Wingham is a village and

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 ...

in the

Dover District Dover is a local government district in Kent, England. It is named after its largest town, the port town of Dover. The council is based in Whitfield on the outskirts of Dover. The district also covers the towns of Deal, Sandwich and Walmer as ...

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. The village lies along the ancient coastal road, now the A257, from

Richborough Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash. Although now some dist ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and is close to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

History

A settlement at Wingham has existed since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

but only became established as a village in Roman times. 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 ...

reported that during

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

times Wingham manor was in possession by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. Wingham was the administrative centre of the hundred of Wingham which included

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles * Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Be ...

. In 1286, Archbishop Peckham founded a college in Wingham; many other buildings in Wingham date back to this time, including the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

'The Dog Inn' and (also listed) 'The Eight Bells'. St Mary the Virgin, the present

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

church of Wingham, dates from the early 13th century with fabric dating from the Norman to

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

s. The East Kent Light Railway was built between 1911 and 1917 to serve the new coal mines which were being opened up in the area. The site of the former Wingham Colliery station forming what is now the Grain Harvester's site. Three stations were opened; Wingham Colliery, Wingham Town (now occupied by garages and a scout hut) and Wingham Canterbury Road djacent to the Station Farm Shop Wingham Colliery never opened into production and the line failed and completely closed to passengers in 1948 with the section north of

Eythorne Eythorne is a civil parish and small village located 7.3 miles north-northwest of Dover in Kent, with a combined population of approximately 2,500 residents including nearby villages Barfrestone and Elvington. Although not classed as one of th ...

closed to freight in 1951. Plans and some advanced earthworks had been commenced in the 1920s to extend the line from Wingham Canterbury Road Station to Canterbury via Stodmarsh. The village is also on the

Miner's Way Trail The Miner's Way Trail is a long-distance circular footpath in England, starting at Sholden, Kent. Linking up the coalfield parishes of East Kent. Including; the parishes of Deal, Kent, Deal, Ash, Dover, Ash, Aylesham, Chillenden, Eastry, Eythor ...

. The trail links up the coalfield parishes of East Kent.

Community

Wingham is a village serving some light industry but is mostly a dormitory town for

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

and

. There are shops, an Indian restaurant, and The Anchor, and The Dog Inn public houses. Recent village developments include Miller Close, a small number of houses built by The Rural Housing Trust, opened officially by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

in December 2007. There had been proposals to expand the close by building another 20 houses on the field adjacent to the existing homes but these proposals have since been rejected by the local county council and the plans withdrawn by the organisation proposing the plans. Wingham has a functional fire station which serves the village and surrounding areas. The station itself was originally located in the High Street next to the Red Lion but has since moved to Staple Road. The station is maintained by Kent Fire and Rescue Service and comprises a retained fire crew. Due to the minimal incident activity of the station, there have been suggestions that the station is not required and should be decommissioned to reduce the services operational costs. A recent investment in the station provided a new, improved, fire appliance made by Iveco. This investment has been seen by other, much more active, fire stations operated by Kent Fire and Rescue, such as neighbouring village Aylesham and the town of Sandwich. The town of

Wingham, New South Wales Wingham is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia in the Mid-Coast Council area north of Sydney. According to the , Wingham had a population of 5,395. History The first land grant in the area was made at The Big ...

settled in 1841, was named after Wingham in Kent and was originally laid out in a similar way. Wingham Wildlife Park is a zoo northeast from the village which houses animals such as

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

meerkat The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body ...

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

, and

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

. Bus services run between Sandwich and Canterbury, and to Plucks Gutter and Broadstairs. The nearest National Rail Stations are at Adisham and Aylesham on the Dover-Faversham-London Victoria line.

Surrounding area

Gallery

File:The Old Watchmaker's Cottage complete with scarecrows - geograph.org.uk - 455588.jpg, The Old Watchmaker's Cottage complete with scarecrows File:Oast House belonging to Hearts Delight Farm - geograph.org.uk - 467731.jpg,

Oast house An oast, oast house (or oasthouse) or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas, and are often good examples of agricultu ...

Twin cities/towns

* Vert-le-Grand,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent Dover District