Kent (), originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of Medway. Kent has a nominal border with France halfway through the Channel Tunnel. Maidstone is its county town and historically Rochester and Canterbury have been accorded city status, though only the latter still holds it.
Kent's location between London and the continent has led to its being in the front line of several conflicts, including the Battle of Britain during World War II. East Kent was named Hell Fire Corner during the conflict. England has relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of the past 800 years; the Cinque Ports in the 12th–14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance to the country's security. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from Folkestone, and the iconic White Cliffs of Dover.
Because of its abundance of orchards and hop gardens, Kent is widely known as "The Garden of England" – a name often applied when marketing the county or its produce, although other regions have tried to lay claim to the title. Major industries in the north-west of Kent have included cement, papermaking, and aircraft construction, but these are now in decline. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt. South and East Kent rely on tourism and agriculture. Coal mining has also played its part in Kent's industrial heritage.
History
The area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era. There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley.
The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning "rim" or "border". This describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC.
The extreme west of the modern county was occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. It is possible that another ethnic group occupied what is now called The Weald and East Kent. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730 and as Cent in 835. The early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital.
In 597, Pope Gregory I appointed Augustine as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity. The Diocese of Canterbury became Britain's first Episcopal See and has since remained Britain's centre of Christianity.
In the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning "undefeated". This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy. The Kent people's continued resistance against the Normans led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous County Palatine 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 and Scotland.
During the medieval and early modern period, Kent played a major role in several of England's most notable rebellions, including the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led by Wat Tyler,
Jack Cade's Kent rebellion of 1450, and Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I.
's Perambulation of Kent, being a history of the county of Kent since William the Conqueror.]]
The Royal Navy first used the River Medway in 1547. By the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) a small dockyard had been established at Chatham. By 1618, storehouses, a ropewalk, a drydock, 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, 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, this role was assumed by Portsmouth and Plymouth, with Chatham concentrating on shipbuilding and ship repair. As an indication of the area's military importance, the first Ordnance Survey map ever drawn was a one-inch map of Kent, published in 1801. Many of the Georgian naval buildings still stand.
In the early 19th century, smugglers were very active on the Kent coastline. Gangs such as The Aldington Gang 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 was created and the townships of Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, Lee, Eltham, Charlton, Kidbrooke and Lewisham were transferred out of Kent and in 1900 the area of Penge was gained. Some of Kent, notably Dartford, is contiguous with Greater London.
During World War II, much of the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over the county. Between June 1944 and March 1945, over 10,000 V1 flying bombs, known as "Doodlebugs", were fired on London from bases in Northern France. Many were destroyed by aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, and barrage balloons, yet 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 and Bexley 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 of Medway. During this reorganisation, through an "apparent" administrative oversight, the city of Rochester lost its official city status.
Climate
Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. On 10 August 2003, in the hamlet of
Brogdale near
Faversham the temperature reached 38.5°
C (101.3°
F), the hottest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom.
Here is a climate chart for Wye, located within the proximity of Ashford.
Physical geography
Kent is in the southeastern corner of England. It borders the River Thames and the North Sea to the north, and the Straits of Dover and the English Channel to the south. France is across the Strait.
The major geographical features of the county are determined by a series of ridges and valleys running east-west across the county. These are the results of erosion of the Wealden dome, a dome across Kent and Sussex created by Alpine movements 10–20 million years ago. This dome consists of an upper layer of Chalk above successive layers of Upper Greensand, Gault Clay, Lower Greensand, Weald Clay, and Wealden sandstone. The ridges and valleys formed when the exposed clay eroded faster than the exposed chalk, greensand, or sandstone.
Sevenoaks, Maidstone, Ashford, and Folkestone are built on greensand, The easterly section of the Wealden dome has been eroded away by the sea, and cliffs such as the white cliffs of Dover are present where a chalk ridge known as the North Downs meets the coast. Spanning Dover and Westerham is the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Wealden dome is a Mesozoic 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 deep about 250 m – 400 m (800 – 1300 ft) and subject to flooding. They occur in two major troughs, which extend under the English Channel where similar coalfields are located.
Seismic activity has occasionally been recorded in Kent, though the epicentres were offshore. In 1382 and 1580 there were two earthquakes exceeding 6.0 on the Richter Scale. In 1776, 1950, and on 28 April 2007 there were earthquakes of around 4.3. The 2007 earthquake caused physical damage in Folkestone.
