Allington, a pint and a ponder ...

The weather was too beautiful to stay indoors this weekend, so yesterday we stepped out for a mooch down Castle Road, towards Allington Lock, our destination the Malta Inn public house garden. I really enjoy this walk - most of Allington is given over to modern housing development, but Castle Road holds the key to Allington's tiny historical heart!

Castle Road, Allington: turn right at this beautiful property, to head towards Allington Castle (I think this may be the castle gatehouse, but I'm not certain and have been unable to find any information to confirm my guess) but beware, all you'll find is a wooded walk and a big gate with CCTV peering down menacingly at you, at the end of it! Alternatively, if like us, you fancy a pint, follow the bend in the road left, stroll past the old church and onwards, to Allington Lock.

An intriguing glimpse of Allington Castle, shrouded from view by dense woodland.

An aerial library photograph of the mysterious castle - now privately owned and in 1951 home to an enclosed order of Carmelite Nuns.

I haven't yet had time to learn much about our parish's historical detail, but since moving here, I have discovered that on our side of the river lies a twelfth century castle, (frustratingly privately owned, closed to the public and shrouded behind dense woodland) a lovely old church (also now a private dwelling, so all we nosey parkers can do is peer past wrought iron railings and employ our imaginations!) a magnificent property called 'Lockwood House' set in sprawling lawns gloriously populated with wild rabbits and an eighteenth century Lock, still very much in use today.

No time to ponder history further, as we cross Allington Lock thirsty for our Sunday afternoon pint!

A few steps across the Lock bridge is the Malta Inn, a great spot to sup a pint in the warm Spring sunshine. Shown here, boats mooring alongside the pub for a pint!

I found the following snippet of historical information about Allington Lock at: http://www.me16.com/allington/history/

"Very little is known about Allington in early history. It was never a village and very few people lived in the area. Allington came into being on the banks of the Medway, where the castle was first built. Charles Igglesden in his books 'Saunters through Kent', written about 1900, describes it so - 'A tiny Parish, no village, no main road passes through it. The easiest way to see it is to saunter along the Medway tow-path.' He mentions the water fowl, fish, barges and that it is best seen from hillocks on the Boxley side of the river.

Charles Igglesden continues: 'To cross the river we pass over locks. Up to this point the Medway is tidal, but not beyond. Originally it was tidal as high as Maidstone, and only a few years since were the old locks near All Saints' church removed'. During the reign of George III the lower Medway Navigation Company were given the power, by an act of Parliament, to dam the river at Allington, to make towpaths and to render the river navigable at this point. The Allington Locks had come into existence towards the end of the 18th century. Previously there had been only a ford, possibly at the site of the present Malta Inn."

The Civic Opening of Allington Lock in 1937. Built in 1792, the Lock was enlarged in 1881.

And finally, the old Allington Lockhouse dated 1833, taken on our stroll homewards, yesterday afternoon.