Eythorne roundabout at the centre of Eythorne from the War Memorial at Eythorne Post Office
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The Parish of Eythorne consists of three separate villages – Elvington, Barfrestone and Eythorne itself. Situated approximately 6 miles from Dover and about 10 miles from Canterbury, the Parish has approximately 2,000 residents.
Elvington was originally a 'Pit Village' and the houses were erected for the miners and their families. With the closure of Tilmanstone mine, like most other 'Pit villages' it now has a variety of residents with most homes being local Council properties. It also has a Community Centre, with a Health Centre and Computer rooms, and adjacent playing field and Multi Use Games Area. A play area with a skate ramp and small children's play equipment is located at Adelaide Road. There is an excellent Sports Pavilion run by the Tilmanstone C Welfare Scheme. Facilities include football/cricket pitches and bowls club. The Hall is newly refurbished and has a bar and is an excellent place to hold an event. Local shops include Chinese and Indian takeaways, a Hairdressers and a florist.
Barfrestone is a small hamlet with one of the oldest churches in Kent, which is well worth a visit, and a village 'Pub'.
Eythorne consists mostly of private properties but there are still many ex miners, who have gone on to other careers. It has two churches, the local primary School, Resource Centre, which hosts WI meetings, Rainbows and Parish Council meetings, a shop/post office, Garage and Hairdressers. The Playing Field has Play Equipment and a Teen Shelter.
The Parish is rich in history. The earliest reference to Eythorne dates from the 9th Century Haegythethorne – Thorn tree of a woman called Haehgyth. By the 16th century Eythorne was the location of one of the first (if not the first) Baptist Chapels in England and a focus in “the district ..troubled with the frenzy of the Anabaptists more than any other part of the Kingdom”. The martyr Joan Botcher or Bourchier, better known as Joan of Kent, worshipped in Eythorne before being burned at the stake on 2 May 1550. Elvington sits astride the Roman Way, along which centurions marched en route to Londinium, while a Bronze Age barrow indicates even earlier settlement. The village owes its modern development to the Tilmanstone colliery where work began in 1906 and the first of more than 20 million tons of coal was extracted in 1913. The pit closed in 1986. The tiny Norman church in Barfrestone, complete with its internationally famous door carvings and bell in the adjacent yew tree was begun in the 11th century.
