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Staplehurst
Staplehurst is a town and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England, south of the town of Maidstone and with a population of 6,003. The town lies on the route of a Roman road, which is now incorporated into the course of the A229. The name Staplehurst comes from the Old English 'stapol' meaning a 'post, pillar' and 'hyrst', as a 'wooded hill'; therefore, 'wooded-hill at a post', a possible reference to a boundary marker at the position of All Saints' church atop the hill along the road from Maidstone to Cranbrook. The parish includes the hamlet of Hawkenbury. History The first written mention of Staplehurst was in 1242 in a Tax list, whilst All Saints' Church is believed to date back to the 12th century. The town was initially a series of hamlets and farmsteads set around local manors including Loddenden Manor, which still stands as a private residence in the heart of the town and dates back to the 16th century. With time these hamlets became joined up to for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staplehurst Railway Station
Staplehurst railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the village of Staplehurst, Kent. It is down the line from London Charing Cross . The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. The station opened in August 1842. It is well known for the Staplehurst rail crash on 9 June 1865 on which Charles Dickens was a passenger. History The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 31 August 1842, when the line was extended from to . The platforms were widened in 1889. A footbridge over the platforms was installed in 1961, in preparation for the electrification of the South Eastern Main Line. A coal depot was established at Staplehurst in September 1965. All goods facilities were withdrawn on 4 October 1971. Facilities Staplehurst is located in the north of the urban area on the A229 road which runs from Chatham to Hastings via Maidstone. The ticket office is located on the London-bound platform 1. A passeng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Saints Church, Staplehurst
All Saints' Church, Staplehurst is the Anglican parish church in the village of Staplehurst, Kent, England. It was founded in the 12th century and was enlarged during the 13th to 15th centuries. The church is situated at the south end of the village, on the east side of the High Street, a Roman Road now designated as the A229. The church was mainly built in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the West Tower was commenced about 1425. It is a Grade I listed building. One of the notable features of the church is the south door, which is thought to date to the 12th century, and displays some very fine early ironwork. The church features a ring of ten bells, the oldest cast in 1605 and the most recent being two cast in 1996, when a new steel frame was installed. The current church clock dates from 1888. Owen Jennings of Cox & Barnard, a stained glass designing and manufacturing firm based in Hove, made six windows for the church in 1952. Those in the north chapel (one single-light ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staplehurst Rail Crash
The Staplehurst rail crash was a derailment at Staplehurst, Kent, on 9 June 1865 at 3:13 pm. The South Eastern Railway Folkestone to London boat train derailed while crossing a viaduct where a length of track had been removed during engineering works, killing ten passengers and injuring forty. In the Board of Trade report it was found that a man had been placed with a red flag away but the regulations required him to be away and the train had insufficient time to stop. Charles Dickens was travelling with Ellen Ternan and her mother on the train; they all survived the derailment. He tended the victims, some of whom died while he was with them. The experience affected Dickens greatly; he lost his voice for two weeks and afterwards was nervous when travelling by train, using alternative means when available. Dickens died five years to the day after the accident; his son said that he had never fully recovered. Derailment On 9 June 1865 the daily boat train to London left ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Eastern Main Line
The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the Chatham Main Line which runs along the north Kent coast to Ramsgate or Dover via Chatham and High Speed 1 which runs through the centre of Kent to the coast at Folkestone where it joins the Channel Tunnel. History Construction The line was built by the South Eastern Railway (SER), which was in competition with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR), hence the duplication of routes in Kent. The original main line was given sanction by Act of Parliament in 1836. The route first authorised was from via Oxted, Tunbridge, Maidstone, Ashford and Folkestone. The route was to make use of the existing London and Croydon Railway and London and Greenwich Railway companies' tracks. The SER did not have much spare capital. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for education, and for other social ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawkenbury, Maidstone
Hawkenbury is a hamlet in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, in the civil parish of Staplehurst Staplehurst is a town and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England, south of the town of Maidstone and with a population of 6,003. The town lies on the route of a Roman road, which is now incorporated into the course of the A .... Hawkenbury is approximately 2 miles north-east of Staplehurst and 2 miles north-west of Headcorn. Amenities include a pub with rooms, campsite and garden centre. Villages in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maidstone (borough)
