Iwade is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

north of the town of

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 ...

History

Iwade was established in the late Medieval period, when it was a settlement linking

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 ...

to the coast via Key Street (a street towards a Quay). A moated dwelling is believed to have existed here during the 13th to 15th centuries. According to

Edward Hasted Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and T ...

, in 1798 the manor of Warde (Iwade) was within the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

Teynham Teynham ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the borough of Swale in Kent, England. The parish lies between the towns of Sittingbourne and Faversham, immediately north of the A2 road, and includes the hamlet of Conyer on an inlet of the ...

. It had sixteen houses, and about 60 or 70 inhabitants. The village lies on the former route of the

A249 road The A249 is a road in Kent, England, running from Maidstone to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between the M2 motorway (Great Britain), M2 and M20 motorway, M20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the p ...

, a major road from

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

to the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

. A bypass was constructed in 1992, and improved again in 2006 during construction of the

Sheppey Crossing The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across The Swale (a tidal strait of the Thames Estuary), linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height ...

. Iwade is the nearest settlement to Swale railway station. In 2014, a prehistoric

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

was discovered during the development of new homes. It is believed to date from around 6000BC and is in diameter.

Facilities

Iwade has a village hall and a public house (The Woolpack). The village church is dedicated to All Saints and was established around the 13th century. It was restored in 1874, with a south porch being added in 1893. The church has been a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

since 1967. It is within the diocese of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, 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, Kent, River Stour. ...

, and deanery of Sittingbourne. The Sittingbourne Speedway track is close to Iwade. It offers speedway training facilities for riders, and has been the base of the speedway team

Sittingbourne Crusaders The Sittingbourne Crusaders were a British speedway team based in Iwade, England who raced in the Conference League. The Iwade training track was initially built in 1971 by former Hackney Hawks rider Barry Thomas whilst he was still a rider f ...

who raced in the Conference League. To the north of the village is a Grade II listed Heavy Anti-aircraft gunsite used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is one of only nine such sites in the country still existing in its original state, and one of two in Kent.

References

External links

Iwade Village

Sittingbourne Speedway
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent