Elmstone is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Preston, in the

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

district, in East

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It is situated between

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

. The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 records Elmstone as 'Aelvetone'. In 1086 the recorded population was 3 households. In 1931 the parish had a population of 117. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Preston, part also went to Wingham. The village is surrounded by farmland mostly laid to apple and pear orchards. Some local farms have been sold and are no longer used for agriculture. Elmstone Church, a small 13th-century

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church can be found in the village; unusually, the church does not have a dedicated saint. The church, in the Canonry Benefice of Canterbury diocese, shares a vicar with the villages of Ash, Chillenden, Goodnestone, Nonington, Preston and Stourmouth. Elmstone recorded the lowest temperature (−21.3 °C (−6.3 °F) during the Winter of 1946–1947.

Notable buildings

Notable buildings within the hamlet are the early Victorian Old Rectory, the early eighteenth century Grade Two listed Old Vicarage and the Grade Two listed Georgian country house Elmstone Court.

Community

Apart from mains water, mains drains and electricity there are no services, i.e., no shops, restaurants, pubs, public transport or street lights. The public telephone is now used as a book exchange. The nearest bus stop is in the village of Preston.

References

External links

Villages in Kent Former civil parishes in Kent Dover District {{Kent-geo-stub