Gravesham

Gravesham Borough of Gravesham
Borough & Non-metropolitan district
Gravesham located within Kent
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Non-metropolitan county	Kent
Status	Borough
Admin HQ	Gravesend
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan District Council
• Body	Gravesham Borough Council
• Leadership	Member of Parliament (Conservative)
• MP	Adam Holloway
Area
• Total	38.23 sq mi (99.02 km2)
Area rank	221st (of 326)
Population (mid-2014 est.)
• Total	105,261
• Rank	223rd (of 326)
• Density	2,800/sq mi (1,100/km2)
• Ethnicity	87.8% White 8.5% S.Asian 1.4% Black 1.3% Mixed Race 1.0% Chinese or Other
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	29UG (ONS) E07000109 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ647740
Website	www.gravesham.gov.uk

Kent coat of arms

Gravesham (/ˈɡreɪvʃəm/ GRAYV-shəm) is a local government district with borough status in north-west Kent, England.

It borders the Borough of Dartford and Sevenoaks District to the west, the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling to the south, the Medway Unitary Authority to the east and the Thurrock Unitary Authority in Essex is due north on the opposite bank of the River Thames (see Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry).

Its administrative centre^[1] is Gravesend, the largest town in the borough and previously known as Gravesham in ancient times; Gravesham parliamentary constituency's present boundaries are almost the same as those of the municipality.

Gravesham was formed by the merger of parishes listed below and the former urban district of Northfleet On 1 April 1974. It is the successor to the Gravesend Municipal Borough, Northfleet Urban District, and part of Strood Rural District. Gravesham is twinned with Cambrai in Picardy, France.

History

Robert Heath Hiscock LL.B., F.S.A., Chairman of the Gravesend Historical Society, in the foreword to his book, 'A History of Gravesend' (Phillimore, 1976) wrote:

"The name Gravesham appears only in the Domesday Book, 1086, and was probably the error of a Norman scribe. It was 'Gravesend' in the Domesday Monarchorum c.1100, and 'Gravesende' in the Textus Roffensis c. 1100. It is strange that this "clerical error" should now have been adopted as the name of the new Council".

Housing and architecture

Housing varies from mid rise to low rise, particularly in the villages. The district has 12 buildings listed in the highest category of the national grading system, Grade I, three of which are private residences:

• Gadshill Place in Higham
• Luddesdown Court in Luddesdown
• Nurstead Court in Meopham

Cobham Hall, also in the highest architectural category,^[2] is a stately home which was formerly the seat of the Earls of Darnley: since 1965 it has been an independent girls' school. Cobham Park is Grade II*-listed which is listed separately in the gardens and parklands category of classification approved by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport;^[3] and includes the remains of a Roman villa.^[4][5]

The other Grade I*-listed buildings in the borough comprise its ancient parish churches.

Governance

Gravesham Borough Council is elected every four years, with currently 44 Councillors being elected at each election. From the first election in 1973 the council has alternated between Labour and Conservative control. Since 1995 Labour has controlled the council apart from 4 years between the 2007 and 2011 elections. As of the 2015 election the council is composed of the following councillors:-^[6]

Cobham Hall viewed across the park

There are eighteen wards represented on the borough council:

• Those serving Gravesend town:
  • Central
  • Pelham
  • Riverside
  • Singlewell
  • Whitehill
  • Woodlands
• Other urban areas:
  • Northfleet (2 wards - North & South)
  • Coldharbour
  • Istead Rise
  • Painters Ash
  • Riverview
  • Westcourt
• Outlying villages:
  • Chalk
  • Higham
  • Meopham: (2 wards - North & South)
  • Nurstead^[7]
  • Shorne, Cobham & Luddesdown
  • Vigo is part of the Meopham South Ward

See also

• List of civil parishes in Kent
• Gravesham (UK Parliament constituency)

References

External links

• Gravesham Borough Council YouTube channel
• About Gravesend website

Towns and villages in the Borough of Gravesham Chalk Cobham Culverstone Green Dode Harvel Higham Istead Rise Luddesdown Meopham Meopham Green Northfleet Northfleet Green Painters Ash Singlewell or Ifield Shorne Sole Street Springhead Thong Vigo List of places in Kent

Districts of South East England Berkshire Bracknell Forest Reading Slough West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Vale Chiltern Milton Keynes South Bucks Wycombe East Sussex Brighton and Hove Eastbourne Hastings Lewes Rother Wealden Hampshire Basingstoke and Deane East Hampshire Eastleigh Fareham Gosport Hart Havant New Forest Portsmouth Rushmoor Southampton Test Valley Winchester Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Kent Ashford Canterbury Dartford Dover Gravesham Maidstone Medway Sevenoaks Shepway Swale Thanet Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells Oxfordshire Cherwell Oxford South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire Surrey Elmbridge Epsom and Ewell Guildford Mole Valley Reigate and Banstead Runnymede Spelthorne Surrey Heath Tandridge Waverley Woking West Sussex Adur Arun Chichester Crawley Horsham Mid Sussex Worthing

Coordinates: 51°24′32″N 0°23′56″E / 51.409°N 0.399°E / 51.409; 0.399