'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.
History
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.
A Map of Gravesend from 1946
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 archaeological 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.
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.
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
[1]. Built with Portland and Dumfries stone, backed with hard stock brickwork, the design of the structure was based on S:t Stephens tower, 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.
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
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 baptised 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, but there are varying reports of the circumstances and events during that meeting.
After seven months in England, Rolfe decided to return his family to Virginia and, in March 1617, they set sail. It was soon apparent, however, that Pocahontas would not survive the voyage home as she was deathly ill from pneumonia or possibly tuberculosis. She was taken ashore at Gravesend, England, and there died. Buried in the parish churchyard of St George's, the exact location of her grave is unknown, due to a church fire and subsequent reconstruction in the early 1700s. She was 22 years old at the time of her death, but her son survived to have many descendants.
An American sculptor,
William Ordway Partridge, had created a life-size statue of
Pocahontas, which was unveiled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1922.
Queen Elizabeth II viewed this statue in 1957 and again on May 4, 2007, while visiting Jamestown on the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first successful English colonial settlement in America. On October 5, 1958, an exact replica of the Pocahontas statue by Partridge was dedicated as a memorial to the princess at St. George's Church in Gravesend. The Governor of Virginia presented the statue as a gift to the British people; this gesture was prompted by The Queen's visit to America the previous year.
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.
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.
Football
The Stonebridge Road ground in neighbouring
Northfleet is home to
Ebbsfleet United FC. The team changed their name from Gravesend and Northfleet football club in May 2007. They are currently in the Nationwide Conference and are managed by ex-
Coventry City F.C. defender Liam Daish.
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. In 1942, the RAF greatly enlarged the airfield. which included major extensions to both runways - albeit still formed of grass. Throughout WW2, Essex Aero continued to manufacture aircraft parts at the site. Accommodation for personnel was provided nearby at Ashenbank Wood.
The company also drew up major plans for the airfield, including concreting the runways (the longest one being just over 5600ft after the RAF extensions), a new terminal and cargo centre west of the Thong Lane side and their aircraft parts main plant to the east of Thong Lane.
After the war, the then Gravesend Municipal Council, gave planning permission to Essex Aero but with severe (and unworkable) conditions.
The main conditions were that the RAF extensions must be ripped up - thereby reducing the airport size by 40%.
The two runway lengths cut back to just 3000ft.
Finally, provisions of a school and associated housing should be built on parts of the airfield.
The council effectively stated to Essex Aero, that they saw no real future in commercial aviation locally - even though that notion (over the past decades) has been proved very wrong.
Had Essex Aero been given the green light for their plans, today Gravesend Airport would have been similar in size to London Luton International.
The airfield site today has become a housing estate called RIVERVIEW PARK 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. "CASCADES" Leisure Centre in Thong Lane which is between Vigilant Way and Leander Drive has a plaque which is dedicated to the airmen of WWII which served at Gravesend Airport. The Control Tower from the Airport was located in the grounds.
Communications
The River Thames
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the closest major town to the new International and main line station at
Ebbsfleet.
Eurostar services will run from
Paris and
Brussels to
Ebbsfleet and London
St Pancras International from 2007, with the 225kph domestic service operating to and from
Gravesend and other parts of North and East
Kent, in late 2009/early 2010.
This link shall also provide services to
Stratford station, in the heart of the
London 2012 Olympics site.
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 site's residents are 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.
Today, Northfleet and Gravesend are considered (more or less) as a single town. Local bias apart, that conclusion is more potent in the pre 1974 borders in the Perry Street and Rosherville areas - just a few minutes from Gravesend town centre.
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),
[2] only beaten by
Brogdale, near
Faversham, 26 miles to the ESE.
[3] 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 absorbed 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. Although an Independent school for many years there are plans (2007) to construct a new school building elsewhere on the site and develop the original house into a museum dedicated to Dickens.
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.
Gravesend is also briefly mentioned in the novel
Heart of Darkness by
Joseph Conrad.
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
Wealdway also starts at the Town Pier, and proceeds almost due south over the
Weald to
Eastbourne in East Sussex where it links with
South Downs Way, a distance of 80 miles (128 km).
The poet
Thom Gunn was born in Gravesend on
29 August 1929
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. Gravesend has for over 40 years been home to many Asians of Punjabi descent.
International links
Twin towns
★
Neumünster,
Germany
★
Cambrai,
France
★
Chesterfield, Virginia,
United States
External links
★
www.about-gravesend.co.uk - Pictures and info of Gravesend from the past and present. The new pictures were taken from as near as possible the same vantage point as in the old ones.
★
Borough website includes notes on the town
★
Website with information on Gravesend Grammar School for Boys, located in the Gravesham area
★
Website for Northfleet Technology College community school located in Gravesham
★
Website for the Gravesham Historical Society
★
Various pictures of Gravesend including promenade and river
References
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