Swingfield 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 district of Folkestone and Hythe 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. The parish includes the settlements of Densole on the A260 towards Hawkinge, and

Selsted Selsted is a hamlet in Kent, England. It is in the local government district of Folkestone and Hythe, and the electoral ward of North Downs East. During 2006, protests were held against a proposed closure of Selsted Church of England Primary S ...

. The village is located approximately 5 miles north of Folkestone on the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

. Notable buildings include St Peter's Church and

Swingfield Preceptory Swingfield Preceptory (or St John's Commandery, Swingfield) was a priory about 5 miles north of Folkestone, Kent on the south coast of England. History The Preceptory (headquarters of certain orders of monastic knights) was taken over by the Kni ...

History

The place-name 'Swingfield' is first attested in 1202 in the Curia Regis Rolls, and in 1242 in the

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs') which is a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, bu ...

, in both instances appearing as ''Swinesfeld''. The name means "pigs' field or open land".

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...

, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.457. The tower of St Peter's Church was a measuring point for the

Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) The Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) was the geodetic survey to measure the relative position of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory via triangulation (surveying), triangulation. The English ...

linking the

Royal Greenwich Observatory The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in G ...

and the

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...

Amenities

Densole has the Black Horse pub, a butterfly centre and camp sites. Also nearby is Reinden Woods, an important habitat for woodland plants and butterflies which is part of the Army's East Kent Dry Training Area. There is a primary school at Selsted.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent