Aldington, Kent

Description
Aldington, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the quarry hills above the Grand Military Canal, 1 /2 mile S of Smeeth station on the S.E.R., and 6 miles SE of Ashford, with a post and money order office under Hythe; telegraph office, Mersham. Acreage of parish, 3445; population, 658. Aldington Knoll was a Roman beacon; between it and the church is the site of a Roman town or station. The Roman road from Lymne to Pevensey went through the parish. Court-at-Street, on the line of that road, about a mile E of the village, was the scene of the imposture of Elizabeth Barton, the nun of Kent, who made so great a figure in the political party of Queen Catherine. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £720. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is Early English, with a tower in Late Perpendicular, and formerly had a brass of 1475. There is a Friends' Christian Mission Room at Clap Hill. The celebrated Erasmus of Rotterdam, and Richard Master, who suffered death for aiding the imposture of Elizabeth Barton, were rectors of Aldington ; as was Thomas Linacre, physician, also rector of Mersham.