Stone-cum-Ebony is a large mostly rural and marshland

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

centred SSW of Ashford in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

. It includes the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Stone in Oxney Stone in Oxney is a village south of Ashford in Kent, South East England, in the civil parish of Stone-cum-Ebony near Appledore. The village is south east of Tenterden, and stands in a position on the eastern side of the Isle of Oxney. The sto ...

and tiny community of

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...

. Its population expanded by 69 in the ten years to 2011.

Geography

The parish is south east of

Tenterden Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...

, and stands mostly slightly elevated on the eastern side of the

Isle of Oxney Isle of Oxney is an area in Kent, England, close to the boundary with East Sussex. Up to the 13th century, the island was part of the coastline bordering what is now the Romney Marsh. As that silted up, and until the later 17th century, the Ri ...

. The

Saxon Shore Way The Saxon Shore Way is a long-distance footpath in England. It starts at Gravesend, Kent, and traces the coast of South-East England as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, in total. This means that around Romney Marsh the ...

, a long-distance walking route tracing the old

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

line, passes through the parish. Wholly within the greater Isle of Oxney, the far north of the parish is marked by a small tributary of the

Rother Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

. It has one long street lined community at its centre.

History

Being almost flat and rectangular in area, the current bounds are those reflecting the centuries-old church parish boundaries: the south-east of the parish has the

Royal Military Canal The Royal Military Canal is a canal running for between Seabrook near Folkestone and Cliff End near Hastings, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh, which was constructed as a defence against the possible invasion of England du ...

which helps to drain what was otherwise an almost impenetrable marsh, and the west of the parish reaches to include about a quarter of

Wittersham Wittersham is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It is part of the Isle of Oxney. History The Domesday Book of 1086 does not mention Wittersham, but it does assign the manor of Palstre to Odo, Bishop of ...

village centre. Its Baptist chapel in the north of the street is now a cottage. The remaining religious building is a Grade II* church, i.e. mid-ranked in the national

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

ranking system. 10 other buildings, nearly half of those in total, are listed on the main street.

Notable residents (past & present)

* George Digweed

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, 16× World Sporting Shooter Champion * Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony JJSC, Supreme Court Justice *

Norman Forbes-Robertson Norman Forbes-Robertson (24 September 1858 – 28 September 1932), known professionally as Norman Forbes, was an English actor and art dealer. He was the brother of actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and a friend of Ellen Terry, Oscar Wilde, ...

, distinguished Victorian Shakespearean actor *

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...

, illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician *

George Newson George Newson (born 27 July 1932) is an English composer and pianist who made some important contributions to British electronic and avant garde music during the 1960s and 1970s and has subsequently composed large and small-scale works in many mus ...

, composerGareth Stevens. 'Meeting the Old Master', ''Hastings Independent'', 25 March, 2022
/ref> *Sinden family: ** Sir Donald Sinden

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, actorDebrett's Distinguished People of Today (2007) **

Marc Sinden Marcus Andrew Sinden (born 9 May 1954) is an English actor and film & theatre director and producer. Sinden has worked in film and theatre (mainly in London's West End) as both actor and producer and directed the documentary series ''Great We ...

, film director, actor and West End theatre producer

References

External links

Statistical civil parish overview – map
Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent {{Kent-geo-stub