Ash-next-Sandwich, so called to distinguish it from Ash near Sevenoaks, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on a rising-ground, by the side of Wingham brook, a tributary of the Stour, 3 miles W of Sandwich station on the S.E.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The parish comprises 7021 acres; population, 2242. Richborough Castle, the Roman Rutupise, is on the E border, about a mile N of Sandwich. [See RICHBOROUGH. ] One of the earliest settlements of the Saxons was in the parish, and many relics of the earliest Saxon times have been found. Hops are grown, and pale ale is extensively brewed. There are two livings, St Nicholas and Trinity, and both are vicarages in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £307 and £250. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. St Nicholas Church is cruciform, Early English, and very fine; is surmounted by a spired central tower, which serves as a landmark; has undergone some good recent restorations, and contains an altar-tomb, two tombs with effigies of crusaders, and several brasses, one to the daughter of Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), the Lollard martyr. A small iron church in connection with the parish church was erected in 1888. The Church of Trinity stands at Westmarsh, 2 miles distant, and there is a neat Congregational chapel.
