The small civil parish of Hastingleigh lies on top of the North Downs in Kent three miles east of Wye and ten miles south of Canterbury, near the locally renowned beauty spot of the Devil's Kneading Trough, on the North Downs Way with views towards Ashford, Romney Marsh and the Weald. In England a civil parish (usually just parish) is the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties. ... The North Downs in England are a ridge of chalk hills that stretch about 100 mi (160 km) from Hampshire through Surrey and Kent. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Wye College Wye is an historic village in Kent, England, located some 12 miles from Canterbury. ... Canterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England and nominal head of the Anglican Communion. ... The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England. ... Ashford is a town spanning the confluence of the River West Stour and River East Stour and the resulting River Great Stour, in the borough of Ashford in Kent, United Kingdom. ... The Romney Marsh is a sparsely-populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. ... A weald once meant a dense forest, especially the famous great wood once stretching far beyond the ancient counties of Sussex and Kent, England, where this country of smaller woods is still called the Weald. ...

Hastingleigh has a current population of about 200 serviced by a village shop and post office (currently closed), garage and a public house. For notes on some individual UK pubs, see Notable British public houses. ...

The village was in existence prior to the Domesday Book and originally lay in the valley by the church (St. Mary the Virgin Church of England) but following the plague, the main settlement was relocated to its current position. The church of St. Mary is of stone, in the Early English style, and has a tower containing one bell: there is a brass to John Hawke, 1604, and Anna his wife, 1596: the nave and aisle were restored in 1880 and the chancel in 1886: the church affords 200 sittings. Doomesday Book (also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester), was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William the Conqueror, that was similar to a census by a government of today. ... A parish church is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Illustration of the Black Death from the Toggenburg Bible (1411). ...

External link

• Hastingleigh Parish Council – hosted by saxonshore-kent.gov.uk