To find out how to get to and around Kent, visit our pages. Canterbury Cathedral is the United Kingdom's metropolitan cathedral; it was founded in AD 598 and displays architecture from all periods. It very hot climate allows for hops gardens and orchards to be in abundance. KMFM previously consisted of seven local stations which covered different areas of the county (and are still technically seven different licences) but have shared all programming since 2012[78]. [6], Julius Caesar described the area as Cantium, or the home of the Cantiaci, in 51 BC. We will travel to The County … [32] It was centred in the Sandwich area of east Kent at about ten miles below the surface. All Kent news Events to look forward to in 2021 We may have missed out this year, but from festivals and foodie events to big music names and family fun, there's a bumper schedule in 2021. The East Kent coast inspired many of his works, including some of his most famous seascapes. In association football, Kent's highest ranked football team is Gillingham FC, who play in Football League One. Look at Kent County, South East, England, United Kingdom from different perspectives. The club was a founder member of the County Championship in 1890 and has won the competition, the major domestic first-class cricket competition, seven times. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its strong transport connections to the capital and the nearby continent make Kent a high-income county. ], the first and so far only one in the UK. In addition, there is the 15-inch (380 mm) gauge, Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway on the southeast Kent coast along the Dungeness peninsula. 17 seats were won by the United Kingdom Independence Party, 13 by the Labour Party, 7 by the Liberal Democrats, 1 by the Green Party and 1 by the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association. Kent has provided inspiration for several notable writers and artists. Here it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at Rochester, then joins the estuary of the River Thames near Sheerness. Under the nominal rule of William's half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted similar powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales and Scotland. West Kent Community Radio (WKCR) serving Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks. Cricket has traditionally been a popular sport in the county and Kent is considered one of the locations in which the game first developed. Kent also had a second major railway, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. Kent County Council has the largest education department of any local council in Britain,[71] Schools will now be closed until after the February half term, though they remain…, Rapid-result coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for people who don’t have symptoms is being rolled out across Kent this week. Originally the East Kent Railway in 1858, it linked the northeast Kent coast with London terminals at Victoria and Blackfriars. Gravesend RFC and Tonbridge Juddians both play in the fifth-tier National League 3 London & SE. Two 18th century mills were on the River Len and at Tovil on the River Loose. Because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as "The Garden of England".[3]. 2020 SPITFIRE KENT CRICKET AWARDS Recap on all the big winners on a night of celebration of Kent's on-field achievements in our 150th Year. Everything you need to know, from the latest news and competitions, to county training and captains and our disability sessions. including Chislet, Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and the Snowdown Colliery, which ran from 1908 to 1986.[46]. The Medway is some 112 kilometres (70 mi) long. Forts were built all along the coast following the raid on the Medway, a successful attack by the Dutch navy on the shipyards of the Medway towns in 1667.[19]. The testing will find people who don’t currently have symptoms, who may be unknowingly spreading the virus in the community and the sites are part of a rolling programme to help reduce the rates of transmission in…, Following the disruption to borders last week, roadside waste was left behind affecting many of the key routes to Dover. A new station, Ebbsfleet International, opened between Dartford and Gravesend, serving northern Kent. Kent's principal river, the River Medway, rises near East Grinstead in Sussex and flows eastwards to Maidstone. Kent has two county-wide stations – BBC Radio Kent, based in Tunbridge Wells; and the commercial station KMFM, owned by the KM Group. [31] A further quake on 22 May 2015 measured 4.2 on the Richter Scale. Fast & Free. You're never stuck for things to do in Kent, but if you need a little inspiration, check out this week's top picks of great days out around the county, using our handy map. Kent has four universities: Canterbury Christ Church University with campuses throughout East Kent; University of Kent, with campuses in Canterbury and Medway; University of Greenwich (a London University), with sites at Woolwich, Eltham, London and Medway; the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) also