Aylesford is a village and

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 ...

on the River Medway in

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, northwest of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

. Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Two pubs, a village shop and other amenities are located on the high street. Aylesford's current population is around 5,000. The Parish of Aylesford covers more than , stretching north to Rochester Airport estate and south to Barming, and has a total population of over 10,000 (as of 2011), with the main settlements at Aylesford, Eccles, Blue Bell Hill and (part of) Walderslade. Aylesford Newsprint was a major employer in the area and the largest paper recycling factory in Europe, manufacturing

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...

. It closed in 2015.

History

There has been activity in the area since

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times. There are several

chamber tomb A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave (burial), grave. Built from Rock (geology), rock or som ...

s north of the village, of which Kit's Coty House, to the north, is the most famous; all have been damaged by farming. Kit's Coty is the remains of the burial chamber at one end of a long barrow. Just south of this, situated lower down the same hillside, is a similar structure, Little Kits Coty House (also known as the ''Countless Stones''). Aylesford bucketDSCF6596

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

swords have been discovered near here and an Iron Age settlement and Roman villa stood at Eccles. A cemetery of the British Iron Age discovered in 1886 was excavated under the leadership of Sir Arthur Evans (of

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

fame), and published in 1890. Many of Evans' finds are now kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, including a bronze jug, pan and 'bucket' with handles in the form of a human face from a

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

burial. With the later excavation at Swarling not far away (discovery to publication was 1921–1925) this is the

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and H ...

for Aylesford-Swarling pottery or the Aylesford-Swarling culture. Evans' conclusion that the site belonged to a culture closely related to the continental

Belgae The Belgae ( , ) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth b ...

, remains the modern view, though the dating has been refined to the period after about 75 BC. The village has been suggested as the site of the Battle of the Medway during the Roman invasion of Britain although there is no direct evidence of this. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the Battle of Aylesford taking place nearby in 455, when the Germanic Hengest fought the Welsh

Vortigern Vortigern (; , ; ; ; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; ; , , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Sub-Roman Britain, Britain, known perhaps as a king of the Britons or at least ...

; Horsa (Hengist's brother) is said to have fallen in this battle;

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

defeated the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

in 893; as did Edmund II Ironside in 1016. Following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

of 1066, the manor of Aylesford was owned by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. Some of the land was given to the Bishop of Rochester as compensation for land seized for the building of Rochester Castle. 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: ''Also the Bishop of Rochester holds as much of this land as is worth 17s6d in exchange for the land on which the castle stands''. 17s6d is the rental value (as used for taxation), not the capital value. The church of St Peter and St Paul is of Norman origin. Here there is a memorial to the Culpeper family, who owned the nearby Preston Hall Estate.

The Friars

In 1240, Ralph Frisburn, on his return from the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, founded a Carmelite

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

under the patronage of Richard, Lord Grey of Codnor, among the first of the Order to be founded in Europe. He was followed later by Simon Stock, who in 1254 was elected Prior General of the now

mendicant A mendicant (from , "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, Mendicant orders, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many i ...

Carmelites. Saint Simon died in 1265, whilst on a visit to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, whereafter, his remains were honoured for centuries. In July 1951, his relics (remains of his head) were installed in a reliquary at the friary. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536, ownership of the site was transferred in 1538 to Sir Thomas Wyatt of nearby Allington Castle. Following the

rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

against Queen Mary by Sir Thomas's son, Thomas Wyatt the younger, the property was forfeited back to the crown. Possession was later granted to Sir John Sedley by Mary's

half-sister A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the other person. A male sibling is a brother, and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raise ...

Queen Elizabeth. The Sedleys sold the estate to Sir Peter Ricaut and his family. Although the Sedley family made some changes to the priory, it was the next owner, Sir John Banks, in the 1670s, who was responsible for the remodelling of the buildings. In 1696, the estate passed by marriage to Heneage Finch, later created Earl of Aylesford. The main part of the house was destroyed by fire in the 1930s, revealing many original features, which had been hidden by Banks's alterations. The Carmelites purchased it in 1949 from the Hewitt family and restored some of the original buildings; beyond the cloisters four chapels have been built to service the needs of the many different groups that visit yearly (The Choir Chapel - where the community celebrates daily

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

and the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...

; St Joseph's; St Anne's; and the Relic Chapel, which houses the remains of St Simon Stock). Aesthetically, the modern build shows sensitivity to the existing buildings with a mixture of English Gothic (perpendicular Gothic) and Tudor features; many modern materials have been employed but traditional peg tiles are on the roofs and the walls are faced in Kentish ragstone. The priory is a popular place for pilgrimage, as well as for retreats and conferences. The friary has some notable artwork, such as many pieces by the ceramic artist Adam Kossowski. The remains of the manor house present at the foundation of the priory are believed to lie under the Great Courtyard; this could date from as early as 1085.

River Medway

Due to the village's location on its banks, the River Medway has been a key influence on its development. Aylesford takes its name from an Old English personal name, and literally denotes 'Ægel's ford'. Its first recorded use is from the tenth century, as Æglesforda. It was also the place where one of the earliest bridges across the Medway was built, believed to be in the 14th century (although the wide central span seen today is later). Upstream from Rochester Bridge, it became the next bridging point. The river was navigable as far as

until 1740, when barges of forty tons could reach as far as

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

. As a result, wharves were built, one being at Aylesford. Corn, fodder and fruit, along with stone and timber, were the principal cargoes. Due to increased road traffic in recent years, the ancient bridge has now been superseded by a modern structure nearby, but remains in use for pedestrians.

