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Kent is a traditional county in South East England with long-established human occupation.


Prehistoric Kent

Kent has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic as finds from the quarries at Fordwich and
Swanscombe Swanscombe Help:IPA/English, /ˈswɒnzkəm/ is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford. History Prehistory B ...
attest. The Swanscombe skull, uncovered at Barnfield Pit, a quarry in Swanscombe, is the oldest skull found in Britain. Identified as '' Homo heidelbergensis'' it dates to the Hoxnian Interglacial 400,000 years ago. The earliest evidence for the human occupation of Kent is found near Canterbury, where stone tools dating to 560,000 years ago have been discovered. During the Neolithic the Medway megaliths were built and there is a rich sequence of Bronze Age occupation indicated by finds and features such as the
Ringlemere gold cup The Ringlemere Gold Cup is a Bronze Age vessel found in the Ringlemere barrow near Sandwich in the English county of Kent in 2001. Description The body of the cup was created by hammering a single piece of gold, with the handle cut from a flat ...
.


Iron Age Kent

The name Kent probably means 'rim' or 'border' (compare the dictionary words cant in English, Kant in German, etc.), regarding the eastern part of the modern county as a 'border land' or 'coastal district.' Historical linguists believe that the proto-Indo-European root *kanthos could not pass into a Germanic language with its initial K sound intact, so the word must have passed via an intermediate language, either Celtic or Latin.
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, and ...
described it as Cantium, although he did not record the inhabitants' name for themselves, in 51 BC. His writings suggest localised groups of people whose chieftains were flattered by his description of them as 'kings'. Writing of the Britons generally in his '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' Caesar noted that: "...by far the most civilised are those who inhabit Cantium, the whole of which is a maritime region; and their manners differ little from those of the Gauls". Pottery studies indicate the county east of the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
was inhabited by
Belgic Belgic may refer to: * an adjective referring to the Belgae, an ancient confederation of tribes * a rarer adjective referring to the Low Countries or to Belgium * , several ships with the name * Belgic ware Aylesford-Swarling pottery is part of a ...
peoples who were part of an economic and cultural region embracing south east England and the lands across the English Channel. The extreme west of the modern county was occupied by other celtic Iron Age tribes; the Regni and possibly another ethnic group occupying The Weald known today as the Wealden People. During the late pre-Roman Iron Age the names of a few British kings are known, such as
Dumnovellaunus Dubnovellaunus or Dumnovellaunus was the name of at least one, and possibly several kings of south-eastern Prehistoric Britain, Britain in the late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD, known from coin legends and from a mention in the ''Res Gestae D ...
and Adminius. An Iron Age settlement seems to have formed the basis for the later town of
Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...
, whilst a hillfort of that date seems to be the forerunner of Dover Castle.


Roman Kent

Although now two miles from the sea amid the marshes of east Kent,
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 p ...
was arguably the Romans' main entry point when they invaded Britain in circa AD 43. They established a bridgehead and commemorated their success by building a triumphal arch whose cross shaped foundations still survive at the site which is now looked after by English Heritage. Roman Britain was under attack by Saxon and other raiders in the 3rd century and it became necessary to fortify the once-prosperous commercial port of
Rutupiae 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 p ...
. Triple ditches and ramparts were dug (still visible round the site of the arch Richborough Castle although the defences were completely revamped after a decade or so and Richborough was provided with its circuit of towered stone walls and outer ditches, becoming one of the most important of the Saxon shore forts. It was one of the last to be regularly occupied and there is evidence of a large Roman population here in the early 5th century, some of them worshipping in the Early Christian church discovered in a corner of the fort.


