Hackington, Canterbury.
Location: At the North end of Canterbury.
I wasn't quite sure whether to include this location in the Canterbury Pages or not. The easiest thing will be to cross reference it. Of course, it wasn't so long ago that Hackington was not actually "attached" to Canterbury and only the construction of streets and houses between St. Dunstans and here during the present century have actually completed this connection to the City.
The section on Hackington, being near and dear to me because I grew up there, became rather large and therefore, I have moved it to its own page.
Location: On the Western outskirts of Canterbury about a mile and quarter from the City centre, on the old A2 leading to the main A2(T) to London. This village, which consists of Upper and Lower Harbledown is now bisected by the "off-ramp" or "access road" to the new A2(T) Canterbury By-pass.
See: St. Nicholas' Chapel, Harbledown. The Black Prince's Well
Location: About 40 Miles South East of London on the A268, off the A21, Hastings Road.
See: St. Laurence Church - Hawkhurst
Location: On the A291 about a mile to the South of Herne Bay on the Canterbury Road.
See: Herne Workhouse St. Martin of Tours Church, Herne
Location: On the A28 about four miles to the North East of Canterbury on the Canterbury to Thanet road.
See: "Shrew Beshrewed" Public House
Location: On the A262 about ten miles to the South West of Ashford.
See: "The Chequers" Public House
Location: About 4 miles East of Maidstone, just North of the A20 Maidstone to Ashford road.
See: All Saints Church All Saints Church - interior
Location: 2 1/2 miles South West of Canterbury, just South of the A28, Ashford Road.
Horton is now just a hamlet consisting of little more than a couple of cottages and farm buildings. However, an older reference I have, states that an oast house here is actually a converted church. The Ordinance Survey map of the area shows the ruins of a chapel as located here and I assume that these buildings are one and the same. At the same time, my other references show that the archives of Canterbury Cathedral have no records for a church at this location. Whether this was a Chapel once associated with the monastery in the area or a nonconformist sect, I cannot tell but will be worth further investigation when I am able to. I also believe that the location was also recently ravaged by fire - in approximately 1992.
Originally the Romans had a port at 'Roman Lemanis', now Lympne (pronounced 'limb'). That 'port' silted up long ago and now lies three miles inland. Hythe took its place as the local port and as a member of the Cinque Ports in medieval times. Now the port at Hythe is silted up and is now just another seaside town although to my mind, an attractive Town with many old buildings to see. The High Street runs East/West through the centre of the Town and Quarry Hill rises up sharply from behind the shops on the North side of the Street. Perched on the side of Quarry Hill, reached after a very steep climb is the Church of St. Leonard's.
On the South side of the Town runs the Royal Military Canal which was built at the time of the Napoleonic Wars by the French Prisoners of War as a coastal defence. It runs right across the North of the Romney Marshes from Hythe to where it joins The Rother, near Rye. There was considerable scorn directed towards the construction of the Canal and the Martello Towers because the Canal is only thirty feet wide and was thought unlikely to stop Napoleon and his troops. The construction is interesting though as it zig-zags all the way across the Marshes. I was always told that if Napoleon decided to bring his ships into the Canal then they could be destroyed by canon mounted at each turn firing down each open stretch of the waterway. However, why Napoleon would have wanted to travel East/West, I'm not quite sure. On the other hand, why else do we have Governments other than to find some way of spending all that money we keep giving them in taxes!
See also:
The Cinque Ports
St. Leonard's Church
St. Leonard's Church - The Ambulatory
St. Leonard's Church - The Family Vaults
West Hythe
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