Swanscombe
Encyclopedia
Swanscombe is a small town, part of the Borough of Dartford
on the north Kent
coast in England
. It is part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe
.
or an early Archaic Homo sapiens. The c. 400,000 year-old skull fragments are kept at the Natural History Museum
in London
with a replica on display at the Dartford Museum. Lower levels of the Barnfield Pit yielded evidence of an even earlier, more primitive human, dubbed Clactonian Man.
Nearby digs on land for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link revealed a c. 400,000 year old site with human tools and the remains of a Straight-tusked Elephant
(Palaeoloxodon antiquus), and evidence of water vole
, pine vole
, newt
s, frog
s etc., indicating a site with standing water. (See below for discovery details).
, before construction of High Speed 1, an Anglo-Saxon
mill and a Roman
villa
were found near Swanscombe.
From Crayford
to the Isle of Thanet
, the Danes occupied the land and terrorised the Saxon
inhabitants, giving rise to the appearance of Denehole
s, of which many have survived to this day. These were well
s, cut deep into the chalk
landscape, thought to be for concealing people and goods. They have a simple vertical shaft with short tunnels bearing horizontally from the base.
The Vikings settled throughout the winter along the Thames estuary with their ships, and established camps in Kent and Essex
. In surveying the distribution of the many deneholes along the Thames corridor it would appear that Essex, on the northern shore of the Thames, sustained a greater influx of Vikings than did Kent, there being considerably more recorded deneholes in Essex, particularly around Orsett
and Grays - see Hangman's Wood.
Archaeological digs and centuries of tilling have revealed a Danish castle
and settlement, with pottery, anchors, weapons and some ships' timbers. The settlement was later variously called Suinescamp (in the Domesday Book
), Sweinscamp and Swanscamp, the name deriving from the Viking king Sweyn Forkbeard, who landed in East Anglia
, and became King of England in 1013. Father of Canute
, Sweyn died at Gainsborough on the Trent
in 1014. Canute (Cnut) died in 1035 his sons were unable to hold on to his empire, he was king of England, Scotland, Norway and Denmark.
Other research suggests that deneholes might have been dug as a method of extracting chalk for use on the fields above, or the mining may have been a by-product of defence. In any case, the practice reached a peak around the 13th – 14th centuries, long after the Viking raids had ceased.
. The men of Kent met William near Swanscombe, where the Saxons concealed their number with branches, thus intimidating the Norman army. They were offered a truce that left Kent as the only region in England which William did not conquer, and leaving William known as William the Bastard (never conqueror) in this area of England alone. Kent County Council have inherited the motto Invicta, meaning unconquered.
(commonly known as Norman Shaw) built a church at Swanscombe for the workers of the cement industry, and it survives as a rare example of his design.
The flint-built parish church of St Peter and Saint Paul
, partially Saxon, had a spire on its tower until 1902, when the church was struck by lightning causing extensive damage. The parish register dates from 1559. George Cecil Renouard
is buried in the Swanscombe churchyard
.
The official casualty lists revealed the death toll to be 27, with six others seriously injured and five people slightly hurt.
On 30 July 1940 another Luftwaffe
raid led to the death of over a dozen civilians, with 22 seriously injured. Its proximity to London and position under the German flight path to the city meant that Swanscombe fell victim to this kind of damage several times during the war
.
On 30 July 1944 a V1 rocket landed on Taunton Road. Half of one side of the road was wiped out. 13 were killed and 22 seriously injured.
The southeast of England has abundant resources of clay
and chalk
. The first mining activity known in the area was for flint
, a rock commonly found across the North
and South Downs
and in the Weald
. This was used for tools.
Swanscombe was important in the early history of cement
. The first cement manufacturing works near Swanscombe were opened at Northfleet
by James Parker
, around 1792, making "Roman cement
" from cement stone brought from the Isle of Sheppey
. James Frost
opened a works at Swanscombe in 1825, using chalk from Galley Hill, having patented a new cement called British Cement. The Swanscombe plant was subsequently acquired by John Bazley White & Co, which became the largest component of Blue Circle Industries
when it formed in 1900. It finally shut down in 1990. Between 1840 and 1930 it was the largest cement plant in Britain. By 1882 several cement manufacturers were operating across the north Kent region, but the resulting dust pollution
drove the people of Swanscombe to take legal action against the local cement works. Despite various technological innovations, the problem persisted into the 1950s, with telegraph lines over an inch thick in white dust. Modern cement kiln
s in Kent using chimneys 170 m (550 feet) in height are now said to be the cleanest in the world. However, the neighbouring Medway towns
are reported to be the most polluted inhabited area in the UK
, and the cement industry contributes to acid rain
in Scandinavia
.
, Greenhithe
and Stone.
