Ebony is a hamlet 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Stone-cum-Ebony, in the Ashford district, in the county of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It is on 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 ...

, south of Ashford. EBONY (St. Mary), is a parish, in the union of

Tenterden Tenterden is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The 2021 census published the population of the parish to be 8,186. Geography Tenterden is connected to Kent's county town of Maidstone by the A262 road an ...

, partly in the hundred of Tenterden, Lower division of the

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...

of Scray, W. division, but chiefly in the hundred of Oxney, lathe of Shepway, E. division, of Kent, 4 miles (S. E.) from Tenterden. The place-name 'Ebony' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 833, where it appears as ''Ebbanea''. The name means 'Ebba's or Ybba's stream'. In 1891 the parish had a population of 174. In 1894 the parish was abolished and merged with Stone to form "Stone cum Ebony", part also went to Tenterden.

Notable residents (past & present)

* Norman Forbes-Robertson – distinguished Victorian Shakespearean actor *

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an England, English artist. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpture. McKean has illustrated works by authors such as S. F. Said, S.F. Said, ...

– illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician * Sir Donald Sinden

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

– distinguished actor * Marc Sinden – film director, actor and

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, ...

producer * Maria Ann Smith – orchardist and cultivator of the

Granny Smith The Granny Smith is an List of apple cultivars, apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who Fruit tree propagation, propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a Hybri ...

apple was married here. Ebony was formerly an island surrounded by marsh and the tidal waters of the River Rother. At the top of the most prominent part of the high ground, known as Chapel Bank, is the churchyard of the original Ebony Church, St Mary the Virgin. After lightning and fire damage the remains of the church, built of local ragstone, were moved in 1858 to the present location at nearby Reading Street, and restored. It has been suggested that references to King

Osred II of Northumbria Osred II was King of Northumbria from 789 to 790. He was the son of Alhred of Northumbria, Alhred and Osgifu, daughter of Eadberht of Northumbria, Eadberht. He succeeded Ælfwald I of Northumbria, Ælfwald, son of his mother's brother Oswulf of N ...

's exile at 'Ebonia' (Evania) in the Annals of

Roger of Hoveden Roger of Howden or Hoveden (died 1202) was a 12th-century English chronicler, diplomat and head of the minster of Howden in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Roger and Howden minster Roger was born to a clerical family linked to the ancient minst ...

may refer to the strategically-situated Ebony in the marshlands of the South Coast, rather than to the Isle of Man or the Hebrides. The fact that the church at Ebony was of Saxon foundation has been cited in support for this hypothesis; however there is no evidence for a 9th-century date for the church and the earliest reference is from 1070. An annual pilgrimage from the Reading Street site of the church to the original site on Chapel Bank occurs in September. The nearby church of the village of Stone-cum-Ebony, on the

, is also dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, and should not be confused with Ebony church

References

External links

Ebony Kent
Local Tourism and Information web site Villages in the Borough of Ashford Former civil parishes in Kent Hamlets in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub