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Kent

Kent () is a Counties of England|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 counties of England|ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the Kent County Council|shire county of Kent and the unitary authority|unitary borough of Medway. Kent has a nominal border with France halfway through the Channel Tunnel. Maidstone is its county town and historically Rochester, Kent|Rochester and Canterbury have been accorded City status in the United Kingdom|city status though only the latter still holds it. Kent's location between London and the continental Europe|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 the iconic White Cliffs of Dover Because of its abundance of orchards and Hop (plant)|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.Kent loses its Garden of England title to North Yorkshire The Guardian 1 June 2006Garden of England title defended BBC 1 June 2006 Major industries in the north-west of Kent have included cement, papermaking, and aircraft industry|aircraft construction, but these are now in decline. South and East Kent rely on tourism and agriculture.

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 Empire|Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the River Darent|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 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 of Canterbury|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 (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 Thomas Wyatt the younger|Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I of England|Mary I. 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, Kent|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 architecture|Georgian naval buildings during this time still stand. In the early 1800s, Smuggling|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, London|Lee, Eltham, London|Eltham, Charlton, London|Charlton, Kidbrooke and Lewisham were transferred out of Kent and in 1900 the area of Penge Urban District|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 London Borough of Bromley|Bromley and London Borough of Bexley|Bexley were created from nine towns formerly in Kent. In 1998, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, and Rainham, Kent|Rainham left the administrative county of Kent to form the Unitary Authority of Medway. They have, however, remained in the ceremonial county of Kent. During this reorganisation, through an administrative oversight, the city of Rochester lost its official City status in the United Kingdom#The Former City of Rochester|city status.

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 weathering of the Wealden dome, a dome across Kent and Sussex created by geography of the Alps|Alpine movements 10–20 million years ago. This dome consists of an upper layer of chalk above successive layers of upper greensand, upper clay, lower greensand, lower clay, and New Red Sandstone|red sandstone. The ridges and valleys formed when the exposed clay eroded faster than the exposed chalk, greensand, or red sandstone. Sevenoaks, Maidstone, Ashford,_Kent|Ashford, and Folkestone are built on greensand, while Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are built on red sandstone. Dartford, Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend, the Medway towns, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Canterbury, Deal, Kent|Deal, and Dover are built on chalk. Britain's Structure and Scenery, Laurence Dudley Stamp|L.Dudley Stamp, Pub Sept 1946, Collins New Naturalist Series. 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 AONB|Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Wealden dome is a Mesozoic structure lying on a Palaeozoic foundation, which usually creates 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 (below 800 - 1300 ft or approximately 250 m – 400 m) 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 Kent earthquake|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 (headland)|Dungeness have been formed by accumulation of alluvium. Kent's principal river, the River Medway, rises near East Grinstead in Sussex and flows eastwards to a point near Maidstone. Here it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at Rochester, then joins the estuary of the River Thames as its final tributary near Sheerness. The Medway is some long. The river is tidal as far as Allington, Kent|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, Kent|River Stour in the east.

Demographics

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".

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
- BBC feature on the Kent eleven-plus
Category:Kent| Category:Local government in Kent| simple:Kent

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