'Dartford' is a
local government district and
borough in
northwest Kent,
England. It has a population of 80,000 and is part of the
London commuter belt.
The town of Dartford is the administrative capital and is so named from the the River Darent which flows through the town northwards to the
River Thames, the northern border of the borough (in Saxon times the town was Darentford, in the Domesday Book Tarenteford) . To the west lies the
London Borough of Bexley; to the south is
Sevenoaks district; and the borough of
Gravesham is to the east.
It gives its name to the
Dartford Crossing of the
River Thames, a pair of road tunnels (1963 and 1980), and the
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge (October 1991), linking
Kent and
Essex and linking sections of the
M25 motorway.
Since
1997, Dartford's
MP is
Howard Stoate (Labour). The
Mayor for the year May
2007 to May
2008 is Councillor Sheila East. The Leader of the Council, from February 2006, is Councillor
Jeremy Kite (Conservative).
The current borough was formed on
1 April 1974 by the merger of the
Municipal Borough of Dartford,
Swanscombe Urban District, and part of
Dartford Rural District. The parish councils listed below also come within its authority.
Traditionally, the main industries were papermaking, cement, and pharmaceuticals.
Foolscap (or rather Fool's Cap' - from the watermark of a boy wearing a dunce's hat) paper was invented at the papermills in Dartford and was produced until the adoption of ISO standard A4 paper in the 1970s.
High-quality chalk from
Swanscombe and
Northfleet was used by Blue Circle for the production of
Portland cement until the end of the 20th century. Indeed, many properties in the areas have special covenants stating that any chalk beneath the properties is the property of Blue Circle Cement!
Until the 21st century, Wellcome (later part of Glaxo SmithKline) had a large production facility on Temple Hill and was a major employer in the area.
With the reduction in these traditional industries, Dartford has become a dormitory town for commuters to London.
A large area of heathland -
Dartford Heath - lies to the west of the town. It is the original home of the
Dartford Warbler, a small bird. North of the town are the Dartford Salt Marshes, bordering the
River Thames where Joyce Green Hospital once stood. In August
1909 the
Vickers Company, tentatively diversifying into aircraft production at nearby factories in
Bexleyheath,
Crayford and
Erith, began to create a rudimentary airfield at
Joyce Green. A road name in this low-lying area commemorates one-time Dartford MP
Bob Dunn.
There are six 'railway stations' in the borough: at
Stone;
Greenhithe (for
Bluewater);
Swanscombe and
Dartford, all on the
North Kent Line; and
Longfield and
Farningham Road on the
Victoria -
Medway Towns line. From Dartford there are three lines serving
London and one to
Gravesend, the
Medway Towns and eastern Kent; for many services Dartford is the terminus. A new high-speed international railway station is being constructed at
Ebbsfleet that will serve commuters to London and
Channel Tunnel passengers to
Paris and
Brussels by 2007.
The first of Dartford's new Fastrack bus services, using a combination of ordinary roads and dedicated 'bus tracks' commenced in March 2006. The service runs from the Temple Hill area of Dartford, through the town centre and on to
Bluewater Shopping Centre,
Greenhithe and
Gravesend.
Plans for the area include large numbers of new housing and employment areas - including 'The Bridge' and Crossways to either side of the
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, areas around
Greenhithe and a 740 acre site planned to contain five separate 'villages' in the Eastern Quarry near
Bluewater Shopping Centre.
The Parish Church, Holy Trinity, is situated on the western bank of the River Darent, where a hermit would conduct travellers across the ford.
The church was originally 9th-century Saxon but with later Norman additions. In the 13th century a Royal Wedding was celebrated there, thus the choristers are entitled to wear scarlet cassocks.
One of the more interesting items on display within the church is a brass plaque commemorating the work of
Richard Trevithick, the pioneer of steam propulsion, who lived and worked in the town for a number of years.
The graveyard is situated in St Edmund's Pleasance on the summit of East Hill, which gave rise to a traditional (and derogatory) rhyme about the people of Dartford being '...buried above the steeple'. The church actually has no steeple: it has a tower featuring a ring of eight bells.
The oldest school in Dartford is 'The Grammar School', founded in 1576 by
William D'Aeth,
William Vaughan and
Edward Gwyn. Originally located in the market, the school moved to its current location in West Dartford in the 19th century. Perhaps its most famous alumnus is
Mick Jagger of
The Rolling Stones, who is now commemorated by The Mick Jagger Centre for the performing arts, which was opened in the late 1990s.
Parishes and other villages within Dartford borough
★
Bean parish
★
Darenth parish
★
Dartford town
★
Longfield and New Barn parish
★
Southfleet parish
★
Stone parish
★
Sutton-at-Hone and
Hawley parish
★
Swanscombe and
Greenhithe parish
★
Wilmington parish
★
Joydens Wood in Wilmington parish
External links
★
The borough website
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
