Blowing Stone Hill, where 19th-century antiquarians thought King Alfred the Great's Saxon troops had camped, and that this was how Alfred summoned them for the Battle of Ashdown against the Danes in AD 871. Thomas Hughes' novel "Tom Brown's School Days" refers to it as the "Blawing Stwun" and calls the village "Kingstone Lisle". It is also one of the "sacred stones" mentioned in William Horwood's "Duncton Wood", the first book in his fantasy fiction series about a group of moles. Blowing Stone The Blowing Stone is a perforated sarsen at in Kingston Lisle, Oxfordshire (Berkshire until 1974). The stone is in
George Ashdown 1906, Ashdown was selected as the Conservative Party's candidate for the resulting by-election. As the opposition Liberal Party did not nominate a candidate by the close of nominations on May 18, Ashdown was acclaimed to office on that date. Ashdown ran again in the 1907 election, but was defeated by Benjamin McConnell of the Liberals. Following his defeat, he retired from the Morden store in 1911, returning to Winnipeg and working in real estate and as manager of his brother's store. He died in Winnipeg on May 14, 1939. George Ashdown George Ashdown (April 8, 1851 - May 14, 1939)