Kent is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...
and one of the
home counties
The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...
. It borders
Greater London to the north-west,
Surrey to the west and
East Sussex to the south-west, and
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
to the north across the estuary of 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 ...
; it faces the French department of
Pas-de-Calais across the
Strait of Dover. The
county town is
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest 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 centre of the town, linking it wi ...
. It is the
fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-Metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties.
Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the
Jutes
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic nation ...
, following the withdrawal of the Romans.
Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the
Archbishops of Canterbury since the
conversion of England to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
that
began in the 6th century with
Saint Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
.
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent.
The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...
in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the
Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainland Europe, Kent has been the setting for both conflict and diplomacy, including the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
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 opposing ...
and the
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle is a castle in Kent, England, southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds.
A castle has existed on the site since 857. In the 13th century, it came into th ...
peace talks of 1978 and 2004.
England relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of its history; the
Cinque Ports in the 10th–14th centuries and
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...
in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from
Folkestone and the
White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...
. Hills in the form of the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...
and the
Greensand Ridge
The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...
span the length of the county and in the
Vale of Holmesdale
Holmesdale, also known as the Vale of Holmesdale, is a valley in South-East England that falls between the hill ranges of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge of the Weald, in the counties of Kent and Surrey. It stretches from Folkestone o ...
in between and to the south are most of the county's
26 castles.
Kent's
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
is diversified: agriculture, haulage,
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
and tourism are various industries. Because of its
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...
s and allotments, Kent is known as "The Garden of England".
[Kent loses its Garden of England title to North Yorkshire]
. ''The Guardian''. 1 June 2006. In northwest Kent, industries include extraction of aggregate building materials, printing and scientific research. Coal mining has also played its part in Kent's industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the
London commuter belt
The London metropolitan area is the metropolitan area of London, England. It has several definitions, including the London Travel to Work Area, and usually consists of the London urban area, settlements that share London's infrastructure, and ...
and its strong transport connections to the capital and the nearby continent make Kent a high-income county. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
: the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...
and
The High Weald.
Etymology
![Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - kentland (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 4r)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle_-_kentland_%28British_Library_Cotton_MS_Tiberius_A_VI%2C_folio_4r%29.jpg)
The name ''Kent'' is believed to be of
British Celtic origin. The meaning has been explained as 'coastal district,' 'corner-land' or 'land on the edge' (compare Welsh ''cant'' 'bordering of a circle, tire, edge;' Breton ''cant'' 'circle;' Dutch ''kant'' 'side, edge'). In Latin sources the area is called ''Cantia'' or ''Cantium'', while the Anglo-Saxons referred to it as ''Cent'', ''Cent lond'' or ''Centrice''.
History
The area has been occupied since the
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...
era, as attested by finds from the quarries at
Swanscombe. The
Medway megaliths were built during the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
era. There is a rich sequence of
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
, celtic
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
, and Britto-
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 ...
era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the
Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the
Darent valley.
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
described the area as ''Cantium'', or the home of the
Cantiaci
The Cantiaci or Cantii were an Iron Age Celtic people living in Britain before the Roman conquest, and gave their name to a ''civitas'' of Roman Britain. They lived in the area now called Kent, in south-eastern England. Their capital was '' Dur ...
, in 51 BC.
The extreme west of the modern county was by the time of
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...
occupied by a celtic Iron Age tribe known as the
Regni
The Regni, Regini, or Regnenses were a Tribe which occupied modern West Sussex, East Sussex, south-west Kent, eastern Surrey, and the eastern edges of Hampshire. Their Tribal centre was at Noviomagus_Reginorum (Chichester in West_Sussex), close ...
. Caesar wrote that the people of Kent were 'by far the most civilised inhabitants of Britain'.
![FlagOfKent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/FlagOfKent.svg)
Following the withdrawal of the Romans, large numbers of Germanic speakers from the continent settled in Kent, bringing their language, which came to be
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
. While they expelled the native Romano-British population, some likely remained in the area, eventually assimilating with the newcomers. Of the invading tribes, the
Jutes
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic nation ...
were the most prominent, and the area became
a Jutish kingdom recorded as ''Cantia'' in about 730 and ''Cent'' in 835. The early medieval inhabitants of the county were referred to as the ''Cantwara'', or Kentish people. The city of Canterbury was the largest in Kent.
In 597,
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregor ...
appointed the religious missionary (who became
Saint Augustine of Canterbury after his death) as the first
Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the
pagan King
Æthelberht of Kent
Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ang, Æðelberht ; 550 – 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical History of the Engli ...
to Christianity. The
Diocese of Canterbury
The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering East Kent, eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest episcopal see, see of the Church o ...
became England's first
Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained England's centre of Christianity.
The second designated English cathedral was for West Kent at
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent.
The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...
.
Kent was traditionally
partitioned into East and West Kent, and into
lathes
A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to cr ...
and
hundreds. The traditional border of East and West Kent was the county's main river, the
Medway. Men and women from east of the Medway are Men (or Maids) of Kent, those from the west are Kentishmen or Kentish Maids.
The divide has been explained by some as originating in the Anglo-Saxon migrations, with Jutes mainly settling east of the Medway and Saxons settling west of it.
In the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto ''
Invicta'', meaning "undefeated" or "unconquered". This naming followed the invasion of Britain by
William of Normandy
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 108 ...
as he was unable to subdue the county and they negotiated favourable terms. The continued resistance of the Kentish people against the
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous
county palatine
In England, Wales and Ireland a county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom. The name derives from the Latin adjective ''palātīnus'', "relating to ...
in 1067. Under the nominal rule of William's half-brother
Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted similar powers to those granted in the areas bordering
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.
