08-12-2010, 08:06 AM
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Ep0isode 10
KentKent , originally known as Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties.
Kent has a nominal border with France halfway through the Channel Tunnel.
Maidstone is its county town and historically Rochester and Canterbury have been accorded city status, though only the latter still holds it.
Because of its abundance of orchards and hop gardens, Kent is widely known as "The Garden of England" , although other regions have tried to lay claim to the title.
Major industries in the north-west of Kent have included cement, papermaking, and aircraft construction, but these are in decline.
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 era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley.
In 597, Pope Gregory I appointed Augustine as the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Diocese of Canterbury became Britain's first Episcopal See and has since remained Britain's centre of Christianity.
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 Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I
Ashford
A busy market town which still has many medieval houses for you to admire. It is a convient central point to tour from, to visit the numerous attractive villages.
Visit Willesborough Windmill in Mill Lane, which was built in 1869.
In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom.
Ashford has for centuries been a local communications hub for surrounding villages and has stood at the centre of five railway lines, (Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line, Swanley to Ashford (via Maidstone East) Line, South Eastern Main Line, Kent Coast Line and the Marshlink Line) since the 19th century.
With the opening of the International Passenger Station it is now an important European communications centre, with new lines running between London and the Channel Tunnel .
The very first white roadlines were painted on the London to Folkestone Road at Ashford, in 1914
Broadstairs
Broadstairs has an old world charm all of its own. There are winding streets, and fishermen's cottages cluster round the harbour. Viking bay is the town's main beach, but there are six other bays for you to enjoy.
If you are in Broadstairs in June, you can take part in the Dickens Festival, when the locals dress in Victorian costume and there are plays, parties, music and fairs to enjoy.
In 1440, an archway was built by George Culmer across a track leading down to the sea, where the first wooden pier or jetty was built in 1460. A more enduring structure was to replace this in 1538, when the road leading to the seafront, known as Harbour Street, was cut into the rough chalk ground on which Broadstairs is built.
Smuggling was an important industry in the area and the men of Broadstairs and St Peters became very good at outwitting customs agents. There is a network of tunnels and caves strewn in the chalk strata which were used by smugglers to hide their contraband.
Dover
The closest town in Kent to the continent, is the gateway to England. Now the world's busiest ferry port, it is famed for its range of defences and military architecture.
Dover Castle has a dramatic past, from here the French were rebuffed in 1216, and the evacuation of Dunkirk was masterminded in 1940.
Today you can see displays centring on the Second World War. Visit the Old Town Gaol to experience prison life as it was during Victorian times.
Dover also offers an excavated Roman fort, the extensive Western Heights Napoleonic fortifications, and the recently enhanced exhibition at the White cliffs experience.
We must remember Vera Lynn and her White Ciffs of Dover
The White Cliffs look better from a distance. Indeed, the greater the distance the better it would seem. The cliffs loom larger, whiter, and sturdier in the imagination than they do in fact.
St Edmunds in Dover is the smallest church in Britain still in regular use
Matthew Webb, the very 1st person to swim the English Channel, left from Dover in 1875. It took almost 22 hours
Folkestone
Is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its growing importance as a seaside resort made the town grow.
The beginning of high speed rail services for commuters on the HS1 line to London St Pancras has cut the journey time from London to less than an hour.
It has recently become famous as the town adjacent to the Channel Tunnel entrance. Folkstone is one of England's most elegant Edwardian resorts.
Though never surrounded by walls, Folkestone retains several excellent examples of the Napoleonic Martello Towers, gun towers designed specifically for beach defence. The town played an important role in the Second World War, when nearby Hawkinge Airfield was a front-line fighter station during the Battle of Britain.
Maidstone
Is the County Town of Kent and a thriving commercial centre with excellent shopping, sports and leisure facilities. A walk around the town reveals treasures such as the 14th century Archbishop's Palace, which was a residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury until 1538.
Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area; and the Romans have left their mark also: the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, as well as hospitals and a college for priests. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath became a place of execution in medieval times.
Maidstone's charter as a town was first confirmed in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The town’s charter was ratified in 1619 under James I.
During the Civil War a battle took place here in 1648, resulting in victory for the Parliamentarian forces. Andrew Broughton, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Andrew as 'Mayor and Regicide' (a killer of kings).
The Church of All Saints, is thought to be the widest and one of the largest in the country. At one time there were no seats in the church except those along the walls, reserved for the old and infirm; it is thought that the saying 'the weakest go to the wall' originates from this arrangement.
Visit Leeds Castle (yes, despite the name it IS in Kent!) for a wonderful day out, where there is a long list of splendid attractions and it is open all year round.
Rochester
Located strategically on one bank of the River Medway, the city has retained significant remnants of its fortified past. Sections of both its Roman, and medieval town walls still remain adjacent to its great Norman Castle. The Castle and Norman Cathedral are among England's finest, originally dating from the eleventh century.
Close to Rochester are late medieval Upnor Castle and the impressive Fort Amherst in Chatham.
Rochester is often referred to as 'the City of Great Expectations' due to its association with Charles Dickens. There is a Dickens Centre, as well as Dickens festivals in the summer and at Christmas.
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Remains one of the most elegant towns in the country, and was considered a rival to Bath when it was a fashionable spa from the 17th to 19th centuries.
In 1606 Dudley, Lord North, a courtier to James I who was staying at a hunting lodge in Eridge in the hope that the country air might improve his ailing constitution, discovered a chalybeate spring. He drank from the spring and, when his health improved, he became convinced that it had healing properties.
He persuaded his rich friends in London to try it, and by the time Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, visited in 1630 it had established itself as a spa retreat.
By 1636 it had become so popular that two houses were built next to the spring to cater for the visitors, one for the ladies and one for the gentlemen.
The Pantiles an 18th century shopping area delightfully shaded by lime trees is almost unchanged today. Royal Tunbridge wells is a delight for antique lovers, with regular auctions, fairs and over 35 antique shops, many of which you'll find in the picturesque Pantiles.
Beckenham
Did you know that the Lychgate at St Georges Church Beckenham is reputed to be the oldest in England and dates from the 13th Century
Canterbury
Although he hated his time there as a boy Somerset Maugham had his ashes scattered at Kings School Canterbury
Isle of Sheppey
The worlds first aircraft factory was built on Sheppey by the Short Bros in 1909
Sheerness
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn spent their honeymoon at Shurland Hall, Eastchurch - just outside Sheerness
Famous People
David Frost - Journalist
Freddie Laker - Founder of Cheap air flights
Malcolm Campbell - Trill Seeker, father of Donald Campbell
Michael Philip Jagger - Rolling Stones!
Orlando Bloom - Actor
Anne Boleyn - (birth place Debateable) Mother of Elizabeth 1
Episode 10 Yorkshire
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