History of Kent

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Historic county of Kent
Geography

Area: (1831)	972,240 acres
Rank:	Ranked 10th
Administration
County town:	Maidstone
Chapman code:	KEN

Kent is a county in South East England with a long history of human occupation.

1 Prehistoric Kent
2 Iron Age Kent
3 Roman Kent
4 Early Medieval Kent
- 4.1 Lathes
5 Medieval Kent
6 Early Modern Kent
7 Kent and London
8 Modern Kent
9 See also

[edit] Prehistoric Kent

Kent 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 occupation indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup.

[edit] Iron Age Kent

The modern 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, 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'. Pottery studies indicate the county east of the River Medway was inhabited by Belgic 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 Iron Age tribes; the Regnenses 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 Kentish kings are known, such as Dumnovellaunus and Adminius.

[edit] Roman Kent

Although now 2 miles from the sea amid the marshes of east Kent, Richborough Castle 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 Hertitage. English Heritage Website

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. 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.

[edit] Early Medieval Kent

East Kent became one of the kingdoms of the Jutes during the fifth century AD (see Kingdom of Kent) and the area was later known as Cantia in around AD 730 and Cent in AD 835. The early Mediaeval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara or Kent people, whose capital was at Canterbury.

Canterbury is the religious centre of the Anglican faith, and see of Saint Augustine of Canterbury. Augustine is traditionally credited with bringing Christianity to Anglo Saxon England, landing at Ebbsfleet, Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet (northeast of Kent) in the spring of 597.

[edit] Lathes

A lathe was an ancient administration division of Kent, and may well have originated during a Jutish colonisation of the county. These ancient divisions still exist, but have no administrative significance. There are seven Lathes in Kent; Aylesford, Milton, Sutton, Borough, Eastry, Lympne and Wye. These units are recorded as intermediate between the county and hundred. The Domesday Book reveals that in 1086 Kent was divided into the seven lathes or "lest(um)" for administrative, judicial and taxation purposes and these units remained important for another 600 years. Each of the seven lathes were divided into smaller areas called hundreds, although the difference between the functions of lathes and hundreds remains unclear.^[1]

[edit] Medieval Kent

Following the invasion of William the Conqueror the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta meaning undefeated and claiming (quite wrongly) that they had frightened the Normans away, presumably in an attempt to defame the people of Hastings in neighbouring Sussex.

During the medieval period, Kent produced several rebellions including the Peasants' Revolt led by Wat Tyler 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 à Becket. 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.

[edit] Early Modern Kent

By the seventeenth 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 all along the coast following a daring raid by the Dutch navy on the shipyards of the Medway Towns in 1667.

In the 1800s 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.

[edit] Kent and London

Historically, much of the south-east quadrant of London was part of Kent. However, since the 19th century this urban region has been detached administratively from remaining more rural county.

When 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 in 1965 which took in more of northwest Kent. The Local Government Act 1972 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 London Borough of Greenwich and two further boroughs were created. These were the London Borough of Bromley, an amalgamation of Bromley, Beckenham, Chislehurst, Orpington and Penge and the London Borough of Bexley comprising Bexley, Sidcup, Erith and Crayford.

[edit] Modern 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.

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 of Kent - saw post-war migration from London. This was partly because of the heavy damage and destruction sustained by London in World War II.