Gravesend, Kent

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Gravesend is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham.

[edit] History

[edit] Origin of the name "Gravesend"

The town is recorded as Gravesham in the Domesday Book in 1086 as belonging to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and called "Gravesham": a name probably derived from "graaf-ham": the home of the Reeve, or Bailiff, of the Lord of the Manor. Another theory suggests that the name Gravesham may be a corruption of the words grafs-ham — a place "at the end of the grove". Myth has it that Gravesend got its name because, during the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in the 1600s, the town was the place where victims were no longer buried on land — they were buried at sea (the town sits next to the Thames Estuary).

Extensive Roman remains have been found nearby, at Vagniacae (today’s Springhead). Gravesend lies immediately to the north of their road connecting London with the Kent coast — now called Watling Street.

In the Fort Gardens is Milton Chantry, Gravesend's earliest existing building of the late 13th century. It was refounded about 1321 on the site of a hospital founded in 1189. At the time it was supported by lands in Essex.

Gravesend has one of the oldest surviving markets in the country, its earliest charter dating from 1268. Town status was granted to the two parishes of Gravesend and Milton, the Charter of Incorporation being received in that year. The first Mayor of Gravesend was elected in that year, although the first Town Hall was in place by 1573: it was replaced in 1764. A new frontage was built in 1836. Although its use as a Town Hall came to an end in 1968, when the new Civic Centre was opened, it continued in use as the Magistrates' Courts. At present (2004) it is disused, and discussions are being held with a view to its future.

On the river front is recorded the archaeological remains of a riverside fort built at the command of Henry VIII in 1543. At Fort Gardens are the archaelogical remains of the fort built during the Napoleonic Wars: they are now a museum, partly open-air under the care of the Gravesend Local History Society.

[edit] General Gordon

Khartoum place in Gravesend

Gravesend is associated with General Gordon (1833–1885), who lived in the town during the construction of the Thames forts. For six years he devoted himself to the welfare of the towns "poor boys", establishing a Sunday school and providing food and clothes for them from his Army wage. In command of the Royal Engineers from 1865 to 1871, he was responsible for the forts that guard the Thames downstream from Gravesend, New Tavern Fort in the town, Shornemead Fort on the south bank, and Coalhouse Fort on the north. His links with Gravesend are commemorated: the embankment of the Riverside Leisure Area is known as the Gordon Promenade, while Khartoum Place lies just to the south.

[edit] Gravesend clock tower, Harmer Street

the clock tower in Gravesend

The town’s clock tower was built at the top of Harmer street. The foundation stone was laid on 6 September 1887. The memorial stone states that the clock tower was erected by public subscription (£700 was raised toward its construction) and it was dedicated to Queen Victoria, to commemorate the 50th year of her long reign. Built with Portland and Dumfries stone, backed with hard stock brickwork, the design of the structure was based on the Westminster tower that houses Big Ben. The centre of the clock itself is measured at 50 feet (15 m) above the ground and the face is 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) in diameter.

[edit] St George's church

St George's church, just opposite the pier, was restored in 1731 in the Georgian style of the period, after having previously burnt down in August 1727 when a great fire consumed much of Gravesend destroying about 110 houses and the parish church, services being transferred to the town hall until the church was rebuilt. The parish records were lost in the fire so that the site of the burial of the native American princess Pocahontas has also been lost.

the statue of Pocahontas in St George's church

[edit] Pocahontas

Pocahontas was to become the first Native American to visit England, and so Europe. The daughter of Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan confederacy of Indian tribes, she came into contact in 1607 with a group of English settlers at Jamestown, in Virginia. A legend was born when she famously saved the pioneer Captain John Smith from the immediate threat of death from an Indian raiding party which descended upon the hapless settlers, by shielding the Captain from the tomahawk blows of his captors by throwing herself upon him.

