Kent

Kent has a population of around 1,500,00. It has an area of 1,525 square miles and is located in the South East corner of England. It is bordered by the River Thames to the estuary and the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone.

In Kent there are the popular towns of West Wickham, Gillingham, Ashford, Chatham, Bromley, Dover, Maidstone, East Peckham, Sandwich, Dartford, Staplehurst, Folkestone, Sevenoaks, Ramsgate, Herne Bay, Tunbridge Wells, West Kingsdown, Rochester, Gravesend, Tonbridge, Canterbury and Bexley.

 

Geography

The Isle of Sheppey is part of Kent but separated from the coast by the narrow Swale channel. The North Downs cross the county from east to west and are comprised of Chalk. To the south lies the fertile wooded hills of the Weald and Romney Marsh. The major rivers are the Medway, the Stour, and the Darent.

 

Industry

The region is mainly and historical agricultural and was known as the “garden of England”. As well as apples, grain, and hops, sheep, fishing, and dairy produce are also important. One of London's Home Counties, Kent is increasingly being encroached by the housing needs of London to the north, and industrial expansion and warehousing is taking place due to the proximity to the continent of Europe. Because of the encroachment of the London urban area into its western portion. Paper, pottery, brick, cement, chemicals, and beer are manufactured, and there is shipbuilding and oil refining.

 

History

Because of its easy access to the Continent (60 miles) from Dover, Kent has been important throughout English history. The Canterberians, a Celtic tribe, founded the Kingdom of Kent, Julius Caesar landed in Kent in 55 BC. In 597, St. Augustine founded a Christian mission near the Canterbury cathedral. Kent was the earliest of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and was founded by Hengis and Horsa, two Saxon mercenaries bought in by the Celtic King to defend Britain from Saxon raiders. The mercenaries rebelled, brought in their compatriots and set up their own Kingdom. Kent was a centre for learning and was an early convert to Christianity with a centre at Canterbury but the kingdom was defeated eventually and became sub-Kingdom and then a province of the Kingdom of Wessex. In the Middle Ages many religious houses were established in the old kingdom of Kent, and Canterbury became the place of pilgrimage of numerous Christians after the death of Thomas a Becket.