Aldington Kent - (The Aldington Gang) - an English Village (UK)

Aldington lies on the hills to the north edge of the Romney Marsh , between Lympne and Ashford .

After the Norman invasion, the church was next to the Archbishops palace, but after the reformation the building went into decay.

The village was affected badly by the Black Death , as the village centre is now at Aldington Corner about 1 mile from the church.

In 1511 Erasmus of Rotterdam a famous theologian and scholar was made the vicar of Aldington by Archbishop Warham. Erasmus spoke Latin and Dutch and no English , therefore could not preach to the English congregation and resigned one year later.

In 1519 Elizabeth Barton was born in the village, she became a maid to one of the local families, but claimed she had visions and could prophecy. She was provided a place in the convent at Canterbury, and through some manipulation by Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More she prophesied that King Henry VIII would die a villains death if he divorced Catherine. The prophesy was made in 1527. Henry was not impressed and Elizabeth was arrested along with Archbishop Warnham. She was questioned by Archbishop Cranmer and confessed to fraud finally was publicly executed at Tyburn in April 1533.

The Aldington Gang of smugglers was probably founded in or around 1817 as gang based smuggling returned, but the first mention of the Aldington Gang was in 1820. The gang carried out a landing near Sandgate Castle with 300 men taking part, and were spotted by a few local blockade men, as the main blockade force had been lured away by the smugglers. The smugglers outnumbered the blockade men who decided that it was safer to report the event, than try to stop it.

In 1792 George Ransley was born at Ruckinge , and started work as a ploughman then a carter. The story goes that he found a stash of spirits hidden by the smugglers and with the proceeds of the sale bought his house the Bourne Tap. Ransley took over the Aldington gang of smugglers after the Battle of Brookland in 1820. The gang became stronger and landed goods all along the coast from Rye to Deal . In July 1826 they were caught on the beach at Dover and a Midshipman Richard Morgan was killed. In October 1826 Ransley was arrested at Aldington by the Bow Street Runners on suspicion of murder, but as it took place in the dark, the death sentence was converted to deportation. Ransley was sent to work on a farm in Tasmania .