What is certainly true is that, after John Smith had returned to England she was made a hostage by the English settlers to attempt a procurement of good behaviour from the Powhatan tribes, and that his daughter was falsely informed that Smith had died. During her captivity,leading colonists worked to convert her to Christianity. One of those colonists,John Rolfe, fell in love with her, and she with him. Pocahontas married Rolfe, accepted christianity, and was baptized Rebecca. She later sailed with Rolfe to England, with their infant son, Thomas, where she was received at the court in London by Queen Anne, and, something of a celebrity, was "taken up by society".

It is reported she met up with John Smith in London and that the shock broke her heart. She later died on board a vessel at Gravesend in March 1617, before her homeward journey, and is buried in the parish churchyard of St George's, although the exact location of her grave is unknown.

[edit] Gravesend Hospital

Gravesend Hospital was opened in 1854, following the donation of a site by the Earl of Darnley in 1853; it had its origin on 2 December 1850, as a dispensary on the Milton road "to assist the really destitute poor of Gravesend and Milton and vicinities ... unable to pay for medical aid". By 1893, 4,699 such people had benefited by its presence.

In 2004 the original building was demolished to make way for a new local health centre. Details are here.

[edit] Windmill Hill

Windmill Hill named for its erstwhile windmills, offers extensive views across the Thames, and was a popular spot for Victorian visitors to the town, because of the Camera obscura installed in the old mill and for its tea gardens and other amusements. The hill was the site of a beacon in 1377, which was instituted by Richard II, and still in use 200 years later at the time of the Spanish Armada, although the hill was then known as "Rouge Hill". A modern beacon was erected and lit during 1988, the 300th anniversary.

It was during the reign of Elizabeth I that the first windmill was placed on top the highest point in Gravesend, 179 ft (55 m) above the high water mark of the river. One mill burnt down in 1763, but was replaced the following year and that too demolished in 1894. The last surviving windmill was destroyed by fire during Mafeking Night celebrations in 1900.

During World War I A German airship passed over Windmill Hill and dropped bombs on it. Today there are three markers indicating where these bombs struck.

[edit] Football

The Stonebridge Road ground in neighbouring Northfleet is home to Gravesend and Northfleet football club. They are currently in the Nationwide Conference and are managed by ex-Coventry City F.C. defender Liam Daish.

[edit] Aviation

Opened in 1932, an airfield built near Chalk and operated by Gravesend Aviation Ltd served Gravesend and has a significant place in the history of British aviation. From 1933 to 1936 it was home to Percival Aircraft, building the famous Mew Gull racing aircraft among others, before the company moved to Luton. After 1936 Essex Aero was based on the site, and maintained the airfield's link with racing aeroplanes by preparing the de Havilland DH.88 Comets and Alex Henshaw's Percival Mew Gull that set the record for a flight from England to South Africa.

The airfield received Customs facilities in December 1933 and many European airlines made use of Gravesend as a diversionary airport, for use when Croyden was fogged-in. These airlines included: Imperial Airways, KLM, Sabena and Deutsche Lufthansa.

The Royal Air Force moved into Gravesend in 1937 when a Flying Training School began operating Tiger Moths and Hawker Harts at the airfield. Throughout WW2, Essex Aero continued to manufacture aircraft parts at the site. Accommodation for personnel was provided nearby at Ashenbank Wood.

The airfield site today has become a housing estate and little can be identified of the original use, but Leander Drive and Vigilant Way seem to have been built on the original perimeter track.

[edit] Communications

[edit] The River Thames

[edit] Shipping on the river

The River Thames has long been an important feature in Gravesend life and may well have been the deciding factor for the first settlement here. One of the town's first distinctions was in being given the sole right to transport passengers to and from London by water in the late 14th century. The "Tilt Boat" was a familiar sight on the river. The first steamboat plied its trade between Gravesend and London in the early 19th century, bringing with it a steadily increasing number of visitors to The Terrace Pier Gardens, Windmill Hill, Springhead Gardens and Rosherville Gardens. Gravesend soon became one of the first English resort towns and thrived from an early tourist trade.