Early Medieval Kent

Following the withdrawal of the Romans, a large-scale immigration of Germanic peoples occurred in Kent. These groups introduced the
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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
language to Britain. It is likely that some of the native Romano-Britons remained in the area, however, as they were able to influence its name (recorded as Cantia or Cent) even after the settlement of the Germanic tribes. East Kent became one of the kingdoms of the Jutes during the 5th century (see Kingdom of Kent). The early Medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara or Kentish people, whose capital (the only town called a metropolis by Bede) was at Canterbury. Canterbury is the religious centre of the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
faith, and see of Saint
Augustine of Canterbury Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.Delaney '' ...
. Augustine is traditionally credited with bringing Christianity to
Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
England, landing at Ebbsfleet, Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet (northeast of Kent) in the spring of 597. A
lathe 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 c ...
was an ancient administration division of Kent, and may well have originated during the Jutish colonisation of the county. These ancient divisions still exist, but have no administrative significance today. There were seven Lathes in Kent at the time of the Domesday Book, which reveals that in 1086 Kent was divided into the seven lathes or "lest(um)":
Aylesford Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, northwest of Maidstone. Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Two pubs, a village s ...
,
Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
, Sutton, Borough, Eastry, Lympne and Wye. For administrative, judicial and taxation purposes these units remained important for another 600 years, although by 1295 the number of lathes had reduced to five: Borough and Eastry were merged to form the
Lathe of St. Augustine The Lathe of St Augustine is an historic division of the county of Kent, England, encompassing the present-day Districts of Canterbury, Dover and Thanet The Lathes of Kent were ancient administration divisions originating, probably, in the 6 ...
, the lathe of Lympne was renamed the Lathe of Shepway, the lathes of Milton and Wye were merged to form the
Lathe of Scray The Lathe of Scray is an historic division of the county of Kent, England, encompassing the present-day Districts of Swale, Ashford, and the eastern part of Tunbridge Wells The Lathes of Kent were ancient administration divisions originatin ...
.J. E. A. Jolliffe, "The Hidation of Kent", in ''English Historical Review'', Vol. 44, No. 176 (October 1929), pp. 612-61

/ref>1611 map of the Lathes of Kent
accessed 6 March 2008
Each of the lathes were divided into smaller areas called hundred (country subdivision), hundreds, although the difference between the functions of lathes and hundreds remains unclear.Jessup, Frank W. ''History of Kent''. 1958


Medieval Kent

Following 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 ...
the people of Kent adopted the motto ''Invicta'' meaning "unconquered" and claimed that they had frightened the Normans away. This claim was given credence by the fact that the Normans had quickly marched to London without subduing the Kentish lords and peasantry, constantly harassed and ambushed by the Kentish populace at every turn. Kent did not submit to Norman rule until their rights and privileges had been acknowledged and unmolested. As a result, Kent became a semi-autonomous County Palatine under William's half-brother
Odo of Bayeux Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England. Early life Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...
, with the special powers otherwise reserved for counties bordering Wales and Scotland. A decade after the Norman conquest,
Penenden Heath Penenden Heath is a suburb in the town of Maidstone in Kent, England. As the name suggests it is nucleated around a former heath (now park land). History Before the expansion of Maidstone, the heath was often used as a venue for a site for sh ...
near Maidstone was the scene of a successful trial of Odo of Bayeux. The trial, ordered by William I at the behest of
Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005  1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and then ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
challenged the Earl's purported landholdings in the county, an event which represented an important attempt by Saxon landowners to reassert their pre-Norman rights and privileges. Gavelkind was an example of
customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudina ...
in England. After the Norman Conquest, gavelkind was superseded by the
feudal law Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
of
primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
in the rest of England, but in Kent gavelkind meant that on death, a man's property was equally divided amongst his surviving sons, which led to land being divided into ever smaller parcels. Therefore, the strip system of farming in open fields was never established in Kent. This gives evidence to the Invicta legend and seems to support that, at least among smaller land owners and common folk, Normans were forced to respect Kentish rights and law. Gavelkind was finally abolished by the Law of Property Act in 1925. During the medieval period, Kent produced several rebellions including the Peasants' Revolt 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 ...
and later, Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450. Thomas Wyatt led an army into London from Kent in 1553, against Mary I. Canterbury became a great pilgrimage site following the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, who was eventually canonised in 1246. Canterbury's religious role also gave rise to Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'', a key development in the rise of the written English language and ostensibly set in the countryside of Kent. Rochester had its own martyr,
William of Perth Saint William of Perth (died c. 1201), also known as Saint William of Rochester was a Scottish saint who was martyred in England. He is the patron saint of adopted children. Following his death, he gained local acclaim and was canonised by Pop ...
, and in 1256 Lawrence, Bishop of Rochester travelled to Rome to obtain William's canonisation. As well as numerous
fortified manor 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 with ...
houses, Kent has a number of traditional militarily significant castles, including those at Allington, Chilham,
Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
, Hever, Leeds, Rochester and Walmer, built to protect the coast, the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
or routes into London. Kent also played a significant role in the English Civil War around 1648.