The coastline of Kent is continuously changing, due to tectonic uplift and coastal erosion. Until about 960, the Isle of Thanet was an island, separated by the Wantsum channel, formed around a deposit of chalk; over time, the channels silted up with alluvium. Similarly Romney Marsh and Dungeness have been formed by accumulation of alluvium. The river is tidal as far as Allington lock, but in earlier times, cargo-carrying vessels reached as far upstream as Tonbridge. The Medway has captured the head waters of other rivers such as the River Darent. Other rivers of Kent include the River Stour in the east.
Demographics
As of the
2001 UK census, Together they have around 300
town and
parish councils. Kent County Council's headquarters are in
Maidstone, while Medway's offices are at Gun Wharf,
Chatham.
As of the 2009 county council elections, Kent County Council was controlled by the Conservatives, which won 74 of the Council's 84 seats, 7 were won by the Liberal Democrats, 2 by the Labour Party and 1 by the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association. As of the 2007 local elections, Medway Council was controlled 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. Currently, all of Kent's district councils are controlled by the Conservatives; the only British county that is in this position.
At the national level, Kent is represented in Parliament by 17 MPs, all of whom are Conservative. Kent is in the European Parliament constituency of South East England, which elects ten members of the European Parliament.
Economy
.]]
As of the
2001 UK census, 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.
{|
|-
| Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
|-
| includes energy and construction
|-
| includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
|}
North Kent is heavily industrialised with cement-making at Northfleet and Cuxton, brickmaking at Sittingbourne, shipbuilding on the Medway and Swale, engineering and aircraft design and construction at Rochester, chemicals at Dartford and papermaking at Swanley, and oil refining at Grain.
Cement-making, papermaking, and coal-mining were important industries in Kent during the 19th and 20th century. 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 and Gravesend bear testament to that industry. There were also other workings around Burham on the tidal Medway.
Kent's original paper mills stood on streams like the River Darent, tributaries of the River Medway, and on the River Stour. Two 18th century mills were on the River Len and at Tovil 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 on The Swale. In pre-industrial times, almost every village and town had its own windmill or watermill, 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 Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells & Sevenoaks) is generally more affluent than the east, especially when compared to the coastal regions of Folkestone, Dover & Thanet. This is partly due to the former's proximity to London, making it prime "commuter belt" and the latter's geographic extremities. The eagerly awaited CTRL 2009 rail service, using the high speed Channel Tunnel line to bring coastal areas' travel times to London down to around an hour, is hoped to further regeneration.
Arts
Kent has provided inspiration for several notable writers and artists. Canterbury's religious role gave rise to
Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales, a key development in the English language. The father of novelist
Charles Dickens worked at the Chatham Dockyard; in many of his books, the celebrated novelist featured the scenery of Chatham, Rochester, and the
Cliffe marshes.
The landscape painter
J. M. W. Turner spent part of his childhood in the town of
Margate 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.
During the late 1930s,
Nobel Prize-awarded novelist
William Golding worked as a teacher at
Maidstone Grammar School, where he met his future wife Ann Brookfield.
The county's largest theatre is The Marlowe Theatre, situated in the centre of Canterbury. It is currently being redeveloped to re-open in October 2011.
Transport
Roads
crossing the Medway Valley, south of Rochester.]]
With the Roman invasion, a road network was constructed to connect London to the Channel ports of Dover, Lympne and Richborough. The London–Dover road was
Watling Street. 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, Wrotham, Maidstone, Charing, Ashford. Hythe, Folkestone and Dover; the
A21 around Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and on to Hastings in East Sussex. This and the
London and Greenwich Railway 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. Kent also had a second major railway, the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). Originally the
East Kent Railway in 1858, it linked the northeast Kent coast with London terminals at
Victoria and
Blackfriars.
The two companies merged in 1899, forming the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). In the aftermath of World War I, the government's Railways Act 1921 grouped railway companies together; the SECR joined neighbouring London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) and London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to form the Southern Railway. Following financial difficulties, Connex lost the franchise and was replaced by South Eastern Trains and after Southeastern.
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, 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 "mainline" railways, there are several light, heritage, and industrial railways in Kent. There are three heritage, standard gauge railways; Spa Valley Railway near Tunbridge Wells on the old Tunbridge Wells West branch, East Kent Railway on the old East Kent coalfield area and the Kent and East Sussex Railway on the Weald around Tenterden. In addition there is the gauge, tourist-oriented Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway on the southeast Kent coast along the Dungeness peninsula. Finally, there is the , industrial Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway.
Air
A limited number of charter flights are provided by Kent's
Kent International Airport at
Manston, and
London Ashford Airport at
Lydd. However, most passengers across the South East use the larger
Heathrow,
Gatwick,
Stansted and
Luton airports. In 2002, it was revealed that the government was considering building a new four-runway airport on the marshland near the village of
Cliffe on the
Hoo Peninsula. This plan was dropped in 2003 following protests by cultural and environmental groups.
Education
The county has three universities; Canterbury Christ Church University with campuses throughout East Kent, University of Kent, with campuses in Canterbury and Medway, and University of Greenwich (a London University), with sites at Woolwich, Eltham, London and Medway. The University of Creative Arts (UCA) also has three of its five campuses in the county.
Whereas 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 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.
KCC has the largest education department of any local authority in Britain,
providing school places for over 289,000 pupils.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!COLSPAN=10 | Schools in Kent (data from 2000)
|-
! LEA || Nursery || Primary|| Secondary (modern) || Secondary (Grammar) || Special || Pupil Referral Units||Independent|| City Technology College ||Total
|-
| KCC || 1 || 475 || 74 ||32|| 34 || 11 || 83 || 1 || 711
|-
| Medway || 0 || 89 || 14 || 6 || 3 || 1 || 7 || 0 || 120
|}
For the 2005–06 school year, KCC 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 LEA maintains 96 secondary schools, of which 33 are selective schools and 63 are secondary modern schools.
National Challenge schools
Kent has 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 achieved below this requirement meaning that 52% of Kent secondary modern schools (34% out of all 96 maintained secondary schools) are failing.
Local media
Television
Much of Kent is served by the
BBC's
South East region, which is based in
Tunbridge Wells and provides local news for the county and
East Sussex. Its commercial rival is
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 located at West Hougham, near
Dover and
Bluebell Hill, located between
Chatham and
Maidstone. Those parts of Kent closer to London such as Gravesend, Dartford and parts of Sevenoaks lie within the
ITV London and
BBC London areas, taking their television signals from the
Crystal Palace transmitter.
The county is also served by two internet-based TV channels, Kent TV (part-owned by Kent County Council) and YourKentTV which is owned by KOS Media.
Radio
Kent has three county-wide stations –
BBC Radio Kent, based in Tunbridge Wells; and the commercial stations
Heart and
Gold, both based in Whitstable and London.
Most of the county is covered by local radio network KMFM, owned by the KM Group. Other than the breakfast show, programmes are the same across all seven stations in the network:
KMFM Ashford
KMFM Canterbury
KMFM Maidstone
KMFM Medway
KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country
KMFM Thanet
KMFM West Kent
The county has five community radio stations.
BRFM covers the Isle of Sheppey
SFM covers Sittingbourne
CSR 97.4FM covers Canterbury, as a joint production between the city's two universities
Academy FM (Thanet) covers Thanet
Academy FM (Folkestone) covers Folkestone
A licence has been granted for Radio Sunlight in Gillingham, but no broadcast dates have yet been set.
Dover Community Radio (DCR) offers a podcasting service for the people of Dover district on their website, hoping in the future to apply for a community radio licence to cover the town and its environs.
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
List of places in Kent
List of civil parishes in Kent
List of fire stations in Kent
List of windmills in Kent
:Category:Towns in Kent
:Category:Villages 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
List of people from Kent
Lord Lieutenant of Kent
High Sheriff of Kent
Thanet
Duke of Kent
References
External links
Kent Parishes – Forum for History, Genealogy, Ancestry and local information
Kent County Council – local government website
Kent Wildlife Trust – Kent Wildlife Trust is the most active conservation trust in the county
Kent Online – a Kent Messenger Group website
Camelot Village – Kent heritage
Kent Downs – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty website
CPRE Kent- Kent Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)
historic-kent.co.uk – further information on villages throughout Kent.
BBC – origins of Kent placenames
Kent Coast in Pictures – photographs of the coastline of Kent.
Kent County Cricket Club
Official Kent Tourism Guide
Official Heart of Kent Tourism Guide
BBC feature on the Kent eleven-plus
Kent-Weather – A county-wide weather forecasting website.
Category:Anglo-Saxon England
Category:Non-metropolitan counties
Category:South East England
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