Suggestions have been made that it is no longer possible, in these days, to write a general parish history. Whether or not that is true, this work makes no such pretension. It was born of a study of Ash’s ancient registers and although growing a little from that beginning, still reaches the Middle Ages within ten pages and, at the other end of the scale, makes no serious attempt to cover the last hundred odd years.
   Modern boundary revisions showing little respect for pride of place and, in particular, the amalgamation in 1955 of a truncated parish of Ash with its small but exceedingly pleasant neighbour, Ridley, have produced the present civil parish of Ash-cum-Ridley. That name is not entirely a new one, for in days gone by the two parishes were linked as such for fiscal purposes. This book, however, is concerned with the historic parish of St Peter and St Paul, Ash, and its references to ‘Ash’ should be understood in that sense.
   As regards orthography, I have chosen to take personal and place names more or less as they come, a decision no doubt open to criticism. The Index does go some way to account for divergent spellings of these names but, on another tack, does not attempt to provide separate entries for all individuals; that would not have been practicable within reasonable limits, as is evidenced by the fact that in the case of one family more than seventy of its members are mentioned In these pages and, moreover, the family made do with far fewer than seventy different Christian names.
   I have drawn to a limited extent on my book on the neighbouring parish of Fawkham, written more than thirty years ago, while the chapter on Scotgrove is 

substantially similar to, although not identical with, my paper on ‘The Manor and Chantry of Scotgrove’, published in Vol. XCIV of Archaeologia Cantiana.
   An invaluable aid has been the copy of the old Ash registers made by the late Sir Thomas Colyer Ferguson of Ightham Mote, who devoted. much time in the last forty years of his long life to transcribing the registers of parishes in Rochester diocese. For making the Ash transcript available to me and. for other help, I am much indebted to the Revd J.G. Allen, formerly Rector of Ash. I would also express my thanks to those others who have aided me, in particular to Canon A.C. Ford, lately Rector of Fawkham, to Mr and Mrs E.P. Connell of New Ash Green, who amongst other assistance read my paper on Scotgrove in draft and whose kindly comments saved me from some dubious conclusions on the archaeological aspects, to Mrs Z. Bamping, who kindly made available to me many useful details gleaned in her study of the history of her own parish of Kingsdown and to Mr Gerald Van Lee, formerly of Berry’s Maple, whose extensive researches into some of the families of Ash and. Ridley in Victorian times have provided much useful information. My thanks are also due to Miss Jennifer Kingston of South Ash Manor, to Mr Gerald. Cramp of Hartley and, not least, to the Revd David Moulding, who gave me the idea of writing this book. For its shortcomings, however, I alone am responsible.
                                 W. Frank Proudfoot
                                     Ash-next-Sandwich
                                          1982