Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Allington
Allington, near Maidstone, comes from the Old English ‘ing’ which is a connective particle, linking the first and last elements, and ‘tūn’ meaning an ‘enclosure, farmstead’ combined with a personal name; therefore, ‘farm/settlement connected with Ælla’. The Domesday Book records Allington as Elentun.
The Normans built Allington castle between 1135 and 1154, as a motte and bailey construction.
In 1281 Stephen of Penchester, who was Constable of Dover Castle, obtained permission
from Edward I to build a stone castle with battlements. The castle passed to the
Cobham family who sold it, in 1492, to Sir Henry Wyatt, imprisoned in the Tower of
London, by Richard III, for siding with Lancaster. He received the knighthood following
his release and moved to Kent.
When Queen Mary came to the throne and announced her
intentions to marry the Catholic King Philip of Spain, Thomas, Henry’s grandson,
lead a 4000 strong rebellion out of Rochester, although, most had drifted away by
the time they reached London. The authorities arrested and executed Wyatt, and the
throne confiscated his lands and removed the Royal Charter from Maidstone, for supporting
the rebellion. Queen Elizabeth I restored the Maidstone charter and leased Allington
castle to John Astley, a royal courtier. Astley's successors moved from the castle
when in 1600, a fire burnt it to the ground, where it stayed, gradually rotting,
for the next 300 years. In 1905, the explorer, Sir Martin Conway, bought the castle
and with the help of architects, W D Caroe and Philip Tiden, set about restoring
it. The castle changed hands several times before, in the mid-
The Normans built Allington church as a chapel to the castle in the 12th century. In 1800, Edward Hasted described it as being a ‘small mean building’. They sold it as a private residence in 1973, having built a new church, in Allington, with the same dedication.