Appledore, Kent


 * See Appledore for other places with the same name.

Appledore is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village centre is 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Ashford town, and on the northern edge of the Romney Marsh The northerly part of this village is Appledore Heath.

The name Appledore comes from the Saxon Apuldre (meaning an apple tree) and is first recorded in the 10th century.

Appledore was once a port on the estuary of the River Rother. Famously, the greater part of the Danish army (280 ships - 5000 men) wintered at Appledore in 892-893, before moving into Wessex and suffering defeat at the hands of the Saxons led by King Alfred's son Edward the Elder at Farnham in Surrey. The defeated Danes fell back to Benfleet in Essex wher they were again defeated in battle. The importance of Appledore as a port diminished suddenly in the 13th-century when great storms caused the river Rother to change its course; the village street now leads down to the Royal Military Canal. A French raid in 1380 resulted in the burning of the church: it was later rebuilt. The village was permitted to hold a market in the main street by Edward II. In 1804, when there was threat of invasion by Napoleon the Royal Military Canal was built: Appledore stands on its northern bank. The Rhee Wall, a 13th century waterway, was built to carry silt away from the eastern part of the Romney Marsh; it runs from Appledore to New Romney.

The medieval parish church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.

Today the village is served by a secondary road (B2080) between Tenterden and New Romney; and by the "Marsh Link" railway line between both Brighton or Hastings and Ashford. The railway station is located beyond the Canal, some 2 miles (3 km) distant.