Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Ospringe
Ospringe comes from the Old English 'spring' meaning a 'spring, well, the source of a stream’; therefore, a ‘spring’. The Domesday Book chronicles Ospringe as Ospringes.
The Romans built a defended settlement with a ditch, earth and timber ramparts to
the south of Watling Street at Ospringe. It had timber-
Ospringe parish church is a Grade: II listed building dedicated to Saint Peter and
Saint Paul. The Saxons built the first chapel, which the Normans rebuilt in stone
between 1150 and 1190 that had an unusual round tower. In 1695, the bells rung as
a loyal tribute while King William III passed through the village, causing the decayed
spire to collapse. The poorly constructed replacement had to be demolished in 1750.
In 1798, Edward Hasted described the Ospringe church as an ‘antient building, consisting
of three isles and a chancel. The steeple was formerly at the west end, and was built
circular of flints, supposed to be Danish, with a shingled spire on it, of upwards
of fifty feet high, in which were four bells; but in ringing them on Oct. 11, 1695,
on king William's return from Flanders, it suddenly fell to the ground, providentially
no one was hurt by it. There are no remains left of any painted glass in the windows
of this church, though there was formerly much in most of them’. In 1866, the Gothic
architect E L Blackburn, rebuilt the tower and restored the church. In 1891, John
Taylor cast and hung a ring of eight bells to replace a single bell.