During the medieval and early modern period, Kent played a major role in several of England's most notable rebellions, including the
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...
of 1381, led by
Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...
,
Jack Cade
Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladmi ...
's Kent rebellion of 1450, and
Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...
.
![HistorieKent1576](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/HistorieKent1576.jpg)
The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
first used the
River Medway in 1547. By the reign of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
(1558–1603) a small dockyard had been established at
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
. By 1618, storehouses, a
ropewalk
A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other.
Many rope ...
, a
drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
, and houses for officials had been built downstream from Chatham.
By the 17th century, tensions between Britain and the powers of the Netherlands and France led to increasing military build-up in the county. Forts were built all along the coast following the
raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At t ...
, a successful attack by the Dutch navy on the shipyards of the
Medway towns in 1667.
The 18th century was dominated by wars with France, during which the Medway became the primary base for a fleet that could act along the Dutch and French coasts. When the theatre of operation moved to the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, this role was assumed by
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and
Plymouth, with Chatham concentrating on shipbuilding and ship repair. As an indication of the area's military importance, the first
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
map ever drawn was a one-inch map of Kent, published in 1801.
Many of the
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
naval buildings still stand.
In the early 19th century, smugglers were very active on the Kent coastline. Gangs such as
The Aldington Gang
Aldington was the stronghold of The Aldington Gang, a band of smugglers roaming the Romney Marshes and shores of Kent. The gang's leaders, made the local inn, ''The Walnut Tree Inn'', their headquarters and drop for their contraband. The Inn was ...
brought spirits, tobacco and salt to the county, and transported goods such as wool across the sea to France.
In 1889, the
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...
was created and took over responsibility for local administration of parts of north-west Kent. These included the towns of
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
,
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
,
Lee,
Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
,
Charlton,
Kidbrooke
Kidbrooke is an area of South East London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich south-east of Charing Cross and north west of Eltham.
The district takes its name from the Kyd Brook, a watercourse which runs from Orpington to Lewisham ...
. In 1900, however, Kent absorbed the district of
Penge
Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross.
History
Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Pence ...
. Some of Kent is contiguous with the
Greater London sprawl, notably parts of
Dartford.
Originally, the border between Kent and Sussex (later
East Sussex) ran through the towns of
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
and
Lamberhurst
Lamberhurst ( is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish contains the hamlets of The Down and Hook Green. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,491, increasing to 1,706 at the 2011 Census.
...
. In 1894, by the
Local Government Act
Local Government Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to local government.
The Bill for an Act with this short title may have been known ...
, the parts of these towns that lay in East Sussex were absorbed by Kent.
During the Second World War, much of the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
was fought in the skies over Kent.
Between June 1944 and March 1945, more than 10,000
V1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...
s, or "Doodlebugs", were fired towards London from bases in
Northern France. Although many were destroyed by aircraft, anti-aircraft guns and
barrage balloons, both London and Kent were hit by around 2,500 of these bombs.
After the war, Kent's borders changed several more times. In 1965, the London boroughs of
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...
and
Bexley
Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...
were created from nine towns formerly in Kent.
In 1998, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and
Rainham left the administrative county of Kent to form the
Unitary Authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
of
Medway. Plans for another unitary authority in
north-west Kent were dropped, but in 2016 consultations began between five Kent local authorities (Canterbury, Thanet, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, and Ashford) with a view to forming a new unitary authority for East Kent, outside the auspices of Kent County Council.
For almost nine centuries, a small part of present-day East London (the
North Woolwich
North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It is located on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel.
De ...
,
London E16 area), formed part of Kent.
Geography
![France manche vue dover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/France_manche_vue_dover.JPG)
Kent is in the southeastern corner of England. It borders 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 ...
and the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
to the north, and the
Straits of Dover and the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
to the south. France is across the Strait.
The major geographical features of the county are based on a series of ridges and valleys running east–west across the county. These are the results of
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
of the
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
en dome, a dome across Kent and
Sussex created by
alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
movements 20–10 million years ago. This dome consists of an upper layer of
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
above successive layers of
Upper Greensand
Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...
,
Gault Clay
The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in ...
,
Lower Greensand
The Lower Greensand Group is a geological unit present across large areas of Southern England. It was deposited during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It predominantly consists of sandstone and unconsolidated sand that were ...
,
Weald Clay
Weald Clay or the Weald Clay Formation is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock unit underlying areas of South East England, between the North and South Downs, in an area called the Weald Basin. It is the uppermost unit of the Wealden Group of ro ...
, and Wealden sandstone. The ridges and valleys formed when the exposed clay eroded faster than the exposed chalk, greensand, or sandstone.
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...
,
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest 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 centre of the town, linking it wi ...
,
Ashford, and
Folkestone are built on greensand,
while
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...
and
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
are built on sandstone.
Dartford,
Gravesend, the Medway towns,
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 ...
,
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...
,
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 ...
,
Deal
A deal, or deals may refer to:
Places United States
* Deal, New Jersey, a borough
* Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* Deal Lake, New Jersey
Elsewhere
* Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia
* Deal, Kent, a town in England
* Deal, ...
, and
Dover are built on chalk.
[Britain's Structure and Scenery, L.Dudley Stamp, Pub September 1946, Collins ]New Naturalist
The New Naturalist Library (also known as ''The New Naturalists'') is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: "T ...
Series. The easterly section of the Wealden dome has been eroded away by the sea, and cliffs such as the
White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...
are present where a chalk ridge known as the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...
meets the coast. Spanning Dover and
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey.
It is recorded as early ...
is the
Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Wealden dome is a
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
structure lying on a
Palaeozoic foundation, which can often create the right conditions for coal formation. This is found in East Kent roughly between Deal, Canterbury, and Dover. The
Coal Measures within the Westphalian Sandstone are about deep, and are subject to flooding. They occur in two major troughs, which extend under the English Channel.
Seismic activity has occasionally been recorded in Kent, though the
epicentre
The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates.
Surface damage
Before the instrumental pe ...
s were offshore. In 1382 and 1580 there were two earthquakes exceeding 6.0 on the
Richter Scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
. In 1776, 1950, and on 28 April 2007 there were earthquakes of around 4.3. The
2007 earthquake caused physical damage in Folkestone.
A further quake on 22 May 2015 measured 4.2 on the Richter Scale. It was centred in the Sandwich area of east Kent at about ten miles below the surface. There was little if any damage reported.
![KentGeologyWealdenDome](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/KentGeologyWealdenDome.svg)
The coastline of Kent is continuously changing, due to
tectonic uplift
Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of Earth's surface that is attributed to plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal th ...
and
coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...
. Until about 960, the
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island.
Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in an ...
was an island, separated by 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 ...
, formed around a deposit of chalk; over time, the channels silted up with
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...
. Similarly
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until th ...
and
Dungeness
Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...
have been formed by accumulation of alluvium.
Kent's principal river, the
River Medway, rises near
East Grinstead in Sussex and flows eastwards to
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest 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 centre of the town, linking it wi ...
. Here it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at Rochester, then joins the estuary of the River Thames near
Sheerness. The Medway is some long.
The river is tidal as far as
Allington lock, but in earlier times, cargo-carrying vessels reached as far upstream as
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...
.
The Medway has captured the head waters of other rivers such as the
River Darent
The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequen ...
. Other
rivers of Kent
Four major rivers drain the county of Kent, England.
River Medway
The catchment area of the Medway covers almost 25% of the county. The detailed map has a diagram of that catchment area, which includes its main tributaries: the rivers Eden ...
include the
River Stour in the east.
A 2014 study found that Kent shares significant reserves of shale oil with other neighbouring counties, totalling 4.4 billion
barrels of oil, which then Business and Energy Minister
Michael Fallon
Sir Michael Cathel Fallon (born 14 May 1952) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks from 1997 to 2019, ...
said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency.
Fracking
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...
in the area is required to achieve these objectives; it has been opposed by environmental groups.
Climate
Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. On 10 August 2003, in the hamlet of
Brogdale
Brogdale is a hamlet in Kent, England, immediately south of the M2 motorway, south of Faversham. It is one of several hamlets making up the civil parish of Ospringe and is in the Borough of Swale. Its western half is in the Kent Downs Area of O ...
near
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...
the temperature reached , at that time the highest temperature ever officially recorded in the United Kingdom.
Governance
Kent County Council (KCC) and its 12
district councils administer most of the county (3352 km
2), while the
Medway Towns Council, a unitary authority and commonly called Medway Council, administers the more densely populated remainder (192 km
2). Together they have around 300
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
and
parish councils. Kent County Council's headquarters are in
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest 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 centre of the town, linking it wi ...
,
while Medway's offices are at Gun Wharf,
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
.
At the
2013 county council elections, control of Kent County Council was held by the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, who won 44 of the council's 83 seats. 17 seats were won by the
United Kingdom Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
, 13 by the
Labour Party, 7 by the
Liberal Democrats, 1 by the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
and 1 by the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association. At the
2007 local elections, control of Medway Council was held by the Conservatives; 33 of the council's 55 seats were held by the Conservatives, 13 by the Labour Party, 8 by the
Liberal Democrats and 1 by an Independent. All but one of Kent's district councils are controlled by the Conservatives: a minority Labour administration took control of
Thanet District
Thanet is a local government district in Kent, England. Formed under the Local Government Act 1972, it came into being on 1 April 1974 and is governed by Thanet District Council.
On the north eastern tip of Kent, it is predominantly coastal, ...
in December 2011 after a Conservative councillor defected to the Independent group. In the council elections of May 2015 the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took control of the Council, the first and so far only one in the UK. In October 2015 UKIP lost overall control following a series of resignations, although remaining the largest party, only for UKIP to regain control once more following ward elections in August 2016.
At the national level, Kent is represented in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
by
17 MPs, all of whom are Conservative except
Rosie Duffield
Rosemary Clare Duffield (born 1 July 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury since 2017.
Early life
Rosemary Clare Duffield was born on 1 July 1971 in Norwich, Norfolk, England and l ...
,
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP for
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 ...
since 2017.
Demography
At the
2011 census,
Kent, including Medway, had 1,727,665 residents (18.0% of which in Medway); had 711,847 households (17.5% of which in Medway) and had 743,436 dwellings (14.8% of which in Medway). 51.1% of Kent's population excluding Medway was female — as to Medway, this proportion was 50.4%.
The tables below provide statistics for the administrative county of Kent, that is, excluding Medway.
Economy
![StreetFarmOastFrittendenKent(ValVannet)Apr2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/StreetFarmOastFrittendenKent%28ValVannet%29Apr2006.jpg)
At the
2001 UK census
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
,
employment statistics for the residents in Kent, including Medway, were as follows: 41.1% in full-time employment, 12.4% in part-time employment, 9.1% self-employed, 2.9% unemployed, 2.3% students with jobs, 3.7% students without jobs, 12.3% retired, 7.3% looking after home or family, 4.3% permanently sick or disabled, and 2.7% economically inactive for other reasons. Of residents aged 16–74, 16% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared to 20% nationwide.
The average hours worked per week by residents of Kent were 43.1 for males and 30.9 for females. Their industry of employment was 17.3% retail, 12.4% manufacturing, 11.8% real estate, 10.3% health and social work, 8.9% construction, 8.2% transport and communications, 7.9% education, 6.0% public administration and defence, 5.6% finance, 4.8% other community and personal service activities, 4.1% hotels and restaurants, 1.6% agriculture, 0.8% energy and water supply, 0.2% mining, and 0.1% private households. This is higher than the whole of England for construction and transport/communications and lower for manufacturing.
Kent is sometimes known as the "Garden of England" for its abundance of orchards and
hop gardens. In particular the county produces tree-grown fruits, strawberries and hazelnuts.
Distinctive hop-drying buildings called
oasts are common in the countryside, although many have been converted into dwellings. Nearer to London, market gardens also flourish. Kent is the main area for
hazelnut production in the UK.
However, in recent years, there has been a significant drop in agriculture, and industry and services are increasing their utilisation of the area. This is illustrated by the following table of economic indicator
gross value added
In economics, gross value added (GVA) is the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy. "Gross value added is the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption; it is a measure o ...
(GVA) between 1995 and 2003 (figures are in £ millions):
North Kent is heavily industrialised, with cement-making at
Northfleet and
Cuxton
Cuxton is a village in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It lies on the left bank of the River Medway in the North Downs. It is served by the A228, and Cuxton railway station on the Medway Valley Line between Strood and Maid ...
,
brickmaking
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
at Sittingbourne,
shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...
on the Medway and
Swale
Swale or Swales may refer to:
Topography
* Swale (landform), a low tract of land
** Bioswale, landform designed to remove silt and pollution
** Swales, found in the formation of Hummocky cross-stratification
Geography
* River Swale, in North ...
, engineering and
aircraft design and construction at Rochester,
chemicals
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
at Dartford,
papermaking at
Swanley
Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226.
History
...
, and
oil refining at
Grain.
There is a steel mini mill in
Sheerness and a rolling mill in
Queenborough
Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England.
Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the R ...
. There are two
nuclear power stations
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces e ...
at
Dungeness
Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...
, although the older one, Dungeness A, built in 1965, was decommissioned in 2006.
Cement-making, papermaking, and coal-mining were important industries in Kent during the 19th and 20th centuries. Cement came to the fore in the 19th century when massive building projects were undertaken. The ready supply of chalk and huge pits between
Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
and
Gravesend bear testament to that industry. There were also other workings around
Burham on the tidal Medway.
Chalk,
gravel and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
were excavated on
Dartford Heath
Dartford Heath Common is an area of open heathland situated to the south-west of Dartford, Kent, England, covering around of open space. Dartford Heath is classified as lowland heath and is one of only two substantial heathland blocks remaining ...
for centuries.
Kent's original
paper mills stood on streams like the
River Darent
The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequen ...
, tributaries of the River Medway, and on the
River Stour. Two 18th century mills were on the
River Len
The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in ''Bluebell Woods'' to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c. It enters the ...
and at
Tovil
Tovil is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone, in Kent in the South East of England. It is a mixture of residential and industrial zoning, with an increase in commercial usage towards the centre of Maidstone, and more arable use on the out ...
on the
River Loose. In the late 19th century huge modern mills were built at Dartford and Northfleet on the River Thames and at
Kemsley
Kemsley is a suburb of Sittingbourne in Kent, England.
According to Edward Hasted, in 1798, who quoted Asserius Menevensis in his survey, the Danes built themselves a fortress or castle here in 893. At a place called 'Kemsley downe'. This then l ...
on The Swale. In pre-industrial times, almost every village and town had its own
windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...
or
watermill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...
, with
over 400 windmills known to have stood at some time. Twenty-eight survive within the county today, plus two replica mills and a further two in that part of Kent now absorbed into London. All the major rivers in the county were used to power watermills.
From about 1900, several coal pits operated in East Kent. The
Kent Coalfield was mined during the 20th century at several collieries,
including Chislet, Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and the Snowdown Colliery, which ran from 1908 to 1986.
The west of the county (including Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, and Sevenoaks) has less than 50% of the average claimant count for low incomes or worklessness as the coastal districts of Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, and Thanet (chiefly three resorts: Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate). West and Central Kent have long had many
City of London commuters.
Culture
Architecture
![Canterbury Cathedral - Portal Nave Cross-spire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Canterbury_Cathedral_-_Portal_Nave_Cross-spire.jpeg)
Kent's geographical location between the Straits of Dover and London has influenced its architecture, as has its
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
geology and its good farming land and fine building clays. Kent's countryside pattern was determined by a
gavelkind
Gavelkind () was a system of land tenure chiefly associated with the Celtic law in Ireland and Wales and with the legal traditions of the English county of Kent.
The word may have originated from the Old Irish phrases ''Gabhaltas-cinne'' or ...
inheritance system that generated a proliferation of small settlements. There was no open-field system, and the large tracts were owned by the two great abbeys,
Christ Church, Canterbury
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Ch ...
and
St Augustine's Abbey, that did not pass into the hands of the king during the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
.
Canterbury Cathedral is the United Kingdom's
metropolitan cathedral; it was founded in AD 598 and displays architecture from all periods. There are nine Anglo-Saxon churches in Kent.
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent.
The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...
is England's second-oldest cathedral, the present building built in the Early English Style.
These two dioceses ensured that every village had a parish church.
The sites of
Richborough Castle
Richborough Castle is a Roman Saxon Shore fort better known as Richborough Roman Fort. It is situated in Richborough near Sandwich, Kent. Substantial remains of the massive fort walls still stand to a height of several metres.
It is ...
and
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
, along with two strategic sites along Watling Street, were fortified by the Romans and the Dukes of Kent. Other important sites include
Canterbury city walls
Canterbury city walls are a sequence of defensive walls built around the city of Canterbury in Kent, England. The first city walls were built by the Romans, probably between 270 and 280 AD. These walls were constructed from stone on top of an ...
and
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, South East England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France.
Situat ...
.
There remained a need to defend London and thus Kent.
Deal Castle
Deal Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII in Deal, Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the strategically i ...
,
Walmer Castle
Walmer Castle is an artillery fort originally constructed by Henry VIII in Walmer, Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the s ...
,
Sandown Castle (whose remains were eroded by the sea in the 1990s) were constructed in late mediaeval times, and
HM Dockyard, at Chatham and its surrounding castles and forts—
Upnor Castle
Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located on the west bank of the River Medway in Kent. It is in the village of Upnor, opposite and a short distance downriver from the Chatham Dockyard, at one time a key naval facility. The fort wa ...
,
Great Lines, and
Fort Amherst
Fort Amherst, in Medway, South East England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Fort Amherst is ...
—more recently.
Kent has three unique vernacular architecture forms: the
oast house
An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many re ...
, the
Wealden hall house
The Wealden hall house is a type of vernacular medieval timber-framed hall house traditional in the south east of England. Typically built for a yeoman, it is most common in Kent (hence "Wealden" for the once densely forested Weald) and the east ...
, and
Kentish peg-tiles.
Kent has bridge trusts to maintain its bridges, and though the great bridge (1387) at
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
was replaced there are medieval structures at
Aylesford,
Yalding
Yalding is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The village is situated south west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway. At the 2001 census, the parish, which incl ...
and
Teston
Teston /ˈtiːstən/ The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. or /ˈtiːsən/ BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names — is a village in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It is located on the A26 road out of Maidston ...
.
With the motorways in the late twentieth century came the
M2 motorway bridge spanning the Medway and the Dartford tunnel and the
Dartford Bridge spanning the Thames.
Literature and publishing
Kent has provided inspiration for several notable writers and artists. Canterbury's religious role gave rise to
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
's ''
Canterbury Tales
''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus ...
'', a key development in the English language. The father of novelist
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 e ...
worked at the
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...
; in many of his books, the celebrated novelist featured the scenery of Chatham, Rochester, and the
Cliffe marshes.
During the late 1930s, Nobel Prize-awarded novelist
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
worked as a teacher at
Maidstone Grammar School
Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) is a grammar school in Maidstone, England. The school was founded in 1549 after Protector Somerset sold Corpus Christi Hall on behalf of King Edward VI to the people of Maidstone for £200. The Royal Charter fo ...
, where he met his future wife Ann Brookfield.
William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books.
His parentage a ...
, who first introduced the
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
to England, was born in Kent; the recent invention was key in helping many
Kent dialect words and spellings to become standard in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
Lord Northbourne
Baron Northbourne, of Betteshanger in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1884 for Sir Walter James, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Kingston upon Hull in the House of Commons as a Con ...
hosted a
biodynamic agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture is a form of alternative agriculture based on pseudo-scientific and esoteric concepts initially developed in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). It was the first of the organic farming movements. It treats soil fertility ...
conference on his estate at
Betteshanger
Betteshanger is a village near Deal in East Kent, England. It gave its name to the largest of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Northbourne.
Before the coal mine
...
in the summer of 1939, he coined the term '
organic farming
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...
' and published his
manifesto of
organic agriculture
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...
the following year spawning a global movement for
sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem ser ...
and food.
[Paull, John (2021)]
Organic Agriculture - Invented in Kent
, Kent Maps Symposium, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, 5 May.
Visual arts
A number of significant artists came from Kent, including
Thomas Sidney Cooper, a painter of landscapes, often incorporating farm animals,
Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalism, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre works, genre scenes, rendered w ...
, a maker of faery paintings, and
Mary Tourtel
Mary Tourtel (born Mary Caldwell on 28 January 187415 March 1948) was a British artist and creator of the comic strip Rupert Bear. Her works have sold 50 million copies internationally.
Early life
Mary Tourtel was born Mary Caldwell, 28 January ...
, the creator of the children's book character,
Rupert Bear
Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival ''D ...
. The artist
Clive Head was also born in Kent. The landscape painter
J. M. W. Turner spent part of his childhood in the town of
Margate
Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.
The town has been a significan ...
in East Kent, and regularly returned to visit it throughout his life. The East Kent coast inspired many of his works, including some of his most famous seascapes.
Kent has also been the home to artists including
Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...
,
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, CBE, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and ...
and
Stass Paraskos.
Kent was also the location of the largest number of art schools in the country during the nineteenth century, estimated by the art historian David Haste, to approach two hundred. This is believed to be the result of Kent being a front line county during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. At this time, before the invention of photography, draughtsmen were used to draw maps and topographical representations of the fields of battle, and after the wars ended many of these settled permanently in the county in which they had been based. Once the idea of art schools had been established, even in small towns in Kent, the tradition continued, although most of the schools were very small one-man operations, each teaching a small number of daughters of the upper classes how to draw and make watercolour paintings. Nonetheless, some of these small art schools developed into much larger organisations, including Canterbury College of Art, founded by Thomas Sidney Cooper in 1868, which is today the
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Ins ...
.
Blean near
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 ...
was home to
Smallfilms
Smallfilms is a British television production company that made animated TV programmes for children from 1959 until the 1980s. In 2014 the company began operating again, producing a new series of its most famous show, ''The Clangers'', however it ...
, the production company founded by
Oliver Postgate
Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008), generally known as Oliver Postgate, was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television progra ...
and
Peter Firmin
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
and responsible for children's TV favourites
Noggin the Nog
''Noggin the Nog'' is a fictional character appearing in a TV series (of the same name, originally broadcast 1959–1965 and 1982) and a series of illustrated books (published 1965–1977), created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The TV seri ...
