Ringlestone is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

between

Wormshill Wormshill ( ), historically Wormsell, is a small village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of the Swale and east of Maidstone. The village of Frinsted lies to the east and Bi ...

and

Harrietsham Harrietsham is a rural and industrial village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England noted in the Domesday Book. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 1,504, increasing to 2,113 at the 2011 Cen ...

in the Maidstone district of

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 ...

, England. It is in the

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 authorit ...

of Wormshill. Ringlestone or Rongostone (meaning "ring of stones") dates back to before the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086.Ringlestone's entry in the Domesday Book
at th
National Archives
/ref> At the time of the Domesday Survey, the hamlet was smaller than it is today and yet was still deemed worthy of recording as noted by

Edward Hasted Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and T ...

in his 18th century survey of Kent:

On the summit of the hill, at the south-east boundaries of this parish, next to Harrietsham, is a small hamlet, consisting of only three houses, belonging to farms of but small rents, which, however insignificant it may seem now, seems antiently to have been of some account, having been thought of sufficient consequence to be entered in the survey of Domesday, under the title of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, as follows: ''Richard holds of the bishop Rongostone, it was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . There are two
villeins A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or '' crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
, having one
carucate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...
, and it paid six shillings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now it is worth /nowiki>orty shillings. Ulviet held it of king Edward.''

Today the hamlet is a collection of cottages and a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

surrounding a former farm, now converted to the Ringlestone Farmhouse Hotel.Website of the Ringlestone Farmhouse Hotel
/ref> The

Ringlestone Inn The Ringlestone Inn is an historic public house and restaurant, located in the Ringlestone hamlet near the village of Wormshill in Kent, England. Dating back to the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547) the current Grade II listed building was con ...

, a central feature of the hamlet, is an historic 16th century ale-house.

References

Hamlets in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub