The seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury is in one of the two cities, Canterbury. The other is Rochester which is the seat of the Bishop of Rochester. Rochester has lost its official city status when the county was reorganized in 1998.
The name Kent is derived from the Brythonic word 'Cantus' meaning a rim or border, being applied as a name to the eastern part of the modern county, and meaning 'border land' or 'coastal district.' Julius Caesar described it as Cantium, home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC.
The area has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic as finds from the quarries at Swanscombe attest. During the Neolithic the Medway megaliths were built and there is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman occupation indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley.
During the fifth century East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes. It was later known as Kantia around 730. The people there were known as 'the Cantwara'. It was the capital of Canterbury.
Saint Augustine of Canterbury was credited with bringing Christianity to the county and England in 597. Canterbury is the religious center of the Anglican faith.
Kent is a picturesque rural county and could be referred to as 'The Garden of England'. The farming here is in itself an industry. Other industries have been of importance such as 'woollen cloth-making', 'iron-making', 'paper', 'cement', and 'engineering'. The Coastal resorts have 'fishing' and 'tourism' which keep many people busy. During the 20th century, coal was mined in the fields of East Kent where several pits were operating, and Snowdown Colliery was opened in 1908. The entire coalfield is now closed. Dungeness is the location of nuclear power station.
Paper needs a supply of the right kind of water: in Kent the original mills stood on streams like the River Darent, tributaries of the River Medway, and on the Great 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.
Cement was made from the ready supply of chalk available, and huge pits between Stone and Gravesend bear testament to that industry. There were also other workings around Burham on the tidal Medway. In the 19th century when massive building projects were being undertaken.
Sir Winston Churchill's home is located at Chartwell, Kent.
During the Second World War, airfields in Kent became well known playing a major part in the Battle of Britain whilst civilian settlements were often the recipients of bombardment and bombing from the continent.
Leeds Castle is the largest Norman Castle in Devon. It is located four miles west of Maidstone. A manor house stood on this site from the 9th century. It has the usual Motte and Bailey and dates from 1119.
Chartwell House, which is located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England was the home of Sir Winston Churchill.
One of the oldest Christian buildings in England is the Canterbury Cathedral. It is the Cathedral of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of all England and leader of the Church of England.
Dover Castle was an originally fortified earthwards by native Britons before the Romans invaded in 43 A.D. It was built close to an 80 foot high Roman lighthouse which still stands. The first castle was more than likely a Saxon fort.
The County of Kent is located south east of London.
CASTLES AND ABBEYS
MAPS
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1. Dartford 2. Gravesham 3. Sevenoaks 4. Tonbridge and Malling 5. Tunbridge Wells 6. Maidstone 7. Swale 8. Ashford 9. Shepway 10. Canterbury 11. Dover 12. Thanet 13. Medway (Unitary) |
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PHOTOS
Westerham Villiage, Kent, England
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There is much evidence that the area around Westerham has been settled for thousands of years: inds such as a Celtic fortification (c 2000 BC) and a Roman road are close by.
RNLI lifeboat station The Strand, Walmer, Deal, Kent
Photographed by Stewart Adcock
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
Walmer is in Dover District, Kent in England