Singlewell or Ifield is the name given to the area south of

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

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. Originally two separate settlements on either side of

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 R ...

, it is now separated by the A2 road and the

Channel Tunnel Rail Link High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...

and bears little resemblance to its past. Singlewell Road leads from Gravesend town southwards to the A2, linking with Hever Court Road just to the north of the former site of the A2. The A2 was moved to the South in the 2000s, allowing a widening from three to four lanes in each direction. The carriageways were then turned into a parkland area. Singlewell is one of the highest points in Gravesham, including Marling Cross, which forms the junction at Gravesend East on the A2, which is the highest point in the Borough. The name Singlewell, originally ''Shinglewell'' – and not therefore referring to it having the only well in the district – and its eponymous ancient well with ancient origins has now come to mean the area now part of the built-up area of Gravesend. The well was filled in during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The original Watling Street is now Hever Court Road and the nearby estate named after it was built in 1957. Hever Court itself was the original home of the medieval family who moved to

Hever, Kent Hever village is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the River Eden, a tributary of the River Medway, east of Edenbridge. It is by in extent, and in area. The parish includes the ...

in 1331. Hever Court eventually became derelict and was demolished in 1952. Ifield, once a large rural parish, is now a few houses south of the main road, and the tiny church of St Margaret, with

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...

included in its walls. The parish formed part of the Hundred of

Toltingtrough Toltingtrough (or Toltingtrow) was a hundred in the Lathe of Aylesford in the county of Kent, England. This hundred is called, in some ancient writings, Toltetern and Tollentr, and in Domesday, Tollentru. In the return made of the several knigh ...

, then

Strood Rural District Strood Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England. It was subject to boundary reforms in 1934 and 1935. It consisted of the following civil parishes:http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10074137&c_id ...

from 1894 and was abolished on 1 April 1935, split between Cobham and the

Municipal Borough of Gravesend A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. The George Inn is also in Hever Court Road: it was a favourite establishment of Gravesend residents in the 19th century, being within walking distance from the town; not too different from today, although there is also a

Best Western Best Western International, Inc. owns the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, which it licenses to over 4,700 hotels worldwide. The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. ...

hotel (the Manor); and the Gravesend South

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

, both serving traffic on the A2 road.

References

External links

* Villages in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub