KINGTON, a parish in the hundred of HUNTINGTON,
county of HEREFORD, comprising the market
town of Kington, and the townships of Barton and
Bradnor with Rustrock, Chickward and Pembers-Oak
with Lilwall, and Both-Hergists, and containing 2813
inhabitants, of which number, 1980 are in the town
of Kington, 19 miles (W.N.W.) from Hereford, and 154
(W. by N.) from London. The town, which is of considerable
antiquity, is situated on the hanks of the river
Arrow, and consists of two spacious streets. Charles II.
is said to have visited it prior to the fatal battle of
Worcester, and to have slept at an inn then called the
Lion, but now the Talbot. In a barn still standing here,
the celebrated tragic actress, Mrs. Siddons, made her first
public appearance on the stage. The manufacture of
woollen cloth, which was formerly carried on very extensively,
has entirely ceased; and glove-making, which,
until a very recent period, furnished employment to
a considerable number of the inhabitants, has much
declined: there is [an iron-foundry and nail manufactory,
established in 1815, in which about one hundred
persons are employed. A rail-road has been
constructed from the foundry to Brecon, joining the
canal at Newport. An act ofparliament was obtained,
in 1791, for making a canal from Kington, by Leominster,
to join the Severn at Stourport; but it has been
left unfinished for want of capital. There is a good
market for provisions on Wednesday: fairs are held on
Whit-Monday, August 2nd, and September 19th, and
annual cattle markets take place on the Wednesdays
previously to February 2nd, Easter Sunday, Old Michaelmas-
day, October llth, and Christmas-day. Courts
leet and baron for the manor, at the former of which a
bailiff is appointed, are held annually. The county
magistrates hold here petty sessions for the hundreds of
Huntington and Wigmore every Friday. A court for the
recovery of debts under 40s. is held once in three weeks.
The living is a vicarage, with the curacies of Brilley,
Huntington, and Michaelchurch, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Hereford, rated in the king's books at
£25. 2. 11., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Hereford.
The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient
structure. Here are places of worship for Baptists
andWesleyan Methodists. A free grammar school was
founded pursuant to the will of Lady Hawkins, who, in
1619, bequeathed money for the purchase of an estate
producing £224. 10. per annum, of which the master
receives three-fourths as his salary, and the usher one
fourth; the school is open to the children of Kington,
Brilley, Huntington, and Michaelchurch, and the present
number of free scholars is forty-two. On Bradnor
hill, about a mile north of the town, are traces of an
ancient camp; and there is a rocky eminence the vicinity,
called Castle hill, though it does not appear that
any castle ever stood there, or that it was the site of an
encampment.