Eastry 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 ...

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

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, around southwest of

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 ...

. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The parish includes the hamlets of Heronden and Selson. In 2011 the parish had a population of 2492. The name is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''Ēast-

rige ( ; ) is a German language, German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word "realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and Kingdom (politics), kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" oft ...

'', meaning "eastern province" (cf. '' Sūþ-rige'' "southern province"), also recorded as ''Ēastregē'', from ''ēasterra gē'' (lit. "more easterly area"). Poison Cross is a location with an unusual name at the north end of the village. A railway halt there had a short life.

Historical legends

Eastry lies on the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

north from

to Richborough Castle. In the Early Middle Ages, Eastry was part of the Kingdom of Kent and was an important administrative centre. It was here that a royal palace of the Saxon kings of Kent stood. One of Kent's oldest legends concerns King

Ecgberht of Kent __NOTOC__ Ecgberht I (also spelled Egbert) (died 4 July 673) was a king of Kent (664-673), succeeding his father Eorcenberht. He may have still been a child when he became king following his father's death on 14 July 664, because his mother S ...

and the murder of his young cousins, Æthelred and Æthelberht, within the palace walls. According to the legend, the royal residence was passed to the priory of Christchurch in

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 ...

as penance for the crime. The site of this ancient palace is believed to now be occupied by Eastry Court, adjacent to the church. An archaeological dig by

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

in 2006 failed to find the royal palace.

Parish church

Eastry's

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Anglican church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. Within the church is a brass standard

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...

measure given in 1792.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches south to

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

with a total population taken at the 2011 census of 5,199. Until 1974 it was in Eastry Rural District.

East Kent Light Railway

The East Kent Light Railway was opened to freight traffic in 1911 and passenger traffic in 1916. Its purpose was to serve the new coal mines which were being opened up in the area. Among the stations opened were 'Eastry' and 'Eastry South'. It was one of Colonel Stephens' lines, but was nationalized in 1948 becoming part of British Railways, Southern Region. Both the colliery and the line failed and the section north of

Eythorne Eythorne is a civil parish and small village located 7.3 miles north-northwest of Dover in Kent, with a combined population of approximately 2,500 residents including nearby villages Barfrestone and Elvington. Although not classed as one of th ...

completely closed by 1951. The village is also on the

Miner's Way Trail The Miner's Way Trail is a long-distance circular footpath in England, starting at Sholden, Kent. Linking up the coalfield parishes of East Kent. Including; the parishes of Deal, Kent, Deal, Ash, Dover, Ash, Aylesham, Chillenden, Eastry, Eythor ...

. The trail links up the coalfield parishes of East Kent.

Mills

Eastry has had a number of windmills over the centuries. There were four mills marked on the 1819–1843

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map, one of which, the Upper Mill, has been converted into a house. Currently there are three windmills in Eastry.

Notable people

* Cyril Randolph (1826–1912), cricketer and clergyman * Sir James Broadwood Lyall GCIE KCSI (1838–4 December 1916) died and is buried in Eastry. He was a British administrator in the Indian Civil Service during the British Raj.

Lyallpur Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, which was named after him, is the third most-populous city in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and the second largest in the eastern province of Punjab *

Sydney Greenstreet Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (December 27, 1879 – January 18, 1954) was a British and American actor. While he did not begin his career in films until the age of 61, he had a run of significant motion pictures in a Hollywood career lasting t ...

(1879–1954) stage and film actor *Wing Commander

Robert Stanford Tuck Wing Commander Robert Roland Stanford Tuck, (1 July 1916 – 5 May 1987) was a British fighter pilot, flying ace and test pilot. Tuck joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1935 and first engaged in combat during the Battle of France, over Dunkir ...

lived in the village from 1953 until his retirement in the 1970s * Captain John Harvey 1740-1794

References

External links

Eastry Cricket Club
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent Dover District