Ashford is a small village situated in the north-west on the Northern Tablelands of the state of New South Wales. The New England rural village of Ashford lies within the broad sunlit lands 748 km north of Sydney, 500 km south west of Brisbane, close to the Queensland border. Ashford is 430 metres above sea level and located 56 km north of Inverell on a major arterial road, connecting the Gwydir and Bruxner highways through to the Queensland border.

History

"Frazer's Creek" Post Office was established in 1853 and renamed Ashford in 1863. The first police station was opened in 1864 and the first school in 1868. Fred Ward a bushranger, known as "

Captain Thunderbolt Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835 – 25 May 1870), better known by the self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushra ...

" rode in the area in 1867. Primary industries in the town over the years included

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

farming and a local coal mine though each of these have ceased. Today, the surrounding areas are used for sheep and cattle farming.

Today

Ashford is a small community with a K-12 public school, basic shops, churches, and recreation and entertainment facilities, including a swimming pool, golf course and bowling club. Ashford Roosters play in the

Group 19 Rugby League The New England Group 19 Rugby League competition is a Rugby league competition which is run under the auspices of the NSWRL, which absorbed the NSWCRL in 2019. It is based in the New England region. It was originally called the Group 5 Rugby L ...

competition. It is the hub of a large agricultural area, an active retirement community, and regional tourism. Local attractions include Pindari Dam on the Severn River, MacIntyre Falls, the annual Ashford Salami Festival and

Ashford Caves The Ashford Caves, located within the Kwiambal National Park, are a series of caves that contain an outcrop of coralline limestone and are located in the New England Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The cav ...

Kwiambal National Park Kwiambal is a national park in New South Wales, Australia located about 30 km from the town of Ashford. The Severn River and Macintyre River both flow through and finally converge in the park below the MacIntyre falls. The park is studded ...

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20140204195901/http://www.ashfordnsw.com.au/the-town/

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20071026151924/http://www.ashfordonline.com.au/%2A www.ashfordnsw.com.au {{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in New England (New South Wales) Inverell Shire