Kington is a market town, selecting ward and civil church in Herefordshire, England. According to the Parish, 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-ton, being Anglo-Saxon for "King's Town", comparable to other close-by communities such as Presteigne meaning "Priest's Town" and 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, yet devastated. 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 gave Kington to Adam de Port, who founded a brand-new Marcher barony in this part of the very early Welsh Marches. Kington appears to have been a peaceful barony and also was associated with the office of constable of Hereford. In 1172, Adam de Port, possibly the great-grandson of Henry Port, rebelled and fled the country. He returned in 1174 with a Scottish military, just to get away 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 also came to be an appurtenance of the office of Sheriff of Hereford, lastly being approved to William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber in 1203 for £100. The castle then saw action in the Braose Wars versus King John of England and was most likely to have actually been destroyed by imperial forces in August 1216. Within a few years a new citadel was started as well as the nearby Huntington Castle as well as Kington Castle were deserted. All that stays of Kington Castle today is a great outcrop of rock topped by a couple of fragmentary earthworks. The old town clustered around the castle and Norman church on top of a defensive hill above the River Arrow. St Mary's church, situated on greater ground over the town centre. 'Chingtune' was recorded in the Domesday Publication in 1086, the name definition Kings Town or Manor, high up on the hill over the community where St. Mary's Church currently stands. The new Kington, called Kyneton in the Fields, was laid out between 1175 and 1230 on land surrounding the River Arrow as well as possibly marked as part of the Saxon open field system. Located on the direct route the drovers took from Hergest Ridge and with eight yearly fairs, Kington grew in value as a market community and also there is still a prospering livestock market on Thursdays. The town preserves the medieval grid pattern of roads and also back lanes. In the chapel of St. Mary's Church, there is the alabaster tomb of Sir Thomas Vaughan of nearby Hergest Court, slaughtered at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and his spouse, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas, and also that of the Black Dog of Hergest are said 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 understood to have remained at neighboring Hergest Hall soon prior to he wrote the novel.
