Kemsley is a suburb of

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

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

, England. According to

Edward Hasted Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and To ...

, in 1798, who quoted

Asserius Menevensis Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his c ...

in his survey, the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

built themselves a fortress or castle here in 893. At a place called 'Kemsley downe'. This then later became 'Castle Rough'. At the end of the 19th century, the site on which the village sat was simply a row of cottages beside a

brick works A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

, located close to the remains of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

fortified manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals wi ...

Castle Rough. But in 1924, with expansion impossible at the old Sittingbourne Paper Mills, owner

Edward Lloyd Edward Lloyd may refer to: Politicians *Edward Lloyd (MP for Montgomery), Welsh lawyer and politician *Edward Lloyd (16th-century MP) (died 1547) for Buckingham * Edward Lloyd, 1st Baron Mostyn (1768–1854), British politician *Edward Lloyd (Colon ...

built the new

Kemsley Paper Mill Kemsley Paper Mill is a paper mill located in the village of Kemsley near Sittingbourne in the English county of Kent. Sittingbourne Paper Mill Paper manufacture started in Sittingbourne in 1708, when Peter Archer was recorded as a paper-make ...

, which served by a creek allowed the direct importation of raw materials to the site. At the same time he built a

garden village The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

to house his employees, the core of which comprises the modern day Kemsley village. The

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British ra ...

which served the factory is now the preserved

Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway The Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway in Kent is a narrow gauge heritage railway that operates from Sittingbourne to the banks of The Swale. The line was developed as an industrial railway by paper maker Frank Lloyd in 1904, to transport ...

, a tourist attraction.

Kemsley railway station Kemsley railway station is on the Sheerness Line in north Kent, England, and serves the village of Kemsley. It is down the line from . Train services are provided by Southeastern. History The station was opened by the Southern Railway as Kem ...

is on the Sheerness Line. The village also has a derelict pub 'The Kemsley Arms' (which was under threat of being developed into flats) has become the first building in Swale to be listed as an “asset of community value” under new legislation.

References

Villages in Kent Sittingbourne {{Kent-geo-stub