Kington is a market community, electoral ward as well as civil church in Herefordshire, England. According to the Church, the ward had a population of 3,240 while the 2011 census had a population of 2,626. The name 'Kington' is stemmed from King's-load, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Community", similar to other close-by communities such as Presteigne meaning "Priest's Town" and also Knighton being "Knight's Town". Kington is to the west of Offa's Dyke so presumably this land was Welsh in the 8th century AD. The land was held by Anglo-Saxons in 1066, but ruined. After the Norman Conquest Kington after that passed to the Crown on the downfall of Roger de Breteuil, second Earl of Hereford in 1075. Prior To 1121 King Henry I offered Kington to Adam de Port, who started a brand-new Marcher barony in this part of the early Welsh Marches. Kington seems to have been a quiet barony as well as was related to the office of sheriff of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, possibly the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and also fled the country. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, just to flee from the resulting Battle of Alnwick to the great mirth of the Norman court. With this his barony of Kington was taken by the Crown and became an appurtenance of the office of Sheriff of Hereford, finally being granted to William de Braose, fourth Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle after that saw activity in the Braose Wars against King John of England as well as was likely to have actually been damaged by royal forces in August 1216. Within a few years a new fortress was begun and the neighboring Huntington Castle and Kington Castle were abandoned. All that continues to be of Kington Castle today is a fantastic outcrop of rock topped by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle as well as Norman church on top of a defensive hillside over the River Arrow. St Mary's church, situated on higher ground above the community centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, the name significance Kings Town or Manor, high up on capital above the community where St. Mary's Church now stands. The brand-new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was outlined in between 1175 and 1230 on land surrounding the River Arrow and potentially marked as part of the Saxon open area system. Located on the direct route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge and with 8 yearly fairs, Kington grew in importance as a market town and there is still a prospering animals market on Thursdays. The community keeps the middle ages grid pattern of roads as well as back lanes. In the chapel of St. Mary's Church, there is the alabaster burial place of Sir Thomas Vaughan of close-by Hergest Court, slain at the Battle of Banbury 1469, as well as his better half, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, as well as additionally that of the Black Dog of Hergest are stated to haunt the location around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's discovery reputedly presages death. It is likewise rumoured to have been the model for The Hound of the Baskervilles as Conan Doyle is known to have stayed at nearby Hergest Hall shortly prior to he created the story.