has three of its five campuses in the county. [33] The Medway has captured the head waters of other rivers such as the River Darent. [29], The Wealden dome is a Mesozoic structure lying on a Palaeozoic foundation, which can often create the right conditions for coal formation. Both of these options were dropped in 2014 in favour of expansion at either Gatwick or Heathrow Airport, the latter finally being the chosen option following Theresa May's installation as Prime Minister in summer 2016. Kent's economy is greatly diversified; haulage, logistics, and tourism are major industries. Manston Airport, located near the village of Manston in the Thanet district, was a former RAF facility that also handled some civilian flights. The county's largest theatre is the Marlowe Theatre in the centre of Canterbury. [66][67] By 1618, storehouses, a ropewalk, a drydock, and houses for officials had been built downstream from Chatham. Kent - a county of two halves. At the 2013 county council elections, control of Kent County Council was held by the Conservatives, who won 44 of the council's 83 seats. In the council elections of May 2015 the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took control of the Council[which? Once the idea of art schools had been established, even in small towns in Kent, the tradition continued, although most of the schools were very small one-man operations, each teaching a small number of daughters of the upper classes how to draw and make watercolour paintings. Maidstone Community Radio (MCR): online only. Kent is most famous for its oast-houses, having tall conical or pyramidal roofs. Top employers in Kent. [27][28] The easterly section of the Wealden dome has been eroded away by the sea, and cliffs such as the White Cliffs of Dover are present where a chalk ridge known as the North Downs meets the coast. After various buyouts, the station was rebranded into Heart Kent in 2009 as part of the Heart Network. Blackheath FC, a club within the historic boundaries of the county, play in third-tier National League 1. Radio Faversham (Faversham): online only. Fracking in the area is required to achieve these objectives; it has been opposed by environmental groups.[35]. [64] However further plans for a Thames Estuary Airport on the Kent coast have subsequently emerged, including the Thames Hub Airport, again sited on the Isle of Grain and designed by Lord Foster,[65][66] and the London Britannia Airport plan, colloquially known as "Boris Island" due to its being championed by the former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, which would see a six runway airport built on an artificial island to be towards the Shivering Sands area, north-east of Whitstable. Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. These are the old kilns used for drying hops, once grown throughout the county. Cabin FM broadcasting to Herne Bay on 94.6FM. England has entered into another national lockdown, the Prime Minister has announced. The Channel Tunnel was completed in 1994 and High Speed 1 in November 2007 with a London terminus at St Pancras. [22] In the 1960s, two motorways were built; the M2 from Medway to Faversham, and the M20 from Swanley to Folkestone. The meaning has been explained as 'coastal district,' 'corner-land' or 'land on the edge' (compare Welsh cant 'bordering of a circle, tire, edge,' Breton cant 'circle'). The leader of Kent County Council has called on the Government to keep schools closed in Thanet, Canterbury, Dover and Folkestone and Hythe.Cllr … It borders the Thames Estuary and the North Sea to the north, and the Straits of Dover and the English Channel to the south. Check out our stock online here now Here at Kent County Cars we are a small family run business with over 25 years in the motor trade. The County Resources at the Society of Genealogists page will lead you to lists of the many parish register copies they hold. At the 2011 census,[36] Kent, including Medway, had 1,727,665 residents (18.0% of which in Medway); had 711,847 households (17.5% of which in Medway) and had 743,436 dwellings (14.8% of which in Medway). The traditional border of East and West Kent was the county's main river, the Medway. Kent, administrative, geographic, and historic county of England, lying at the southeastern extremity of Great Britain. The 18th century was dominated by wars with France, during which the Medway became the primary base for a fleet that could act along the Dutch and French coasts. The continued resistance of the Kentish people against the Normans led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Although many were destroyed by aircraft, anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons, both London and Kent were hit by around 2,500 of these bombs. [51] With the motorways in the late twentieth century came the M2 motorway bridge spanning the Medway and the Dartford tunnel and the Dartford Bridge spanning the Thames. Kent is a maritime county of a population around 1,600,000 in southeast England. The coastline of Kent is continuously changing, due to tectonic uplift and coastal erosion. 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