Early Modern Kent

The Royal Navy first used the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
in 1547 when a storehouse was rented on 'Jyllingham Water'. By the reign of Elizabeth I (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
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 continental powers of the Netherlands and France led to increasing military build-up in the county. Forts were built along the coast following a raid by the Dutch navy on the shipyards of the
Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
towns in 1667. The 18th century was dominated with wars with France, and the Medway became the prime position to base a fleet that would act against the Dutch and French Coasts. When the theatre of operation moved to the Atlantic, Portsmouth and
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
assumed these roles and Chatham concentrated on shipbuilding and ship repair. 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 are still extant. In peacetime the work force at Chatham Dockyard was reduced to a quarter of its wartime roll. Chatham Dockyard built over 400 naval ships including in the age of
ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...
, ironclads including 1905, and 57 submarines, while also refitting ships. The keel for HMS ''Victory'' was laid at Chatham on 23 July 1759. During World War II, Chatham refitted 1360 warships such as HMS ''Ajax''. Charles Dickens' father worked in the dockyard, and
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 ...
, Rochester and the Cliffe marshes were to feature in many of his books. As an indication of the area's military importance, the first Ordnance Survey map ever drawn was the 1 inch map of Kent, published in 1801. Work on the map started in 1795. In the early 19th century smugglers were very active on the Kent coastline, with gangs, such as the Aldington Gang bringing spirits, tobacco and salt to Kent, taking goods like wool across the English Channel to France. On Saturday night, 28 August 1830, a widespread uprising by rural workers began in East Kent, with the destruction of threshing machines in the
Elham Valley The Elham Valley is a chalk valley carved by the River Nailbourne situated in the North Downs in East Kent. The valley is named after the settlement of Elham. Other settlements in the valley include Etchinghill, Lyminge, Barham, Kingston, Bish ...
area and by the third week of October, over one hundred machines had been destroyed. The uprising, that eventually became known as the Swing Riots, spread across southern England and East Anglia. The general unrest, particularly about the state of the workhouses, was instrumental in the introduction of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.


Recent discoveries

In May 2019 Kent Archaeological Field School uncovered a Roman building at Abbey Farm. According to the Dr Paul Wilkinson, the building contained broken stone walls covering huge amounts of box flue tiles, which were used to direct hot air up the indoor walls, glazed terracotta floors, an untouched underfloor with hypocaust heating and tons of ceramic roof tiles. Although the plaster painted from these walls were mostly white, plaster walls coloured with green, red and yellow panels were found in the hot sauna room on the north side of the building.


