The History of Allington - Part one
Allington is spelled Elentun in the Domesday Book and Alynton in the Middle Ages. There are two theories of the derivation of this name. Firstly that it was a Celtic name for Medway and, secondly, that tun or ton was a dwelling within the enclosure of Aella's people. This suggests that Saxons occupied a defensive site on the banks of the Medway. Celtic burials have been found in the region and also Roman remains. In 1844 the site of a Roman villa was found on the present site of the castle gateway, opposite St Laurence Church, and coins were found from the reign of Tetricus from the third century
The defensive site occupied by the Sazons was possibly where the Allington locks are today. It wouls have been a wooden building. The first official record of a castle was in the Domesday Book in 1086. Ulnoth held it Alnod Citt, the fourth son of Earl Godwin and younger brother to King Harold. Alnod Citt was a Kentish thane, who held twenty of 184 manors in Kent granted to Bishop Odo, half brother of King William.
When Allington is mentioned, of course everyone immediately thinks of the castle, but Allington today stretches for at least two miles beyond. Where Allington ends and Maidstone begins is uncertain, so perhaps the reader will forgive me if I include a small portion of the outskirts of Maidstone. I am taking the area to be from Allington lock in the north, to the Queens Road in the south and Barming in the west to the railway line in the east.
Very little is known about Allington in early history. It was never a village and very few people lived in the area. Allington came into being on the banks of the Medway, where the castle was first built. Charles Igglesden in his books 'Saunters through Kent', written about 1900, describes it so - 'A tiny Parish, no village, no main road passes through it. The easiest way to see it is to sauter along the Medway tow-path.' He mentions the water fowl, fish, barges and that it is best seen from hillocks on the Boxley side of the river.
Charles Igglesden continues: 'To cross the river we pass over locks. Up to this point the Medway is tidal, but not beyond. Originally it was tidal as high as Maidstone, and only a few years since were the old locks near All Saints' church removed'. During the reign of George III the lower Medway Navigation Company were given the power, by an act of Parliament, to dam the river at Allington, to make towpaths and to render the river navigable at this point. The Allington Locks had come into existence towards the end of the 18th century. Previously there had been only a ford, possibly at the site of the present Malta Inn.
to be continued ...
