Ebbsfleet River in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, south-east

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is a tributary of the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

. It joins the Thames at Northfleet, opposite the

container port A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

Tilbury Docks The Port of Tilbury is a port on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It is the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for contai ...

. Today, the river gives its name to the Ebbsfleet Garden City which is currently (2020) being developed in and around the course of the Ebbsfleet.

History

It was formerly known as the River Fleet, giving its name to Northfleet and

Southfleet Southfleet is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Dartford in Kent, England. The village is located three miles southwest of Gravesend, while the parish includes within its boundaries the hamlets of Betsham and Westwood. Southfle ...

. Its source was eight natural springs at Springhead. In

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times the source was the site of a Roman settlement with many temples called ''Vagniacis'', and the river was used to link

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

; in the fourteenth century it was a stopping place for pilgrims going to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. A bridge across the river at Northfleet is mentioned in 1451 and it was still tidal and used for shipping in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century the river was the earliest centre in Britain for the commercial cultivation of

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

, begun by

William Bradbery William Bradbery (11 July 1776 – 11 August 1860), an entrepreneur, was the first person in England to cultivate and sell watercress on a commercial basis. Early life William was born in Didcot in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), he was one of seven ...

in 1808. He moved the business to

West Hyde West Hyde is a village situated alongside the A412 road, in the Three Rivers District in south-west Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 the population of the village was included in the Three Rivers ward of Maple Cross and Mill End Maple Cross ...

, Hertfordshire in 1820. Following the removal of its waters in around 1901, when all its waters were used by the local water company, its dried riverbed was the subject of a botanical study by

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...

, the birth control activist. Parts of the river can still be seen.

Etymology

The name Ebbsfleet may well be an artificial creation of the seventeenth-century antiquary Thomas Philpott and mentioned in his ''Villare Cantianum''; the name may have been partly inspired by Ebbsfleet in Thanet, to the east on the Kent coast. This latter is the place in East Kent mentioned in the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as Ebba's Creek, (version A) or (version E). Thomas Philpott was the elder son of John Philipot,

Somerset Herald Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. In the year 1448 Somerset Herald is known to have served the Duke of Somerset, but by the time of the coronation of King Henry VII in 1485 his successor a ...

, whose early list of

Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century, when the title was Keeper of the Coast, but may be older. The Lord Warden was originally in charge of the Cinq ...

appears on p. 12 of ''Villare Cantianum''.

References

External links

Northfleet
- Northfleet Harbour Restoration Trust
Ebbsfleet Valley
- website
Ebbsfleet Garden City
- website Rivers of Kent {{England-river-stub