Kent and London

As London developed over time, especially during the 19th century, it expanded into north-west Kent. Settlements in this area became urbanised and increasingly regarded as suburbs of London. This view became stronger as local government areas in the region were created that were more closely aligned with London than with Kent. An administrative area known as the County of London was created by the Local Government Act 1888. The new county incorporated part of north west Kent including Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich and Lewisham. Penge was gained from Surrey by the London Government Act 1899. The London Government Act 1963 created an enlarged
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
in 1965 which took in more of northwest Kent. The
Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
abolished the previous structure of local government in 1974 and created a new non-metropolitan county of Kent, divided into districts. It also abolished Canterbury as a county borough which became a district under the new county council. The places that had been removed in 1888 were amalgamated to form the London Borough of Lewisham and the Royal Borough of Greenwich and two further boroughs were created. These were the London Borough of Bromley, an amalgamation of Bromley, Beckenham,
Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...
, Orpington and Penge and the London Borough of Bexley comprising Bexley, Sidcup,
Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...
and
Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...
.


Modern Kent

Much of the Battle of Britain during World War II was fought in the skies over the county, and between June 1944 and March 1945, over 10,000 V1 flying bombs, or ''Doodlebugs'' were fired on London from bases in Northern France. Many were destroyed by aircraft, anti-aircraft guns or
barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...
s, but around 2500 fell on the capital - but almost the same number fell in Kent, and the area became known as ''Doodlebug Alley''. The town of Deal was also the target for a 1989 attack by the IRA. Much of the north-west of the county is part of the London commuter belt. The Thames Gateway regeneration area includes riverside areas of north Kent as far east as Sittingbourne and largely to the north of the A2 road. Much of Kent, especially the Medway area, saw post-war migration from London. This was partly because of the heavy damage and destruction sustained by London in World War II. In 1998, Rochester,
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 ...
, Gillingham and Rainham left the administrative county of Kent to form the Unitary Authority of
Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
, but remain in the ceremonial county of Kent. The two cities in Kent were Canterbury, the seat of the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, and Rochester, the seat of the
Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...
. However, since 1998 when local government was reorganised, Rochester lost its official city status, thought at the time to be through an administrative oversight.. In 2018, it was reported that the loss of city status was not accidental.


Men of Kent and Kentish Men

Kent is traditionally divided into East Kent and West Kent and such a division can be traced back at least as far as the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. Those from the East are known as ''Men of Kent'' (or ''Maids of Kent'') and those from the West as ''Kentish Men'' (or ''Kentish Maids'').


Iron Age and Roman Period

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, and ...
called Kent, Cantium, and the pre-Roman local tribe 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 ...
subsequently become a civitas (unit of local administration) of Roman Britain, based at Durovernum Cantiacorum (modern Canterbury). The Germanic settlers adopted the Romano-British name of Cantium and this lends weight to the idea that
civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...
passed from British to Germanic (Jutish) hands with its structure essentially intact.Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, Barbara Yorke The civitas territory ''may'' only have consisted of East Kent so the origins of the sub-divisions of Kent may thus go back to the Iron Age.


Anglo-Saxon Period

The East and West Kentish identities date back at least as far as the Anglo-Saxon period. In the early days of the English church it was usual for kingdoms, even large ones like Mercia and Northumbria, to be served by just one diocese, but Kent was unique in having two, Rochester in the west, and Canterbury in the east. This seems to have reflected political divisions with eastern and western political units in place at that time. In the late 7th century, Kent is recorded as being under the control of co-Kings, one in the west (Swaefherd, of the
East Saxon la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Saxons , common_name = Essex , era = Heptarchy , status = , status_text = , government_type = Monarch ...
royal house) and one in the east – both of these being under the overlordship of Aethelred of Mercia. These political divisions may reflect the varying ethnic make-up of the leadership of Kent at that time, the difference being between the Jutes who settled in the east and south of the county shortly after the Roman armies' departure early in the 5th century and the Angles and
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
who may have settled in the west of the county slightly later, or simply a divided, decentralized Jutish kingdom. Modern DNA testing suggests the people of Kent have a greater genetic affinity with each other than persons from other counties in England. F. F. Smith's 1929 work A History of Rochester quotes a 1735 glossary by the Rev. Samuel Pegge on the subject: The history of early Anglo-Saxon England is very uncertain and prone to re-interpretation according to the fashion of the time. A Jutish elite may have formed their kingdom in the east, expelling or absorbing rival tribes and Jutish kings settling the land with their own followers until the kingdom reached its traditional borders, as was customary across Britain during the initial Anglo-Saxon invasions and settlement. Whatever the case, Jutish cultural influence was evident across the whole county by the Norman period. According to the BBC website, legend holds that a few hundred years later, it is said the Men of Kent resisted William the Conqueror more stoutly than the Kentish Men, who surrendered. A stone monument in the town of
Swanscombe Swanscombe Help:IPA/English, /ˈswɒnzkəm/ is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford. History Prehistory B ...
, erected in 1958, claims that both the Kentish Men & Men of Kent fought with equal ferocity to expel Duke William.