,
Ivor the Engine
''Ivor the Engine'' is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" ...
and
Bagpuss
''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title ch ...
.
Performing arts
The county's largest theatre is the
Marlowe Theatre
The Marlowe Theatre is a 1,200-seat theatre in Canterbury named after playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was born and attended school in the city. It was named a Stage Awards, 2022 UK Theatre of the Year.
The Marlowe Trust, a not for profi ...
in the centre of Canterbury.
Music festivals that take place in Kent include
Chilled in a Field Festival
Chilled in a Field Festival is a small, family-friendly music festival in the United Kingdom. First run in 2010, in 2014 it was listed by The Guardian as one of their ''Top 25 summer festivals for music and arts lovers, foodies and families'', an ...
,
Electric Gardens,
Hop Farm Festival,
In the Woods Festival
IN, In or in may refer to:
Places
* India (country code IN)
* Indiana, United States (postal code IN)
* Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN)
* In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Businesses and organizations
* Independ ...
,
Lounge On The Farm
Lounge On The Farm was a music festival held annually at Merton Farm, Canterbury, Kent, which attracted thousands of visitors each year. Organisers presented it as ‘non-conformist’ and promoted bands and produce from Kent. The event was held ...
and the annual
Smugglers Festival
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
near Deal. Other venues for live music include
Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone and the
Assembly Hall
An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the st ...
in Tunbridge Wells.
Kentish independence
Kentish people have long viewed themselves as Kentish first and British second, and to this day refer to themselves as either 'Men of Kent' or 'Kentish men' depending on whether they live to the East or West of the
River Medway. After the
2016 Brexit referendum and subsequent proposals for "border checks" on the Kentish border, effectively making Kent a country within a country, this pride in being Kentish began to form into calls from some areas for an independent Kent or an autonomous republic within the UK, especially from the county's prominent newspapers, with the idea being discussed in detail in some areas - with some ideas such as mock passports and "tongue-in-cheek" manifestos being created. These calls for independence can be explained by the individualistic and rebellious mentality that has always existed in the county, which can be explained by the counties position in the very South-East of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, having been a
prominent and independent kingdom for centuries as well as being the source of many major rebellions that have occurred in the United Kingdom.
Transport
Roads
![MedwayM2BridgeCloud0169](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/MedwayM2BridgeCloud0169.JPG)
With the Roman invasion, a road network was constructed to connect London to the Channel ports of Dover,
Lympne
Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...
and Richborough. The London–Dover road was
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 ...
. These roads are now approximately the A2, B2068, A257, and the A28. The
A2 runs through Dartford (A207), Gravesend, Rochester, Canterbury, and Dover; the A20 through
Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
, Wrotham, Maidstone,
Charing
Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. It includes the settlements of Charing Heath and Westwell Leacon. It is located at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment.
T ...
, Ashford.
Hythe
Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to:
Places Australia
* Hythe, Tasmania
Canada
*Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada
England
* T ...
, Folkestone and Dover; the
A21 around Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and on to Hastings in East Sussex.
[ In the 1960s, two motorways were built; the M2 from Medway to Faversham, and the M20 from ]Swanley
Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226.
History
...
to Folkestone. Part of the M25 runs through Kent, from Westerham to the Dartford Crossing
The Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent in the south and Thurro ...
. The M26 motorway
The M26 is a motorway in Kent, England. It is a short link between the M25 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near West Malling, which provides connectivity between southern England and the Channel ports in Kent.
Route
The motorway starts at junction ...
, built in 1980, provides a short link between the M25 at Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...
and the M20 near Wrotham
Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 and M26 motorways.
History
The name first occurs as ''U ...
. Kent currently has more motorways by distance than any other county in the UK, with sections of the M2, M20, M25 and M26 totalling within the extents of the ceremonial county.
In the run-up to Britain leaving the European Union
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC o ...
, Government minister Michael Gove confirmed that the Government intended to impose a ''de facto'' border between Kent and the rest of England for freight lorries, in order to deal with expected lorry queues of 7,000 or more at Folkestone, Dover and other ports. Heavy goods vehicle operators need to apply for a 24-hour Kent Access Permit (KAP) to take a vehicle of 7.5 tonnes or more into Kent if their intention is to cross to the EU via Dover or the Eurotunnel
Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue o ...
.
Water
The medieval Cinque Ports, except for the Port of Dover, have all now silted up. The Medway Estuary has been an important port and naval base for 500 years. The River Medway is tidal up to Allington and navigable up to Tonbridge. Kent's two canals are the Royal Military Canal
The Royal Military Canal is a canal running for between Seabrook near Folkestone and Cliff End near Hastings, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh, which was constructed as a defence against the Napoleon's planned invasion of t ...
between Hythe and Rye, which still exists, and the Thames and Medway Canal between Strood and Gravesend. Built-in 1824, it was purchased in 1846 by the railways, which partially backfilled it.[ Container ports are at Ramsgate and ]Thamesport
London Thamesport (formerly just "Thamesport") is a small container seaport on the River Medway, serving the North Sea. It is located on the Isle of Grain, in the Medway unitary authority district of the English county of Kent. The area was form ...
. Following the closures across the lower Medway, and the Swale 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 derive ...
, during the 20th century, the Woolwich Ferry
The Woolwich Ferry is a free vehicle and pedestrian ferry across the River Thames in East London, connecting Woolwich on the south bank with North Woolwich on the north. It is licensed and financed by London River Services, the maritime arm of ...
is the only domestic ferry that runs in the broadest definition of the county.