The village

The oldest parts of the village lie north and immediately south of the Medway. Many of the buildings are of great antiquity: the Chequers Inn, the George House (formerly a coaching inn) and the almshouses among them. St Peter and St Paul's church, parts of which date back to the Norman invasion, sits on a hill in the southern part of the village. Major construction took place during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, when houses were built to serve the nearby quarry. The brick and tile industries have been replaced by a large area of commercial buildings, and what was once the huge Aylesford paper mills site was later regenerated by a leading newsprint plant surrounded by newly developed private estates featuring high value accommodation. Recent expansion has been to the southern side of the river, where a substantial suburban housing estate has grown up, partly because the village is served by the railway, with connections for Maidstone and London. Many of these homes were originally owned by employees of the paper mills, which are now closed and which have been replaced by a number of smaller industrial estates with a variety of specialist businesses that include engineering, manufacturing, wholesale and others.

Schools

Henry Brassey (1840–1891) was a great benefactor of Aylesford, and as well as financing major repairs to the church, also provided the village with a school. This was replaced in the 1960s with a new building to the south east of the village, next to the site of the local secondary school (now Aylesford School - Sports College) which was housed in buildings largely built in the 1940s by Italian prisoners of War. The old school buildings were totally rebuilt on the same site in 2008. The original village school – now known as the Brassey Centre – is used as a church office and community hall.

Railway

Aylesford railway station, opened on 18 June 1856, is on the Medway Valley Line connecting Strood with Maidstone (West) and Paddock Wood. The original station buildings – gabled and highly decorated, built in Kentish ragstone with Caen stone dressings, with windows that replicate those at Aylesford Priory – have been used as a fast food restaurant in recent years following restoration in the 1980s.

Royal British Legion Village

Located to the south of Aylesford, on the A20 London Road, the Royal British Legion Village was founded after the First World War to help injured soldiers following their discharge from the nearby Preston Hall hospital. It was first the centre of a small farming community known as The Preston Hall Colony. When the British Legion was founded in 1921, it became one of the first branches and, by 1925, was known as Royal British Legion Village. A thriving community has since developed, providing nursing homes, sheltered housing and independent living units, as well as employment and social activities, helping all disabled veterans living in, or moving to, the area. In 1972 the Poppy Appeal headquarters moved to the village, which now forms one of the main centres of Legion life and activities. An industrial complex in the village houses Royal British Legion industries, including the manufacture of road and public signs used throughout the UK.

Sports

Aylesford Football Club are based in the village, playing at the Recreation Ground on Forstal Road since before the War Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club is located at the Jack Williams Memorial Ground in Hall Road. They run children's age-grade teams from U6-U18 plus several adult teams for men and

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

of all levels. The village is home to what is claimed to be Britain's oldest operating sauna, the Finnish Sauna Bath. Built for the London Olympics in 1948, it was subsequently moved to Aylesford.

Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Aylesford electoral ward had a population of 4,548. The ethnicity was 98.2% white, 0.8% mixed race, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% black and 0% other. The place of birth of residents was 96.2% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 1% other Western European countries, and 2.3% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 77.4% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0.5% Hindu, 0.1% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 0.2% Muslim. 12.8% were recorded as having no religion, 0.1% had an alternative religion and 8.8% did not state their religion. The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 41.1% in full-time employment, 14.5% in part-time employment, 9.3% self-employed, 1.9% unemployed, 2.2% students with jobs, 2.5% students without jobs, 15.3% retired, 6.7% looking after home or family, 4.4% permanently sick or disabled and 2.2% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 19.6% retail, 13.6% manufacturing, 9.2% construction, 13.2% real estate, 9.7% health and social work, 6.1% education, 8% transport and communications, 4.8% public administration, 3.6% hotels and restaurants, 4.7% finance, 1.1% agriculture and 6.4% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in construction, and a relatively low proportion in agriculture, education, hotels and restaurants. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 14.3% had a

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

Lathe of Aylesford

The Lathe of Aylesford, in the western division of the county of Kent, comprised 13 Hundreds, and was bounded on the north by the river Thames, on the west by the Lathe of Sutton at Hone, on the south by the county of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and on the east by the Lathe of Scray. It was the second in extent, and embraced an area of , and had the largest population of any of the five Lathes into which this county is divided. In 1841 there were 18,303 inhabited houses with a population of 103,166. To the above may be added the town of Chatham, the city of Rochester, and the borough of

, containing together , and a population of 51,260.Bagshaw's History, Gazetteer & Directory of The County of Kent, publ. 1847 The Lathe of Aylesford consisted of the following Hundreds: * Brenchley and Horsmonden * Chatham and Gillingham * Eyhorne * Hoo * Larkfield * Littlefield * Maidstone * Shamwell * Toltingtrough * Twyford * Washlingstone * West Barnfield * Wrotham plus the Lowey of Tonbridge

Notes

References

External links

Aylesford Parish Council archived siteAylesford
- a photoset on Flickr * * {{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent Lathes of Kent Tonbridge and Malling