Appledore

"APPLEDORE, a parish in the hundred of Blackbourne, lathe of Scray, in the county of Kent, 5 miles to the S.E. of Tenterden. Staplehurst is the post town. It is situated in Romney Marsh on the river Rother. The Grand Military canal from Shorncliffe to Hythe passes through it. The town is built on the site of a fort erected by Alfred the Great, which was attacked in 893 by the Danes, who sailed up to the town, and is supposed to have been destroyed by the French in 1380. The surrounding country is chiefly marsh and pasture land. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value, with the curacy of Ebony, £200, in the patronage of the archbishop. The church, which is in the perpendicular style, is dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul. It formerly belonged to the priory of Christ Church. Fairs are held on the 11th January and the 22nd June."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]