Kearsney is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, although at one time it would have been called hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 due to there being no church in the village.

Geography

Nowadays the village falls within the Dover urban area and sits northwest and a little over 2 miles from Dover town centre. Much like the adjoining villages of River and Temple Ewell it is effectively a suburb of the town. If an area can be defined as Kearsney it is the rectangle of Kearsney Avenue forming two sides and the London Road and Sandwich Roads forming the other two. Kearsney is situated between the parishes of River

River, Kent

River is a village and civil parish in Kent, England, United Kingdom, situated between the historic town of Dover and the neighbouring village of Temple Ewell. "Village" is a somewhat loose term for River; it is a community of several thousand and is probably more usefully regarded as a suburb of...

 and Ewell

Temple Ewell

Temple Ewell is a civil parish and historic village in the county of Kent, England. The village is part of the Dover district of Kent, and forms part of the Dover urban area, it is situated three miles North West of the town of Dover....

. Being an administrative part of Dover

Dover

Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

 borough it was part of the parish of River.

History

The name is taken from an old Saxon

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 name for a place where watercress

Watercress

Watercresses are fast-growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plants native from Europe to central Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings...

 grows. Kearsney Abbey was not actually an abbey, but a country house with large pleasant grounds. It is situated on the River Dour

River Dour, Kent

The River Dour is a river in the county of Kent, in England. It flows from the villages of Temple Ewell and River, through the village of Kearsney, to Dover. It is roughly 4km long....

, more a large stream than river, but big enough to sustain flour mills and paper mill

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

s along its path.
Kearsney railway station

Kearsney railway station

Kearsney railway station serves Kearsney in Kent. It is served by Southeastern.The station and the line it serves were built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway as the station for Temple Ewell and the parish of River. The community of Kearsney grew around the Railway Bell Hotel which was on...

 takes its name from the area. Kearsney station was actually the station for Temple Ewell

Temple Ewell

Temple Ewell is a civil parish and historic village in the county of Kent, England. The village is part of the Dover district of Kent, and forms part of the Dover urban area, it is situated three miles North West of the town of Dover....

 and the parish of River. The community of Kearsney grew around the Railway Bell Hotel which was on the main Dover to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 road. There is also a Catholic

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

 convent

Convent

A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 near to the railway station.

The famous boys' school Kearsney College

Kearsney College

Kearsney College is a private boarding school for boys in Botha's Hill, a small town that lies between the provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the largest city of KwaZulu-Natal, a province in South Africa.- History :...

 in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

takes its name from Kearsney.

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