Appledore is a village and civil parish[2] in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village centre is on the northern edge of the Romney Marsh, 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Ashfordtown.[3] The northerly part of this village is Appledore Heath.
History
The name is first recorded in the 10th century as apuldre (meaning apple tree in Old English).[4] Alternatively, a Brythonic origin from or connected with "dwr/dor", meaning water, has been posited.
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 892–93, 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 where they were again defeated in battle.
The importance of Appledore as a port diminished suddenly in the 13th-century when two great storms - the first on 4 February 1287 and again sometime the following December - 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.[5] 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.
In film, the media and literature
Appledore was the setting for A. A. Milne's famous verse poem, "The Knight Whose Armour Didn't Squeak". Milne lived 29 miles (47 km) west in Hartfield, Sussex.
The fictional village of Plummergen, in the "Miss Seeton" series of crime novels by Heron Carvic, is based on Appledore.[6]
Appledore features in the series Darling Buds of May.
Religion
The medieval parish church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.[7]
Transport
The B2080 is a local road connecting Appledore with Tenterden and Brenzett, where it meets the A259 South Coast Trunk Road. The Royal Military Road follows the canal southwest from Appledore to Rye.[8]
The woodland is frequently coppiced for various timber uses. Including oak thinnings being used in Shorne Woods Country Park's new visitor centre, as the window and roof joinery.[12]
The wood, is surrounded by three other woods, Great Heron Wood (to the North), Little Heron Wood (to the East) and Butness Wood (further to the East).
