Ashford, Kent Walk: Town Centre【4K】
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- Located in the county of Kent, and around 15 miles southwest of Canterbury, is the town of Ashford (not to be confused with the town of Ashford in Surrey!)
The origins of Ashford can be traced back to 893 AD when a settlement was established here by Saxons escaping a Viking raid. The name is derived from Old English 'æscet', meaning ash trees and 'ford', meaning shallow river crossing. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as 'Essetesford'.
In 1243 a market charter was granted to Ashford by Henry III. Early industry in the town included agriculture and pottery. During the late 13th century, St Mary the Virgin Church was built, and stands at the very centre of the town to this day, although much of the building was restored in the 15th century including the 37-metre/120ft tower. The church is Grade I listed.
From the mid-19th century the rail industry would transform Ashford. It began in 1842 with the opening of its first station. It was situated on a line between London and Folkestone. Further lines to Canterbury, Hastings and Maidstone were added, making Ashford a junction station. In 1847 the Ashford locomotive works was built by the South Eastern Railway. This brought hundreds of jobs into the town. To keep up with the influx of workers, an area known as Alfred Town was established just southeast of the town centre, which later became known as New Town. At its peak around 1300 people were employed by the works. The locomotive workshops would eventually close in 1962 although it wasn't until the early 1980s that the railway works closed altogether.
In 1919 a British Mark IV tank was presented to the town in recognition of its response to the National War Savings appeal. It was delivered by rail and met by a Tanks Corps Crew who drove it to St George's Square where it has remained ever since.
In 1994 work began on rebuilding Ashford's station into what would become Ashford International. This would feature two separate areas: one for domestic trains and one for trains coming to and from mainland Europe via the then brand new Eurostar. In 2003 section 1 of High Speed 1 connected London with the Channel Tunnel. In 2007 section 2 opened, along with Ebbsfleet International Station, which is situated around 35 miles northwest of Ashford. The opening of Ebbsfleet International caused a reduction in services from Ashford to Paris from 12 a day to just three, plus a daily service to Disneyland. In September 2020 it was announced that, due to a decline in ticket sales following the pandemic, both Ashford and Ebbsfleet would suspend their Eurostar services until further notice. At the time of writing (June 2022), the latest estimate is 2023 at the earliest. On a more positive note, there are frequent high speed trains running to London St Pancras, taking just under 40 minutes, so travel to the continent by rail is still possible. These trains also make Ashford a viable commuter town for those working in the capital.
Novelist Frederick Forsyth comes from Ashford.
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Filmed: 30th April 2022
Link to the walk on Google Maps: goo.gl/maps/fwR91SJAMYuoPBMp6
Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 St Mary the Virgin Church
0:05 Churchyard
1:00 St Mary the Virgin Church
1:06 Churchyard
2:53 St Mary the Virgin Church
2:59 Churchyard
3:08 Tufton Street
5:10 Bank Street
10:43 High Street
11:51 New Rents
13:48 Gilbert Road
14:19 New Street
14:39 British Mark IV 'Female' Tank, No 245
15:07 St George's Square
15:28 Castle Street
15:53 High Street
23:01 North Street
25:01 Park Street
I an ashford lad ..born and bred...I glad left in 1999...thank god.
Lovely Ashford..nice and quiet...Liquid down Somerset Rd
Another beauty in Britain's crown of mesmerizing towns.... Thank You Very Much
Great video. Brings back memories. I loved in Ashford from 1957-67
It’s not a patch on what Ashford used to be sadly.
A very tidy town it looks. Tudor homes never fail to impress. Thank you.
Indeed, thanks again for watching!
These videos are great
They will make excellent time machines for future generations Ty
There's never a dull moment when I'm on a journey with you. Always such a great surprise! Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by!
Beautiful scenery, nice post. Thanks for sharing
Hey, thanks for watching!
Nice walk tour along Ashford, Kent Town Centre. Charming and tranquil atmosphere. Tnx4sharing.
Hey, thanks for stopping by!
hi
My old home town
Such a shame to see Ashford like this, with many shops closed and building works going on!
However glad to see you walked past Poppin's, shame they only have 2 left in Kent in Ashford/Tunbridge Wells- I rememberwhen they had 14 in Kent-one of my favs was the one in Bexleyheath!
The Joh Wallis Bar was great-what a shame 😢
lovely, thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
It’s like a ghost town
Looks lovely 👍
Nice little tour of the town centre. It's a shame Ashford town centre is always so quiet these days though.
I really enjoyed it. Keep it up
hiya me name is lucky
Very nice 👍💚💚💚👍👍
Looks like it could become a nice place but half of the shops are closed down which is never a good sign.
hi me name is lucky
Ashford is a great town 🎉
😎
good morning
Do you live there ? What's it like ?
14:45 в Архангельске (Россия) такой же танк на улице стоит. От английских интервентов достался большивикам.
What strucks me is how dirty streets are in Englad vs european cities
Oh Ashford what have they done to you? Poor old town.
Türkçe
Medway towns work in only 2 ways: The are the 'well kept and orderly towns and then there are the ones that are unfortunately 'infested' with the scum that drags the towns down for those the majority want to live in the 'former'. Ashford is one of the latter. Yes there is lots of developers building to sell to foreign investors (who have not got a 'clue' where Ashford actually is!) who will just rent them out to student city and cash-in after a couple of years rent.
The 'non-existent high street and vacant shopping centre has been replaced with upteen kebab and barber shops and nothing else.
Such a shame that the town is not up there with some of it's better inhabited neighbouring medway towns. Time for a clean-up Ashford Council!. Developers are only developing in this town for rental sales, nothing else (although the councils 'rare' advertising campaigns will try to tell you different. (with its misplaced 'designer centre' and it's 'so-called' international station - which people only use to pass through Ashford to get to Europe!...ironic such an exspensive opportunity was missed!. As you will see in this video, the place is a boarded-up, non-discriptive ghost town!.
Ashford is not a Medway town, it has the River Stour not the Medway , there are only 5 Medway towns, Rochester, Gillingham , Chathem, Strood, Rainham
Except. Ashford isnt a medway town.
@@neilsmith292 True. Well, of the five that there are, I would add Ashford and its 'river' stour to that category.
Does the international station not go to Paris now? Does it go to London and Folkstone high speed?
Tories have controlled Ashford since 1885, if you want the town to improve you can't keep voting for the same party and expecting things to change. Vote Labour.