Ebony, Kent
Coordinates: 51°01′00″N 0°45′55″E / 51.0167°N 0.7654°E
Ebony is a hamlet south of Ashford in Kent, South East England, in the civil parish of Stone-cum-Ebony, on the Isle of Oxney in the Ashford district of Kent. EBONY (St. Mary), is a parish, in the union of Tenterden, partly in the hundred of Tenterden, Lower division of the lathe of Scray, W. division, but chiefly in the hundred of Oxney, lathe of Shepway, E. division, of Kent, 4 miles (S. E.) from Tenterden. [1]
Notable residents (past & present)
- Norman Forbes-Robertson - distinguished Victorian Shakespearean actor
- Dave McKean - illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician
- Sir Donald Sinden CBE - distinguished actor[2][3]
- Marc Sinden - film director, actor and West End theatre producer[4]
- Maria Ann Smith - orchardist and cultivator of the Granny Smith 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 the remains of the church, built of local ragstone, were moved by the Victorians in 1858 to the present location at nearby Reading Street, and restored. It has been suggested that references to King Alfred's base at 'Ebonia' (Evania) in the Annals of Roger de Hoveden may refer to the strategically-situated Ebony in the marshlands of the South Coast, rather than to the Isle of Man or 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 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 Isle of Oxney, is also dedicated to St mary the Virgin and should not be confused with Ebony church
References
- ↑ Ashford Borough Council Census 2001
- ↑ Sir Donald Sinden, CBE Authorised Biography – Debrett’s People of Today, Sir Donald Sinden, CBE Profile. Debretts.com (9 October 1923).
- ↑ http://kent.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/sir-donald-sinden-8037/
- ↑ "Marc Sinden: former Mrs McCartney is ‘the most misquoted lady I’ve ever met’". Liverpool Daily Post. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
External links
- Ebony Kent Local Tourism and Information web site
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Tenterden | Reading Street | Appledore Heath | |
| Small Hythe |  |
Appledore | ||
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| Wittersham | Iden | Stone in Oxney |
