmonden, Marden, Newenden, Rolvenden, Sandhurst, Staplehurst; Tenterden, municipal borough; New Romney, corporate town; Romney Marsh (such part as is not included in the St Augustine's division).
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Ashford St. Mary | |
Hundred | Chart and Longbridge | |
Lathe | Shepway | |
Poor Law union | West Ashford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register, in which there are many curious entries, particularly during the Commonwealth, dates from the year 1570.
Findmypast have the following online for Ashford, Christ Church: baptisms 1898-1919
Findmypast have the following online for Ashford, Lady Huntingdon's Connexion: burials 1821-1837
Findmypast have the following online for Ashford, St Mary the Virgin: baptisms 1570-1919, marriages 1570-1919, burials 1570-1922
Churches
Church of England
Christ Church, South Ashford
Christ Church, South Ashford, a chapel of ease to the parish church, is of Kentish rag, in the Early English style, and has a turret containing one bell; it was erected in 1867 at a cost of about £4,500 and affords 600 sittings.
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a cruciform building of Kentish rag, mainly in the Perpendicular style, and has a central tower containing 10 bells and a clock with two dials and carillon chimes, erected in 1885 at a cost of about £600, in 1898 one bell was re-cast and the whole rehung with new fittings, at a cost of £200; there are several brasses, some fine monuments to the Smythes of Westenhanger, and a number of memorial windows; the church was reconstructed in the reign of Edward IV. by Sir John Fogge; it has since been enlarged, and in 1904 the south transeptal aisle was restored, a fine oak roof uncovered and the flooring of the sanctuary relaid, at a total cost of £550: the church now affords 1,750 sittings, of which about 500 are free.
Roman Catholic
St. Teresa
The Catholic church, dedicated to St. Teresa, and erected in 1865, was completed in 1892, and will seat 150 persons.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ashford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashford (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Ashford are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.