County of Kent

“ Such a considerable slice of West Kent is now involved in the residential districts tributary to London, and the busy shore of the Thames, the county as a whole is apt to take the colouring of these prominent and populous districts in the imagination both of those familiar with them and of others who do not know Kent at all. The whole course of the Stour from its source to its mouth is as continuously and genuinely rural, with as little flavour but that of the soil and its accessories, as any river in Somerset or Shropshire. ”

“ After the Conquest the great ecclesiastical landholders claimed exemption from the jurisdiction of the shire, and in 1279 the abbot of Battle claimed to have his own coroner in the hundred of Wye. In the 13th century twelve liberties in Kent claimed to have separate bailiffs. The assizes for the county were held in the reign of Henry III. at Canterbury and Rochester, and also at the Lowey of Tonbridge under a mandate from the Crown as a distinct liberty; afterwards at different intervals at East Greenwich, Dartford, Maidstone, Milton-next-Gravesend and Sevenoaks ”

“ In the busier county of Kent the population has in the same time increased from 268,097 to 1,348,841. In common with all except five of the counties of England, there are in Devonshire more women than men; the excess of the female over the male population being 37,096.
The chief occupation is agriculture, which provides employment for 42,000 people, or about one-nineteenth of the inhabitants—a considerably lower proportion than in the adjoining county of Somerset. Less than 3000 men are engaged in mines and quarries; 2000 are fishermen, and lace-making occupies 350 men and 1500 women. ”

“ Kent is again pre-eminent in the growth of hops; indeed this practice and that of fruit-growing give the scenery of the county a strongly individual character. Hop-growing extends from Kent into the neighbouring parts of Sussex and Surrey, where, however, it is much less important; it is also practised to a considerable degree in a group of counties of the midlands and west—Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire. Market-gardening is carried on most extensively on suitable lands in the neighbourhood of the great areas of urban population ”

“ If he does otherwise, he shall be imprisoned and pay damages and fine.
Some statutes applied only to Kent County, which had a unique position between London and the continent. Money flowed between England and the continent through Kent. So Kent never developed a manorial system of land holding, but evolved from a system of clans and independent villages directly into a commercial system.
In Kent, all men are free and may give or sell their lands without permission of their lords, as before the Conquest. ”

“ The county is roughly triangular in form, London lying at the apex of the western angle, the North Foreland at that of the eastern and Dungeness at that of the southern. The county is divided centrally, from west to east, by the well-marked range of hills known as the North Downs, entering Kent from Surrey. In the west above Westerham these hills exceed 800 ft.; to the east the height is much less, but even in Kent (for in Surrey they are higher) the North Downs form a more striking physical feature than their height would indicate. ”

“ Kent is mainly in the diocese of Canterbury, but has parts in those of Rochester, Southwark and Chichester. It contains 476 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The county (extra-metropolitan) is divided into 8 parliamentary divisions, namely, North-western or Dartford, Western or Sevenoaks, South-western or Tunbridge, Mid or Medway, North-eastern or Faversham, Southern or Ashford, Eastern or St Augustine’s and the Isle of Thanet, each returning one member; while the boroughs of Canterbury, Chatham, Dover, Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone and Rochester each return one member. ”

“ Kent’s the first county in England for them. They start early to good houses for victuals, when gentlefolk are not up. I’ve seen them doze and sleep against the door. They like to be there before any one cuts their cart (exposes their tricks) . Travellers are all early risers. It’s good morning in the country when it’s good night in town.
KENT.
ESSEX. ”

“ County after county rose in insurrection. But the heart of the rebellion lay in Kent, and from that county marched a hundred thousand men, with Wat Tyler at their head, London their goal.
To Blackheath they came, the multitude swelling as it marched. Every lawyer they met was killed. The houses of the stewards were burned, and the records of the manor courts flung into the flames. A wild desire for liberty and equality animated the mob, yet they did no further harm. All travellers were stopped and made to swear that they would be true to King Richard and the people. ”

“ Kent (1,142) , English maritime county in the extreme SE.; lies between the Thames estuary and the Strait of Dover, with Surrey and Sussex on the W.; it is hilly, with marshes in the SE. and on the Thames shore; is watered by the Medway, Stour, and Darent; has beautiful scenery, rich pasturage, and fine agricultural land, largely under hops and market-gardens; a large part of London is in Kent; Maidstone (32) is the county town; Rochester (26) and Canterbury (23) are cathedral cities; Woolwich (99) , Gravesend (35) , and Dover (33) are seaports, and Margate and Ramsgate watering-places. ”

“ One of five, formerly six, districts containing three or more hundreds, into which the county of Kent was divided. Though the division survives, it no longer serves any administrative purpose. It was formerly a judicial division, the court of the lathe being superior to that of the hundred. In this it differs from the rape (q.v.) of Sussex, which was a geographical rather than an administrative division. In O. Eng. ”

“ A long range of hills, varying greatly in height and steepness, runs nearly down the centre of the county of Kent, throwing out spurs or buttresses in different directions, and sometimes leaving broad and beautiful valleys between. ”

“ Sevenoaks In the administrative county of Kent— the urban district of Sevenoaks; the rural district of Sevenoaks; the rural district of Dartford, except the parishes in district 1. 10
Tonbridge and Malling In the administrative county of Kent— the urban district of Tonbridge; the rural district of Malling; in the rural district of Tonbridge, the parishes of Hadlow and Hildenborough. ”