Railways
The earliest locomotive-driven passenger-carrying railway in Britain was the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway which opened in 1830. This and the London & Greenwich Railway
The London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) was opened in London between 1836 and 1838. It was the first steam railway in the capital, the first to be built specifically for passengers, and the first entirely elevated railway.
Origins
The idea for ...
later merged into South Eastern Railway (SER).
By the 1850s, SER's networks had expanded to Ashford, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, and the Medway towns. SER's major London termini were London Bridge, Charing Cross, and Cannon Street
Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the south of the City.
It is the site of the ancient London ...
. Kent also had a second major railway, the London, Chatham & Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...
. Originally the East Kent Railway
The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...
in 1858, it linked the northeast Kent coast with London terminals at Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
.
The two companies merged in 1899, forming the South Eastern & Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easte ...
, further amalgamated with other railways by the Railways Act 1921 to form the Southern Railway.[ Britain's railways were nationalised in 1948, forming British Railways. The railways were privatised in 1996 and most Kent passenger services were franchised to ]Connex South Eastern
Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003.
History
On 13 October 1996 Connex commenced operating the South Easter ...
. Following financial difficulties, Connex lost the franchise and was replaced by South Eastern Trains
South Eastern Trains (stylised as Southeastern) was a publicly owned train operating company that operated the South Eastern Passenger Rail Franchise between November 2003, when it took over from Connex South Eastern, and 1 April 2006, when S ...
and after Southeastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
.
The Channel Tunnel was completed in 1994 and High Speed 1 in November 2007 with a London terminus at St Pancras. A new station, Ebbsfleet International
Ebbsfleet International railway station is in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, east of London, England, near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. The station, part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration pr ...
, opened between Dartford and Gravesend, serving northern Kent. The high speed lines will be utilised to provide a faster train service to coastal towns like Ramsgate and Folkestone. This station is in addition to the existing station at Ashford International, which has suffered a massive cut in service as a result.
In addition to the "main line" railways, there are several light, heritage, and industrial railways in Kent. There are three heritage, standard gauge railways; Spa Valley Railway
The Spa Valley Railway (SVR) is a standard gauge heritage railway that runs from Tunbridge Wells West railway station in Tunbridge Wells to High Rocks, Groombridge, and Eridge, where it links with the Oxted Line.
It crosses Kent and Ea ...
near Tunbridge Wells on the old Tunbridge Wells West branch, East Kent Railway
The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...
on the old East Kent coalfield area and the Kent & East Sussex Railway
The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company.
Historical compa ...
on the Weald around Tenterden. In addition, there is the gauge, Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway on the southeast Kent coast along the Dungeness peninsula. Finally, there is the , industrial Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, previously the Bowaters Paper Railway.
Air
Charter flights are provided by Lydd Airport at Lydd.
In 2002, it was revealed that the government was considering building a new four-runway airport on the marshland near the village of Cliffe, Kent, Cliffe on Hoo Peninsula. This plan was dropped in 2003 following protests by cultural and environmental groups. However further plans for a Thames Estuary Airport on the Kent coast have subsequently emerged, including the Thames Hub Airport, again sited on the Isle of Grain and designed by Lord Foster, and the London Britannia Airport plan, colloquially known as "Boris Island" due to its being championed by the former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, which would see a six runway airport built on an artificial island to be towards the Shivering Sands Army Fort, Shivering Sands area, north-east of Whitstable.
Both of these options were dropped in 2014 in favour of expansion at either Gatwick or Heathrow Airport, the latter finally being the chosen option following Theresa May's installation as Prime Minister in summer 2016.
Manston Airport, located near the village of Manston, Kent, Manston in the Thanet District, Thanet district, was a former Royal Air Force, RAF facility that also handled some civilian flights. It closed in 2014.
Education
Kent has four universities: Canterbury Christ Church University with campuses throughout East Kent; University of Kent, with campuses in Canterbury and Medway; University of Greenwich (a London University), with sites at Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
, Eltham, London and Medway; the University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Ins ...
(UCA) also has three of its five campuses in the county.
Although much of Britain adopted a comprehensive education system in the 1970s, Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Unitary Authority are among around fifteen
local authorities still providing Education in the United Kingdom, wholly selective education through the eleven-plus examination with students allocated a place at a secondary modern school or at a grammar school.
Together, the two Kent authorities have 38 of the 164 grammar schools remaining in Britain.
Kent County Council has the largest education department of any local council in Britain,
providing school places for over 289,000 pupils.
In 2005–06, Kent County Council and Medway introduced a standardised school year, based on six terms, as recommended by the Local Government Association in its 2000 report, "The Rhythms of Schooling".
Kent County Council Local Education Authority maintains 96 secondary schools, of which 33 are selective schools and 63 are secondary modern schools.
Music education is provided by Kent Music (formerly Kent Music School), which has its origins in the 1940s. Kent Music provides services across the county including Kent County Youth Orchestra, Kent Youth Choirs, and an annual summer school at Benenden School.
National Challenge schools
In 2010, Kent had the highest number of National Challenge schools in England: schools which are branded 'failing' based on the British Government's floor targets that 30% of pupils achieve at least 5 GCSE grades A* to C. Of the 63 secondary modern schools, 33 missed this target; thus 52% of Kent secondary modern schools (34% out of all 96 maintained secondary schools) are 'failing'.
Sport
In association football, Kent's highest ranked football team is Gillingham FC (nicknamed 'The Gills') who play in EFL League Two, Football League Two, having been demoted at the end of the 2021-22 season. Maidstone United F.C. (1897), Maidstone United was a Football League side from 1989 until going bankrupt in 1992. Kent clubs in the higher levels of non-league football include the current incarnation of Maidstone United and Dover Athletic F.C., Dover Athletic playing in the National League (division), National League along with Ebbsfleet United F.C., Ebbsfleet United, who were promoted in 2017. Dartford F.C., Dartford currently play in National League South, the sixth tier of the English football pyramid.