Gravesend "watermen" were often in a family trade; and the town is the headquarters of the Port of London Authority Thames Navigation Service, supplying both river and sea pilots. Today radar plays an important part in the movement of shipping on the river.

The Thames Navigation Service was first thought up between 1950 and 1952 by Captain Peter de Neumann, GM, when he was Commander of HMRC Vigilant (HM Customs & Excise), whose base was in Gravesend Reach. [It is possible that "Vigilant Way" in Gravesend is named for her.] This idea followed on from considering such incidents as the accidental ramming of HMS Truculent by the Divina in 1950, the collision with the Nore Forts by Baalbek, and the disastrous flooding of Canvey, Foulness and the East Coast in 1953. In these and other situations, rescue and intelligence gathering were severely hampered by a lack of centralised command and control, and lack of detailed "picture". de Neumann resigned his command after returning Vigilant from the Spithead Review and joined the PLA, immediately suggesting in a report to them, submitted in 1953, that a feasibility study of such a system be commenced. He then oversaw its development and ultimate installation at Gravesend.

Until the building of Tilbury Docks on the opposite side of the river, between 1882-6, Gravesend was the first port of entry. Thousands of emigrants, as well as large numbers of troops, embarked from here. Tilbury Docks have expanded considerably since with the closure of all the London Docks. The entrance to the Docks is somewhat awkward, situated as it is on the sharp bend of the river, and often need tugboat assistance, as do the larger ships moored at Tilbury landing stages. There have been many tug companies based at Gravesend: among them the Sun Company, the Alexandra Towing Company and, today, the Smith Howard Towing Company.

Also on the river front is the world's oldest surviving cast iron pier, a unique structure with the first known iron cylinders used for its foundation. From here the steamboat services had begun from London in 1815. The pier has recently been completely refurbished (2004) and now has upon it a Bar and Restaurant.

The river still plays a vital part in the life of the community today, providing an important link for industry and jobs to the benefit of many people. The cross-river passenger ferry to Tilbury provides a long-established route to and from the neighbouring County of Essex. Before the Dartford Crossing came into being there was a vehicle ferry here as well.

[edit] Gravesend Regatta

Rowing matches have been taking place on the river Thames at Gravesend since from at least the year of 1698, and the first organized Regatta was in 1715. The first Borough Regatta began in 1882, setting the pattern for an annual event on the Thames that is carried on to this day. The popularity of the early events have recently begun to return, thanks to much Borough Council publicity.

[edit] Road communications

Journeys by road to Gravesend were once quite hazardous, since the main London-Dover road crossed Blackheath, notorious for its highwaymen. Stagecoaches from London to Canterbury, Dover and Faversham used Gravesend as one of their "stages" as did those coming north from Tonbridge. In 1840 there were 17 coaches picking up and setting down passengers and changing horses each way per day. There were two coaching inns in the New Road: the New Prince of Orange and the Lord Nelson. Stagecoaches had been plying the route for at least two centuries: Samuel Pepys records having stopped off at Gravesend in 1650.

Today, the A226 road from Gravesend to Rochester runs beside the Thames and offers a fine view of the Hoo Peninsula. The A2 road passes two miles south of Gravesend town centre, while the A226 also provides a link westwards to Dartford and the Dartford Crossing.

In March 2006 the first of the areas new 'Fastrack' bus services, which use a combination of ordinary roads and dedicated 'bus tracks', opened. The service links to Greenhithe, Bluewater Shopping Centre and Dartford.

[edit] Rail communications

The first railway connection came after the London & Greenwich Railway (sanctioned in 1833, opened in 1836) extended its line through Woolwich and Dartford to Gravesend railway station in the summer of 1849. In 1844 a railway to the east of the town had been opened using the Higham tunnel of the Thames and Medway Canal (see below); the erstwhile London & Greenwich, now the South Eastern Railway, bought this in 1847, opening through services between London and the Medway towns two years later.