“ In the earliest days of which we have knowledge all Kent was practically either forest or marsh, with a little cornland in Thanet and sheep pastures in Sheppey, and it was plainly on the edges of the forests (Blean and Anderida running right across the county from Whitstable to Cranbrook) that the early settlers from Jutland made their homes. Like pioneer backwoodsmen in Canada and elsewhere, they had first to clear of trees, and then to fence, the spot each family had chosen. ”

“ Cattle are grazed in considerable numbers on the marsh lands, and dairy farms are numerous in the neighbourhood of London. For the rearing of sheep Kent is one of the chief counties in England. A breed peculiar to the district, known as Kents, is grazed on Romney Marsh, but Southdowns are the principal breed raised on the uplands. Bee-keeping is extensively practised. Dairy schools are maintained by the technical education committee of the county council. The South-eastern Agricultural College at Wye is under the control of the county councils of Kent and Surrey. ”

“ In no fewer than twenty English counties, the population, estimated as before, was absolutely less in 1670 than in 1630; and in Kent, the county in which Chart is situate, the decrease is striking: population of Kent in 1630, 189,212; in 1670, 167,398; in 1700, 157,833; in 1750, 181,267; and in 1801, the enumerated population was 307,624.
Your correspondent might also find it useful to consult Sir William Petty's Political Arithmetic, the various documents compiled at the different censuses, and the Reports of the Registrar-General. ”

“ Fruit-growing in Kent.—Kent is by far the largest fruit-growing county in England. For centuries that county has been famous for its fruit, and appears to have been the centre for the distribution of trees and grafts throughout the country. The cultivation of fruit land upon farms in many parts of Kent has always been an important feature in its agriculture. ”

“ In 1657 he published as an epitome of a larger work ‘A Brief Survey of the County of Kent, viz. the names of the parishes in the same; in what bailiwick ... and division ... every of the said Parishes is ...; the day on which any Market or Faire is kept therein; the ancient names of the Parish Churches, &c.’ (oblong quarto) ; it is exceedingly rare. Two years later Kilburne issued his promised ‘larger survey’ entitled ‘A Topographie, or Survey of the County of Kent, with ... ”

“ But if to nature it is indebted for its hills and dells, its steep ascents and graceful undulations, art has done much to augment its attractions. It may have been a “desert” when Earl Charles strove, and successfully, to convert it into a paradise; but the rough material was ready to his hand, and to taste, with judicious expenditure, the task was not difficult to make it what it became, and now is—one of the most exquisitely beautiful demesnes in the British dominions.
[37]
COBHAM HALL.
THE county of Kent is one of the pleasantest of the English shires ”

“ Kent is remarkable as the only English county which comprises two entire bishoprics, Canterbury, the see for East Kent, having been founded in 597, and Rochester, the see for West Kent, in 600. In 1291 the archdeaconry of Canterbury was co-extensive with that diocese and included the deaneries of Westbere, Bridge, Sandwich, Dover, Elham, Lympne, Charing, Sutton, Sittingbourne, Ospringe and Canterbury; the archdeaconry of Rochester, also co-extensive with its diocese, included the deaneries of Rochester, Dartford, Malling and Shoreham. ”

“ The identification of those places under their modern appellations is a different affair; for though many names now in use greatly resemble those by which such places were designated in early times, in others considerable changes have, more or less, taken place: and my own experience convinces me, that even an approach to accuracy is quite hopeless without either a very intimate knowledge of not simply the principal places in each county or district, but likewise of the remote hamlets and single farms, or even fields ”

“ It was the custom for the county to provide each superintending constable with a horse and cart, but, even with this convenience, the districts were frequently too large for any one man to supervise; in Kent, for example, a certain division contained as many as fifty-six different parishes, whilst in Northumberland the normal area of a single police district was about three hundred square miles. ”

“ From the evidence relating to Archenfeld there can be little doubt of an early settlement of Kentish colonists or Goths in that district, as there was, perhaps, in other parts of the same county, and a later settlement of Northmen. The only record of any political connection between Kent and Herefordshire occurs in the seventh century, when Merewald, viceroy of the Hecanas, or tribal people of that county, and brother of Wulfhere, King of Mercia, married Eormenbeorh, a princess of Kent. ”

“ Thus Newenden, now an insignificant village, is named in Domesday Book as the site of a market, while Tenterden, a town at the distance of only five miles, is altogether omitted. From the large number of desecrated churches appearing in the subjoined List and Notes, it will also be perceived, that the stationary inhabitants of the county must be otherwise located now, from what they were in earlier times. For instance, judging from the ruined churches, Romney Marsh must have been more populous formerly, than it is at this day ”

“ I am not aware that any professed treatise has been written or published upon our provincial distinction of 'Men of Kent' and 'Kentish Men.' That some such traditionary distinction, however, (whatever it may be) has existed from time immemorial in our county, cannot be disputed, and I think it has an undoubted and unquestionable historic origin, which I will endeavour briefly to illustrate. ”

“ Under the 1897 apportionment scheme, as perpetuated over 65 years later, Senate districts ranged in population from 4,177 to 64,820, resulting in a maximum population-variance ratio, between the most populous and least populous Senate districts, of about 15-to-1. Senatorial districts in Kent and Sussex Counties were consistently much smaller than those in New Castle County with the exception of one New Castle County district which, with a population of only 4,177, was the smallest senatorial district in the State. ”

“ The Scilly Islands, which form part of the ancient county of Cornwall, without being ranked as an administrative county, are provided with a county council and have separate administration. (2) The administrative county of London has an area taken entirely from the counties of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey. (3) All boroughs which on June 1, 1888, had a population of not less than 50,000, boroughs which were already counties having a population of not less than 20,000, and a few others, were formed into separate administrative areas, with the name of county boroughs. ”