Kent is represented in cricket by Kent County Cricket Club. The club was a founder member of the County Championship in 1890 and has won the competition, the major domestic first-class cricket competition, seven times. The club is based at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury and also plays matches at the Nevill Ground in Royal Tunbridge Wells and the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham. The Kent Women cricket team has won the Women's County Championship seven times since it was established in 1997. Cricket has traditionally been a popular sport in the county and Kent is considered one of the locations in which the game first developed. Teams have represented the county since the early 18th century. The Kent Cricket League is the top level of club competition within Kent and features teams from throughout the county, including areas such as Beckenham and Bexley which were formerly part of the county.
Canterbury Hockey Club and Holcombe Hockey Club both play in the top division in both the Men's England Hockey League, men's and Women's England Hockey League, women's England Hockey Leagues. Sevenoaks Hockey Club's women first XI plays in the second tier of national competition.
In rugby union, Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Football Club, Tonbridge Juddians and Canterbury RFC play in the fourth-tier of English rugby in the National League 2 South. Gravesend RFC play in the seventh-tier London 2 South East, London 2 South-East. Blackheath FC, a club within the historic boundaries of the county, play in fourth-tier National League 2 South. Both Tonbridge Juddians and Blackheath RFC played in National League 1, National league 1 (the third-tier of English rugby) up until the end of the 2021-2022 season.
In motorsport, the Brands Hatch circuit near Swanley
Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226.
History
...
has played host to a number of national and international racing events and hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix in various years between 1964 and 1986.
Kent is home to two National League netball clubs, both based in northwest Kent: Telstars (Premier Division 2) and KCNC (Premier Division 3).
The 2021-2022 season has seen three Kentish clubs demoted from the third-tier of their respective sports to the fourth-tier, with rugby clubs Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Football Club, Tonbridge Juddians and Blackheath F.C., Blackheath RFC being demoted in rugby and Gillingham F.C., Gillingham FC being demoted in football.
News and media
Television
Much of Kent is served by the BBC's BBC South East, South East region, which is based in Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
and provides local news for the county and East Sussex. Its commercial rival is Meridian Broadcasting, ITV Meridian Ltd, which has a newsroom at The Maidstone Studios despite the main studio being based in Hampshire. Main transmitters providing these services are at West Hougham, near Dover and Blue Bell Hill, between Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
and Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest 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 centre of the town, linking it wi ...
. A powerful relay transmitter at Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
serves the town and surrounding area. Those parts of Kent closest to London such as Swanley, Westerham, Dartford, Gravesend, and Sevenoaks lie within the ITV London and BBC London areas, taking their television signals from the Crystal Palace transmitter.
Radio
Kent has two county-wide stations – BBC Radio Kent, based in Tunbridge Wells; and the commercial station KMFM (radio network), KMFM, owned by the KM Group. KMFM previously consisted of seven local stations which covered different areas of the county (and are still technically seven different licences) but have shared all programming since 2012
The county's first commercial station was originally known as Invicta FM and began broadcasting in 1984. After various buyouts, the station was rebranded into Heart Kent in 2009 as part of the Heart Network. The station was closed and merged with several other Heart stations in the south of England in 2019 to form Heart South, with the Kent studios in Whitstable closing and production moving to Fareham in Hampshire.
There are several community radio stations in Kent including:
* Academy FM (Folkestone).
* Academy FM (Thanet)
* AHBS Community Radio, Ashford FM (Ashford) on 107.1 FM.
* BRFM 95.6 FM (Sheppey)
* Cabin FM broadcasting to Herne Bay on 94.6FM.
* Cinque Ports Radio 100.2FM for Romney Marsh, Rye and Hythe.
* CSR 97.4FM (Canterbury) now only available via online listening.
* Deal Radio (Deal): online only.
* Dover Community Radio (DCR) Dover: currently online only; due to start broadcasting to Dover District on 104.9FM from May 2022.
* Radio Faversham (Faversham): online only.
* Maidstone Community Radio (MCR): online only.
* Miskin Radio (Dartford and Gravesend): online only.
* SFM 106.9FM (Sittingboune)
* Sheppey FM 92.2 (Sheppey)
* Shoreline Easy (Romney Marsh), online only.
* West Kent Radio (WKCR) serving Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks. 95.5 and 106.7FM.
* Whitstable Bay Radio (Whitstable): online only.
Newspapers
The KM Group, KOS Media and Kent Regional News and Media all provide local newspapers for most of the large towns and cities. County-wide papers include the ''Kent Messenger'', ''Kent on Saturday'', ''Kent on Sunday'', and the ''Kent and Sussex Courier''.
See also
* Custos Rotulorum of Kent – list of Keepers of the Rolls
* Duke of Kent
* Kent (UK Parliament constituency) – historical list of MPs for Kent constituency
* Kent Community Network
* Kent Police and Crime Commissioner
* List of churches in Kent
* List of civil parishes in Kent
* List of fire stations in Kent
* List of hills of Kent
* Lord Lieutenant of Kent, List of Lord Lieutenants
* List of people from Kent
* List of places in Kent
* List of tourist attractions in Kent
* Recreational walks in Kent
* Thames Gateway – includes details of regeneration projects in the northern areas of Kent
* :Towns in Kent
* :Villages in Kent
* Fergus and Judith Wilson
References
External links
*
Kent County Council
nbsp;– local government website
BBC – origins of Kent placenames
Images of Kent
at the English Heritage Archive
{{Authority control
Kent,
Non-metropolitan counties
South East England
Home counties
Counties of England established in antiquity