The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone, the county town of Kent. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Maidstone with the rural districts of Maidstone and Hollingbourne, under the Local Government Act 1972. Position The borough covers an area generally to the east and south of the town of Maidstone: as far north as the M2 motorway; east down the M20 to Lenham; south to a line including Staplehurst and Headcorn; and west towards Tonbridge. Generally speaking, it lies between the North Downs and the Weald, and covers the central part of the county. The M20 motorway crosses it from west to east, as does High Speed 1. Geologically, the Greensand ridge lies to the south of the town. The very fine sand provides a good source for glass-making. The clay vale beyond, through which flow the three rivers which meet at Yalding; the Medway, the Beul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maidstone And The Weald (UK Parliament Constituency)
Maidstone and The Weald is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Helen Grant of the Conservative Party. She succeeded fellow party member Ann Widdecombe, who had held the seat since it was created for the 1997 general election. Boundaries 1997–2010: The Borough of Maidstone wards of Allington, Barming, Boughton Monchelsea, Bridge, Coxheath, East, Farleigh, Heath, High Street, Loose, Marden, North, South, Staplehurst, Yalding; and the Borough of Tunbridge Wells wards of Benenden, Cranbrook, Frittenden and Sissinghurst, Hawkhurst, Sandhurst. 2010–present: The Borough of Maidstone wards of Allington, Barming, Bridge, Coxheath and Hunton, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Loose, Marden and Yalding, North, South, Staplehurst; and the Borough of Tunbridge Wells wards of Benenden and Cranbrook, Frittenden and Sissinghurst. The largest settlement is the central county town of Maidstone in Kent in southeast England with smaller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borough Of Maidstone
The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone, the county town of Kent. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Maidstone with the rural districts of Maidstone and Hollingbourne, under the Local Government Act 1972. Position The borough covers an area generally to the east and south of the town of Maidstone: as far north as the M2 motorway; east down the M20 to Lenham; south to a line including Staplehurst and Headcorn; and west towards Tonbridge. Generally speaking, it lies between the North Downs and the Weald, and covers the central part of the county. The M20 motorway crosses it from west to east, as does High Speed 1. Geologically, the Greensand ridge lies to the south of the town. The very fine sand provides a good source for glass-making. The clay vale beyond, through which flow the three rivers which meet at Yalding; the Medway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Securitas Depot Robbery
The 2006 robbery of Securitas depot in Tonbridge, England, was the UK's largest cash robbery. It began with a kidnapping on the evening of 21 February and ended in the early hours of 22 February, when seven criminals stole almost £53million. The gang left behind another £154million because they did not have the means to transport it. After doing surveillance and placing an insider at the depot, the gang abducted the manager and his family. The same night, they tricked their way inside the depot, and tied up 14 workers at gunpoint. The criminals stole £52,996,760 in used and unused sterling banknotes. Most of the getaway vehicles were found in the following week, one containing £1.3million in stolen notes. In raids by Kent Police, £9million was recovered in Welling and £8million in Southborough. By 2007, 36 people had been arrested in relation to the crime. At trial at the Old Bailey in London in 2007, five people were convicted, and received long sentences, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cranbrook, Kent
Cranbrook is a town in the civil parish of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst, in the Weald of Kent in South East England. It lies roughly half-way between Maidstone and Hastings, about southeast of central London. The smaller settlements of Sissinghurst, Swattenden, Colliers Green and Hartley lie within the civil parish. The population of the parish was 6,717 in 2011. History The place name Cranbrook derives from Old English ''cran bric'', meaning Crane Marsh, marshy ground frequented by cranes (although more probably herons). Spelling of the place name has evolved over the centuries from ''Cranebroca'' (c. 1100); by 1226 it was recorded as ''Cranebroc'', then Cranebrok. By 1610 the name had become Cranbrooke, which evolved into the current spelling. There is evidence of early activity here in the Roman period at the former Little Farningham Farm where a substantial iron working site was investigated in the 1950s,in 2000 the site was the subject of a Kent Archaeological Soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashford International Railway Station
Ashford International railway station is a National Rail station in Ashford, Kent, England. It connects several railway lines, including High Speed 1 and the South Eastern Main Line. Services are operated by Southeastern and Southern. The station opened in 1842 as Ashford by the South Eastern Railway (SER) as a temporary terminus of the line from London to Dover via Croydon. Connections to Folkestone, Canterbury and Hastings opened within ten years. It was renamed Ashford (Kent) in 1923. There have been two significant rebuilds; in the 1960s for the South Eastern Main Line electrification, and to accommodate international services in the 1990s. The station was renamed as Ashford International in 1996. International services were reduced following the completion of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the opening of in 2007, but were partially restored before being suspended indefinitely in 2020. Domestic services along High Speed 1 to St Pancras have been running since 2009. Loca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
