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A
Brief History of Ashford, Kent
It
seems that Ashford most probably originates from an original
settlement established around 893AD.
It became large enough to have a mention in the doomsday book,
listed with a church and two mills
under the name 'Essetesford' in 1086.
Ashford
officially became a market town in 1243 and by 1600 it had risen to
become an important
market town, primarily for livestock.
Parts
of the parish church date from the 13th century but was
substantially restored in the 15th century
with many alterations since.
1636
saw Ashford's first Free Grammar School built on the churchyards
west side. It remained there
until 1846.
By far
one of the most important times for Ashford was in 1842, with the
arrival of the railway and
in 1846 with the building of the railway works. This helped the town
double in size by 1861.
The railway community had its own shops, schools, pubs and
bathhouse. The works closed in 1981.
1996
continued the railway tradition in Ashford with the opening of
Ashford International Passenger
station, part of the high speed rail connection network between
Britain and the continent, bringing the
journey time from Ashford to Paris to about 2 hours 30 minutes. And
in 2009 the high speed rail link
began operation cutting journey times to London from Ashford to 37
minutes (barring the wrong kind of
leaves/snow/rain/ice/breakdown <delete as appropriate>)
Ashford
had one of the first known purpose built cinema's in 1911. The town
also spent most of the
'90's without a cinema due to the building of Ashford International
Station, but now boasts one the
largest cinema complex's in Kent.
Famous
People connected with Ashford :
Sir John Furley - one of the founders of St.John Ambulance Service.
Simone Weil - French Authoress buried in Brook cemetary
Sir John Foggle - Lord of Repton Manor he restored the parish church
in 13th century and, at his
own expense, built most of the bell tower.
Dr John Wallis - Internationally recognised as one of the greatest
mathematicians, credited by
Sir Isaac Newton as being the founder of his theory of gravity.
This
is just an overview of Ashford's history. If you would like to find
out more then visit
A Vision of Britain through the ages. Here you can read about the
changes in Ashford covering
population, industry, agriculture and land use,housing and poverty
and much more. It covers the
period from 1801 to 2001 and uses all collected census information.
You can discover Ashford's
statistical history by CLICKING
HERE |
