About

The town of Kington retains the medieval grid pattern of streets and back lanes and today has a population of some 2,600. Situated to the west of Offa’s Dyke it is actually 2 miles from the Wales border in Herefordshire and has been in England for over a 1,000 years. Located on the route taken by drovers, Kington grew in importance as a market town and there is still a thriving livestock market on Thursdays. The town is on the River Arrow in the shadow of Hergest Ridge; it is on the A44 road 14 miles west of Leominster and 21 miles north-west of Hereford.

In the chapel of St. Mary's Church there is the alabaster tomb of Sir Thomas Vaughan of the nearby Hergest Court, who was slain at the Battle of Banbury 1469, and his wife, Elen Gethin. The ghost of Sir Thomas and also that of the Black Dog of Hergest, are said to haunt the area around Hergest Ridge. The town has a museum in the town centre (next to the tall clock tower commemorating Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887) which is open in season and near the town is Hergest Croft Gardens, part of the Hergest Estate, which is also open to the public.