The name Kington Magna means 'great King's Town'; it derives from
cyne- (later
cyning) and
tūn,
Old English for 'royal estate or manor'. The affix
magna,
Latin for great, was added to distinguish it from Little Kington, a smaller settlement nearby. In 1086 in the
Domesday Book these were recorded together in three entries as
Chintone, which had 27 households and a total taxable value of 13 geld units, and was in the
hundred of Gillingham. In 1243 it was recorded as Magna Kington. Most of the current buildings in the village are no older than the seventeenth century. In 1851 a
Primitive Methodist chapel was built in the village; it was on Chapel Hill, which runs parallel to Church Hill. In 1860 a pottery was established at Bye Farm, north of the main village; it manufactured tiles, drainpipes, bricks, and chimney and flower pots. The parish church of All Saints was
restored and enlarged in 1862; most of the building, except for the late 15th-century west tower, was rebuilt. Near the church is a pond which was a
medieval fishpond. ==Geography==