Boundaries and usage

Kent is traditionally divided into East Kent and West Kent by the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
. However, some towns, such as the Medway TownsRochester,
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 Gillingham (although Rainham was annexed from Swale, and is thus considered part of East Kent) and Maidstone – lie on the east / south bank of the river. The historic area of West Kent included a number of places now in
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
; specifically the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham. This included locations such as Sidcup, Orpington, and Greenwich. Further investigation also shows that the division is not, in fact, the river Medway, but lies further east in Gillingham, or, more precisely, at Rainham. Along the London road at Rainham is a small hamlet, now part of the town itself, known as Rainham Mark. Here once stood an ancient boundary stone, near ''The Hops and Vine'' public house – formerly ''The Belisha Beacon'' – and since replaced by a milestone that, traditionally, marks the division of Kent into its eastern and western zones. Edward Hasted, in his 1798 description of Rainham, writes: According to one local historian, Freddie Cooper, a former mayor of Gillingham, this division remained in force until 1 April 1929 when Rainham was transferred, despite protest, from the administration of Milton Rural District Council to that of Gillingham. F. F. Smith's 1929 work ''A History of Rochester'' quotes a 1735 glossary by the Rev. Samuel Pegge on the subject: One example of this traditional subdivision are Kent's two historic local regiments, the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment and the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), now both part of the
Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...
. Another is its two historical parliamentary constituencies,
West Kent Kent is a traditional county in South East England with long-established human occupation. Prehistoric Kent Kent has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic as finds from the quarries at Fordwich and Swanscombe attest. The Swanscombe skul ...
and East Kent. West Kent and East Kent each had their own Quarter Sessions until 1814, when the separate administrations of East and West Kent were merged. The West Kent Quarter Sessions Division was based in Maidstone and consisted of the
Lathe of Aylesford Aylesford is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, northwest of Maidstone. Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly s ...
, the
Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone The Lathe (county subdivision), Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone historically included a large part of Kent: the present-day boroughs of Dartford (borough), Dartford, London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich, London Borough ...
, and the lower division of the
Lathe of Scray The Lathe of Scray is an historic division of the county of Kent, England, encompassing the present-day Districts of Swale, Ashford, and the eastern part of Tunbridge Wells The Lathes of Kent were ancient administration divisions originatin ...
. The East Kent Quarter Session, corresponding roughly to the Diocese of Canterbury, consisted of the three lathes: Lathe of St Augustine, Lathe of Shepway, and the upper division of the Lathe of Scray.Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. II, 1831 The distinction between these two-halves of the county is perpetuated in the present-day by the Association of the Men of Kent and Kentish Men, an organisation formed in 1913.


Nickname

Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke from Yorkshire and a Yellowbelly from Lincolnshire; the traditional nickname for people from Kent is "Kentish Long-Tail", deriving from the long-held belief on the continental mainland of Medieval Europe that the English had tails.


References


Further reading

* (includes Kent) *


External links


Edward Hasted's 'History and Topographical Survey of Kent'
full-text version of some of the volumes of the standard parish history of the county (second edition).
Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database (ASKED)
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Kent Kent