page_title: Bilsington
section_title: Priory
hierarchical_section_title: Bilsington / History / Priory
caption_attribution_description: English: North wing of the Augustinian priory of St Mary, Bilsington, Kent, seen from the west
context_page_description: Bilsington is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The village is about 5 miles south of Ashford, on the B2067 road, Hamstreet to Hythe road north of the Royal Military Canal.
  About of a quarter of the parish is wooded, along most of the northern slopes leading up to the escarpment of the High Weald. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 284.
context_section_description: The Augustinian Priory of St Mary was founded in 1253 and suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. Its surviving buildings are about ³⁄₄ mile (1 km) north of the village.
  The Aldington Gang is said to have used the Priory in some of its smuggling exploits of the 1820s. In 1906 the surviving buildings were restored to designs by JT Micklethwaite. They are Grade I listed. The Priory is now a wedding and conference venue.
caption: The north wing of St Mary's Priory
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