Gravesend is close to the new Eurostar and main line station at Ebbsfleet. This will run from Ashford to St Pancras Station from 2007, with the domestic service opening in 2009.

This link also provides a link to Stratford station, in the heart of the London 2012 Olympics site.

[edit] Thames and Medway Canal

The Thames and Medway Canal was opened for barge traffic in 1824, but after only 20 years it had proved too difficult a route for navigation between the Thames and Medway and was left to silt up. From 1844, the canal's tunnel was used to provide a route for the railway. This change of use arose due to the difficulty of keeping water levels high enough: a steam engine often had to be used to pump water into the Higham tunnel to compensate for low tides. A steam tug was also used to assist with the pulling of the barges through the tunnel.

Today the canal basin at the Gravesend end of the Canal is used for pleasure craft. Gravesend Sailing Club is based here. The lock has been dredged and restoration and strengthening works have been carried out to the basin walls as part of regeneration of the area.

[edit] Other notes of interest

Gravesend is very well known for its Traveller and Romany connections, it has one of the largest Gypsy sites in Kent, and most of the residents of West Gravesend Romany origin.

During the time General Gordon was in Gravesend (1865-71) the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was an officer in the Russian Navy and was posted to Gravesend, where he wrote part of his first symphony, said to be the first ever such style of composition attempted by a Russian composer.

By the river close to Northfleet, on what became the property of the imperial paper mills there was once a pond which had the curious tendency of draining when the river was at full tide and filling again when the tide subsided. This strange behaviour was explained by the submerging of the springs that fed the pond with the tidal waters, when the tides receded the springs were once again able to drain into the pond.

On 10 August 2003, Gravesend recorded one of the highest temperatures since records began in the United Kingdom, with a reading of 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit),^[1] only beaten by Brogdale, near Faversham, 26 miles to the ESE..^[2] One explanation for the phenomenon was the large amount of earthworks in connection with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which had exposed a great deal of the local sandy soil, which reflected more sunshine!

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the town was the home of a very successful youth marching band, the "Gravesham Corps of Drums" (latterly the "Gravesham Corps"). The band finished third in the British Championships in 1981. They had more success than a local rival, "North West Kent Drum and Bugle Corps" who were based in nearby Northfleet.

At nearby Higham, the Falstaff Inn takes its name from a scene set on the Gravesend-Rochester road in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Higham is also the site of Gads Hill Place (built 1780), the home Charles Dickens from 1857 to his death in 1870. It was at Higham that Dickens wrote much of Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend and the Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Gravesend is briefly mentioned in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley during Victor's travels through the United Kingdom with Clerval; ultimately culminating in Victor's residence in the Orkney Islands.

The Saxon Shore Way, a long distance walk, starts at Gravesend and traces the coast as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, 163 miles (262 km) in total.

The poet Thom Gunn was born in Gravesend on August 29th 1929

[edit] Population

Since 1801, Gravesend has grown from being a small riverside settlement to become a major town. Its population in 1831 was 5,079; by 1921 this had risen to 31,137, by 1971 to 54,072.

[edit] International links

[edit] Twin towns

	Neumünster, Germany
	Cambrai, France

[edit] External links

[edit] References

view • talk • edit The town of Gravesend in Kent, South East England with the surrounding suburbs, villages and parishes:
Chalk • Cobham • Coldharbour • Culverstone Green • Ebbsfleet• Harvel • Higham • Hook Green • Istead Rise • Luddesdown / Luddesdowne • Meopham • Meopham Green • Milton-next-Gravesend • Northfleet • Painters Ash • Riverview • Singlewell • Shorne • Springhead • Thong • Vigo • Westcourt • Whitehill • Woodlands
The district of Gravesham List of places in Kent

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Categories: Towns in Kent | Gravesham