Ashford, a town and a parish in Kent. The town stands on the Esshe or Esshet river, the western branch of the Stour, and has a station on the L.C. & D.R. and S.E.R., 54 miles from London. It was anciently called Esshetford, from its situation on the river, and it belonged to Hugo de Montfort, and passed to successively the Asshetfords, the Criols, the Leybornes, the Anchors, the Smyths, and the Footes. The original town is situated on an eminence, on the N bank of the river, and has a High Street of considerable width, about half a mile long. A new town, called Alfred or Newtown-Ashford, was built by the railway company, adjacent to the station, and includes extensive workshops, constructed at a cost of upwards of £100,000, and about 200 dwellings and a school, used as a church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £456. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The parish church, in the old town, is a spacious structure, in fine Perpendicular English, built or restored by Sir John Fogge in the time of Edward IV., comprises nave, transept, and three chancels, with a lofty tower, resembling the Bell Harry Tower of Canterbury Cathedral, and contains a figured font, the tomb of Sir John Fogge, a brass of the Countess of Athole of 1375, and some fine monuments of the Smyths of Westenhanger, one of whom was the Saccharissa of Waller. An ecclesiastical college was founded by Sir John Fogge as a pendant to the church, but was dissolved in the time of Henry VII. A church, in the Second Pointed style, was built in the new town in 1867. There are chapels for five dissenting bodies and Roman Catholics; police station, the headquarters of Ashford Division Kent County Constabulary; mechanics' institute, assembly rooms, and reading-room; four-arched bridge, market-house, corn-exchange, and a head post office. There is also a neat cemetery, with two chapels. A fine swimming bath was built in 1867, which has an area of nearly one acre of water. Ashford Cottage Hospital, a red brick building, was erected in 1887 by W. Pomfret Pomfret, Esq., of Godinton House. Whitfield Hall, now taken by the Ashford Institute, was erected to the memory of Mr Henry Whitfield in 1874, and is used for public meetings. New sewerage works were completed in 1888 at a cost of £14,000. A great stock market is held every Tuesday, and fairs on 17 May, 9 Sept., and 12, 13, and 24 Oct. There are two banks, and two weekly newspapers are published. Wallis the mathematician, Glover the antiquary, and Milles the herald, were natives. The ‘headstrong Kentish man' of Shakespeare, also, is ' John Cade of Ashford.’ The Osborne family, Dukes of Leeds, are said to have originated here; and the Keppels, Earls of Albemarle, take from the place the title of Baron. Area of parish, 2850 acres; population, 10,728.
Ashford Parliamentary Division, or Southern Kent, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 67,820. The division includes the following:— Ashford—Appledore (part of),Ashford, Bethersden, Bilsington (part of), Bircholt, Bonnington (part of), Boughton Aluph, Brabourne, Brenzett (part of), Brook, Brookland (part of), Challock, Charing, Chart (Great), Chart (Little), Chilham, Crnndale, Eastwell, Ebony (part of), Egerton, Fairfield, Godmersham, Hastingleigh, Hinxbill, Hothfield, Ivychurch (part of), Kennardington (part of), Kennington, Kingsnorth, Mersham, Midley, Molash, Orlestone (part of), Pluckley, Romney, (New, the part in the county), Romney (Old, part of), Ruckinge (part of), Sevington, Shadoxhurst, Smarden,Smeeth, Snargate (part of), Stone-in-Oxney, Warehorne (part of), Westwell, Willesborough Wittersham, Woodchurch, Wye; Granbrook—Benenden, Biddenden, Cranbrook, Frittenden, Goudhurst, Halden, Hawkhurst, Horsmonden, Marden, Newenden, Rolvenden, Sandhurst, Staplehurst; Tenterden, municipal borough; New Romney, corporate town; Romney Marsh (such part as is not included in the St Augustine's division).
