Aylesham, Kent

Aylesham
Commemorative statue showing Aylesham's history of mining
Aylesham Aylesham shown within Kent
Population	3,999 (2011)
OS grid reference	TR237525
Civil parish	Aylesham
District	Dover
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CANTERBURY
Postcode district	CT3
Dialling code	01304
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Dover
List of places UK England Kent 51°13′31″N 1°12′06″E / 51.225278°N 1.201667°E / 51.225278; 1.201667Coordinates: 51°13′31″N 1°12′06″E / 51.225278°N 1.201667°E / 51.225278; 1.201667

Aylesham /ˈeɪlʃəm/ is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, England. The village is located around 6.5 miles (10.5 km) southeast of the cathedral city of Canterbury, and around 8.5 miles (13.7 km) northwest of the town and port of Dover. According to the 2001 Census, the parish had a population including Drellingore and Snowdown of 3,884, increasing to 3,999 at the 2011 Census.

The village was built in the 1920s to accommodate workers at nearby coal mines. The parish also includes the village of Snowdown. Both villages are served by railway stations – Aylesham railway station only 10 minutes from Canterbury in a northerly direction and 5 minutes to Snowdown railway station.

By British standards, Aylesham is a relatively new village. It established in 1926 to house miners working in the Kent coal mines. The heads of the first families to be housed there all worked at the nearby newly sunk Snowdown Colliery. It was planned to also accommodate future workers at two other proposed new pits at Adisham and Wingham, but neither colliery was ever built.

Although it is still a village, it was originally intended by its masterplanner, Sir Patrick Abercrombie, to grow to be a town with a population of up to 30,000, but only 1,000 houses had been built by the 1960s.