History of Boughton Aluph

Kent Past

The History of Kent

Home Towns & Villages Time-Line Articles Kent Past Times Contact

Leave your email address to receive Kent Past Times free every month

Boughton Aluph comes from the Old English ‘boc’ meaning ‘beech-tree’ and ‘tun’ as an ‘enclosure, a farmstead’; therefore, ‘farmstead where the beech-tree grows’. The manorial affix is a personal name taken from the 13th century owner Alulphus, distinguishing the village from others with the same name. The Domesday Book records all as Boltune or Boltone.

Boughton Aluph parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to All Saints. The Saxons built the first church, which Alulphus rebuilt with stone in the 13th century. Sir Thomas Aldon, a courtier to King Edward III, substantially enlarged it in the following century. In 1798, Edward Hasted described the Boughton Aluph church as ‘large and handsome, built of slint, with ashlar stone to the doors, windows, and quoins. It consists of three isles and two chancels. The steeple is a large low tower, standing on four pillars in the middle of it. There are five bells in it, and at the south-east corner, adjoining to the tower, is a large square addition, in which is a stone stair-case’. The Victorians carried out restoration work in 1878.