Sevington () is a village 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 Sevington with Finberry, in the Ashford district, in

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.

History

The geographically small village of Sevington is first recorded 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, where it appears as ''Seivetone''. It appears as ''Seyueton'' in the '' Feet of Fines'' for 1314. The name means "the town or settlement of Sægifu", Sægifu being a woman's name. In 1872, the village had a population of about 113. St Mary's Church is the village's Norman

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. It is a Grade I listed building dating from the 12th century, and has been altered at several times, first around 1200 and a second time in the 14th century, and underwent restoration in 1877 and 1936. The church is cut off from the village by the building of the Southern Orbital road.KentParishes.gov.uk
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Geography and economy

Much of Sevington's small tract of land is covered by Ashford business park areas which are connected with Ashford by post town status and by its road network, linking them closely with Ashford. At the start of the 21st century many changes took place in Sevington due to the building of the Orbital Business Park including the Ashford

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

market. The village/suburb of Willesborough bounds Sevington (along its long north-west border), while the new Finberry neighbourhood is to the south in Mersham but with its own amenities. High Speed 1, the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

Rail Link which adjoins the ordinary railway, passes through the parish.

Customs clearance facility

In 2019, a tract of former farmland at Sevington was put up for sale for property development. Located close to Junction 10A of the M20 motorway, it was marketed as MOJO, an acronym for M20, Junction 10a), In July 2020, the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

announced that it had acquired the MOJO site to develop it as a customs clearance facility for inbound freight and a holding area for outbound freight, in preparation for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The site was selected due to its proximity to the Port of Dover. The facility has been nicknamed in the media as "the Farage Garage", in reference to the politician

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

, who has been one of the leading campaigners for

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. In 2020, commentators in the media said that the 13th-century Church of St Mary will be surrounded by the planned lorry park. As at mid-December 2020, it was forecast to be finished by late February 2021. Although originally intended to be finished by 1 January 2021, heavy rain delayed construction; as a result, the site will temporarily only be used as a holding area, with customs checks being performed in Waterbrook Park nearby. As of January 2023, the facility is complete but not in any significant use. The Government has repeatedly postponed introduction of import controls, with (at the time) no firm plans to begin such. In July 2023, the Government announced that application of controls on all goods arriving from the EU that are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls, would begin in autumn 2023.

References

External links

Statistical civil parish overview - map
{{authority control Villages in the Borough of Ashford