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Welcome to Wikishire

Today is 24th December 2025

Christmas Eve.

Wikishire is where you may find the best of Britain and Ireland.

Wikishire is where you are; whether you are on the Shetland islands or the South Shetland Islands, or the places between, Wikishire is a growing guide on all you need to know about the British and Irish lands.

Tell the world what you love about your home. Each shire, from Kent to Kerry is here, with ever-growing detail; if your town or village is not in Wikishire, or if something important is missed out, then log on, then -

Add it and Edit

To begin, you can peruse the list of counties of the UK or Republic of Ireland, or even go directly to a random page! To accompany the encyclopædia we also have an interactive map of the counties of the British Isles. We also have Resources for GIS including KML files and postcode lookup tools.

Today's featured image is:

Kington, Herefordshire

Kington is a small market town in Herefordshire, 21 miles north-west of Hereford and is one of the county's five largest towns. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,597.

Kington lies close to the boundary with Radnorshire and lies in the part of Herefordshire to the west of Offa's Dyke. It lies on the River Arrow in the shadow of Hergest Ridge, where it is crossed by the A44 road. Nearby to the west is Presteigne. There are panoramic views all round the town of the open countryside and surrounding hills.

Kington is one of a group of towns thereabouts with cognate names: "Kington" means "King's Town", Presteigne means "Priest's Town" and Knighton is "Knight's Town".

Offa's Dyke was driven through the land to the east in the eighth century to mark a border between the Mercians and the Welsh kingdoms, though by the Norman Conquest it was English land. From 1075 the manor was the Crown's and so it is recorded, as Chingtune in the Domesday Book of 1086. The original town stood high on the hill above the town where St. Mary's Church now stands. (Read more)

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A wiki is a collaborative website with certain standard functions allowing easy editing of pages by anyone. At Wikishire, you may log on and start work right away.

Few things stay still for long, and here you can keep updating or improving the articles. A wiki is a constant work in progress.

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Kington, Herefordshire

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