Upstreet
Upstreet is a village in the civil parish of Chislet in Kent, England. It is in the local government district of Canterbury, and the electoral ward of Marshside. It is about 62 miles away from London.
Upstreet is a ribbon development along the A2 ...
, 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 ...
, England, on the site of an old hand-drawn ferry that once crossed the River Stour here. The area is maintained and managed by
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...
.
It is beside the Grove Ferry Public House, built in 1831 and now managed by
Shepherd Neame
Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...
.
History
The Grove Ferry Public House took its name from a hand drawn
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
that crossed the River Stour in front of the building. The pub was also known as Grove Ferry Inn. A road bridge replaced the old ferry in 1963.
Grove Ferry Boat Club was founded in 1964. The clubhouse, dating from the early seventies, is on the south bank of the river, just below the Grove Ferry Bridge.
Kent County Council renovated the bridge in September 2000.http://www.remade.org.uk/media/12821/factsheet%20glass%20as%20an%20abrasive%20(april%202001).pdf
Location
It is close to the railway level crossing, (the site of a former dismantled railway station). The road leads down from to the crossing and then over the bridge, before heading to Grove Hill or Preston.
When the level crossing is down, cars are queued back over the bridge.
The picnic site is to the right of the pub car park beside the river.
It is a good starting point for sections of the long-distance walks;
Stour Valley Walk
The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the ''Low Weald'' and ''Kent Downs,'' from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay.
The walk passes through some of Kent's finest landscap ...
, the
Saxon Shore Way
The Saxon Shore Way is a long-distance footpath in England. It starts at Gravesend, Kent, and traces the coast of South-East England as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, in total. This means that around Romney Marsh the ...
or the Wantsum Walks (beside the
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel was a strait separating the Isle of Thanet from the north-eastern extremity of the English county of Kent and connecting the English Channel and the Thames Estuary. It was a major shipping route when Britain was part of the Rom ...
), all that lead beside the River Stour.
Fishing rights were granted during the reign of King Henry II and are still available today along the river bank.
Some of the fishing swims (sections of the river where fish are found) have been adapted for those with disabilities. The Canterbury and District Angling Club hold most fishing rights over the River Stour. Subject to an agreement between the association and
English Nature
English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...
.
It is also adjacent to the
Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve
Stodmarsh SSSI is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Stodmarsh, north-east of Canterbury in Kent. Parts of it are a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar internationally important wetl ...
. The river is part of an area designated as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI), recently upgraded to an international
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
Grove Ferry and Upstreet railway station
Grove Ferry and Upstreet was a railway station in east Kent. It was opened by South Eastern Railway (SER), on the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line between Sturry station and Minster station.
History
Grove Ferry station opened o ...