Kingston
Upon Thames was a market town just over eleven miles from London. In
Saxon times it was likely a royal residence, and early nineteenth-century
historians often claimed that King Edgar was crowned at Kingston in
959. Kingston had a wooden bridge over the Thames, said to be as old
as London Bridge. Its Free School was housed in a fourteenth-century
chapel, its medieval church was spacious with convenient galleries and
a good organ by Avery.
The
other notable building in Regency Kingston was the barn belonging to
Canbury House which was so spacious that twelve teams could unload at
once. The barn had four entrances, four threshing floors, and was supported
by twelve pillars.
Kingston
held a weekly market on Saturdays, and held fairs on Whit Thursday,
August 2nd (Black-cherry fair), and November 13th (Holland-tide Fair,
which continued for nine days). Kingston's main trade was in hops and
malt.
