| Willesborough | |
|---|---|
 Willesborough Baptist Church | |
  Willesborough Location within Kent | |
| Population | 7,800 (2005) [1] |
| OS grid reference | TR025417 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Ashford |
| Postcode district | TN24 |
| Dialling code | 01233 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
Willesborough is a village, now in effect a residential suburb, on the eastern side of Ashford, in the county of Kent, England.
The South Willesborough Dykes area, on the west bank of the River East Stour, is an area of sheep fields drained by dykes. The area is designated as the South Willesborough Dykes Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). The dykes continue on the east side of the River East Stour and among the residential areas, and a tributary stream (Aylesford Stream) runs between Newtown and South Willesborough and into the East Stour. The smallest ditches dry up completely in summer. [2]
The South Willesborough Dykes are important in terms of the geology of the area, being in the river floodplain and in supporting neutral, wet grassland species, along with Willesborough's Aylesford Green and Boys Hall forming part of the Ashford Green Corridor, although public access is otherwise limited. [3]
Ashford Borough Council has a project to create the Willesborough Dykes Country Park.
There are a number of schools in and around the Willesborough area.
Willesborough is bordered by Ashford to the west and north-west, the M20 to the north, and Sevington and the new village of Finberry to the south-east.
In 1184 Pope Lucius III wrote to the abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, suggesting that the parson of Willesborough retired and passed the benefice to his son who could then be free to pursue his studies. [4]
Boys Hall was built by Thomas Boys in 1616. [5] Its grounds are part of Ashford Green Corridor while the manor house is now an hotel. [6]
The town is known for its 1869 windmill near Hythe Road, and St Mary's Church on Church Road, which has one of the oldest ringing bells in Kent.
Former English international cricketers Mark Ealham and Richard Ellison were born in Willesborough.
In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 4979. [7] On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Ashford, Mersham, Hinxhill and Sevington. [8] It is now in the unparished area of Ashford.
The William Harvey Hospital, a major hospital providing services for east Kent, is in Willesborough, and is named after the discoverer of the blood circulatory system. There is a statue of William Harvey at the hospital, and an older, damaged, statue of him, formerly the hospital, in the garden at the William Harvey Public House on Church Road in Willesborough.
Norman Cycles was a bicycle, autocycle, moped and motorbike manufacturer based in Ashford. The Norman Cycles Club is based at Willesborough Windmill and the Norman Museum is located in the windmill's barn, where mopeds and bicycles are on display.
Between 1969 and 1976, Ashford Steam Centre operated at the former engine shed that served Ashford railway station.
The River Stour is a river in Kent, England that flows into the North Sea at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes known as the Upper Great Stour or West Stour. In the tidal lower reaches, the artificial Stonar Cut short cuts a large loop in the natural river.
The River East Stour is one of the tributaries of the Great Stour in Kent. The East Stour, 10.3 miles (16.5 km) long,) rises on the Greensand ridge at Postling north of Hythe as a number of small streams. It then flows under the M20 motorway to continue in a westward direction: the river meanders across the Low Weald plain, passing Mersham on the way. The East Stour's confluence with the Great Stour is on both sides of Pledge's Mill at the foot of East Hill, Ashford.
Ashford is a town in the Ashford district, in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Great Stour at the southern or scarp edge of the North Downs, about 61 miles (98 km) by road southeast of central London and 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Folkestone by road. At the 2021 census, it had a population of 83,213. The name comes from the Old English æscet, indicating a ford near a clump of ash trees. It has been a market town since the Middle Ages, and a regular market continues to be held.
Four major rivers drain the county of Kent, England.
Ashford is a constituency in Kent created in 1885 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Damian Green, a Conservative who served as First Secretary of State between 11 June and 20 December 2017.
The William Harvey Hospital is a hospital in Willesborough, Ashford, Kent, England. It is one of the three main hospitals in the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust area and is named after William Harvey (1578–1657), the Folkestone-born doctor who discovered the blood circulatory system.
Chartham is a village and civil parish in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is situated on the Ashford side of the city, and is in the North Downs area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 2.3 mi (4 km) south west of Canterbury, England. The Great Stour Way path passes through the village. A paper mill in the village that had specialised in the production of tracing paper since 1938 has in 2022 closed down. There are numerous arable farms and orchards in the parish. The village has an unstaffed station, Chartham, and has recently upgraded its staffed level crossing to an automatic barrier. It has an outlying locality sharing in many of the community resources, Chartham Hatch. Its current
Brook is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England, centred 4.5 miles (7.2 km) east-northeast of the town of Ashford.
Norman Cycles was a British bicycle, autocycle, moped, and motorcycle manufacturer in Ashford, Kent, England.
The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the Low Weald and Kent Downs, from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay.
Ashford Green Corridor is a green space that runs through the town of Ashford in Kent, England. The Green Corridor is made up of parks, recreation grounds and other green spaces alongside the rivers that flow through Ashford. It is a Local Nature Reserve.
New Mill is a Grade II* listed smock mill in Hythe Road, Willesborough, Ashford, Kent. It stands just west of junction 10 of the M20 motorway. It was built in 1869 and is now a museum open to the public.
Great Chart is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great Chart with Singleton, in the Ashford borough of Kent, England. The parish is split between the ancient village of Great Chart and the modern Singleton neighbourhood on the western outskirts of Ashford. The village centre of Great Chart is 2 miles (3.2 km) from the town centre. In 1961 the parish had a population of 969.
The Aylesford Stream is a 5.4 kilometre long tributary of the East Stour, itself a tributary of the Great Stour in Kent. The stream's source is north of the M20, between Wye with Hinxhill and West Brabourne, and runs through Willesborough and then between Newtown and South Willesborough to join the East Stour just west of Ashford Designer Outlet.
Sevington is a village in the civil parish of Sevington with Finberry, in the Ashford district, in Kent, England.
The River Stour has been used for centuries as a source of power. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- Corn milling, fulling, paper making and electricity generation. Many of the mills survive today as house conversions, with two of them still working commercially.
Finberry is a housing estate located in the south-east of Ashford, in the civil parish of Sevington with Finberry, in the Ashford district, in the county of England. The population of the housing estate is included in the civil parish of Mersham. The nearest existing places to the housing estate are Sevington to the north, Willesborough to the north-west, and Park Farm. The housing estate was opened by the Mayor of Ashford in June 2014. Finberry Primary School opened 2017.
Media related to Willesborough at Wikimedia Commons