By 1970 the North Kent cement industry had evolved to become the largest centre for the production of cement in Europe
, supporting a long tradition of research and development to perfect the processes used in the manufacture of chalk-based products. Since then the industry has declined considerably due to the potential for more economic manufacture elsewhere, and currently (2007) only two operational kilns remain, both at Nothfleet.
and the village of Stone
, is the site of the Bluewater shopping complex, one of the largest such centres in Europe. [2004] It has been announced that an adjacent quarry is to be given up for housing – more than 700 houses will be built there.
has been preserved in the sediment
near what was once the edge of a small lake. The skeleton was surrounded by flint tools. Only a few elephant skeletons have been found in Britain. The Swanscombe example was discovered by geologist
Dr Peter Allen and has since been identified by the Natural History Museum as the straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon antiquus
, which became extinct over 100,000 years ago.
As of the 2001 UK census, the Swanscombe electoral ward had a population of 6,418.
The ethnicity was 96.6% white, 1.1% mixed race, 1.2% Asian, 0.8% black and 0.3% other.
The place of birth of residents was 96.6% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% other Western European countries, and 2.4% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 72.7% Christian, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.3% Hindu, 0.3% Sikh and 0.2% Muslim. 17.3% were recorded as having no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 8.7% did not state their religion.
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 46% in full-time employment, 11.9% in part-time employment, 6.5% self-employed, 3.8% unemployed, 1.4% students with jobs, 2.5% students without jobs, 11.1% retired, 8.7% looking after home or family, 5% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. Of the wards's residents aged 16–74, 7.7% had a higher education
qualification or the equivalent, compared with 20% nationwide. The industry of employment of residents was 21.6% retail, 9.3% health and social work, 15.7% manufacturing, 10.5% construction, 10.4% real estate, 4.7% education, 8.6% transport and communications, 4.7% public administration, 3.7% hotels and restaurants, 4.4% finance, 0.7% agriculture and 5.7% other.
Swanscombe today:
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....
on the north 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...
coast in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe
Swanscombe and Greenhithe
Swanscombe and Greenhithe is a civil parish in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. The two villages which give the parish its name are both located on the south bank of the River Thames, approximately midway between Dartford town and Gravesend....
.
Prehistory
Bone fragments and tools, representing the earliest humans known to have lived in England, have been found from 1935 onwards at the Barnfield Pit about 2 km outside the village. This site is now the Swanscombe Heritage Park. Swanscombe Man (now thought to be female) was a late Homo erectusHomo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
or an early Archaic Homo sapiens. The c. 400,000 year-old skull fragments are kept at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in 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...
with a replica on display at the Dartford Museum. Lower levels of the Barnfield Pit yielded evidence of an even earlier, more primitive human, dubbed Clactonian Man.
Nearby digs on land for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link revealed a c. 400,000 year old site with human tools and the remains of a Straight-tusked Elephant
Straight-tusked Elephant
The Straight-tusked Elephant is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian Elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene . Some experts regard the smaller Asian species E...
(Palaeoloxodon antiquus), and evidence of water vole
Arvicola
The water voles are large voles in the genus Arvicola. They are found in both aquatic and dry habitat through Europe and much of northern Asia...
, pine vole
Microtus
The genus Microtus is a group of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. There are 62 species in the genus....
, newt
Newt
A newt is an aquatic amphibian of the family Salamandridae, although not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts. Newts are classified in the subfamily Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae, and are found in North America, Europe and Asia...
s, frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s etc., indicating a site with standing water. (See below for discovery details).
Viking era
During archaeological work undertaken at EbbsfleetEbbsfleet Valley
Ebbsfleet Valley is a new town and redevelopment area in Kent, South East England; and part of the Thames Gateway. It is located south west of Gravesend.It is named after the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which it straddles...
, before construction of High Speed 1, an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
mill and a Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
were found near Swanscombe.
From Crayford
Crayford
Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...
to the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
, the Danes occupied the land and terrorised the Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
inhabitants, giving rise to the appearance of Denehole
Denehole
A Denehole is an underground structure consisting of a number of small chalk caves entered by a vertical shaft. The name is given to certain caves or excavations in England, which have been popularly supposed to be due to the Danes or some other of the early northern invaders of the country...
s, of which many have survived to this day. These were well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s, cut deep into the chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
landscape, thought to be for concealing people and goods. They have a simple vertical shaft with short tunnels bearing horizontally from the base.
The Vikings settled throughout the winter along the Thames estuary with their ships, and established camps in Kent and Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. In surveying the distribution of the many deneholes along the Thames corridor it would appear that Essex, on the northern shore of the Thames, sustained a greater influx of Vikings than did Kent, there being considerably more recorded deneholes in Essex, particularly around Orsett
Orsett
Orsett is a village and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays...
and Grays - see Hangman's Wood.
Archaeological digs and centuries of tilling have revealed a Danish castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
and settlement, with pottery, anchors, weapons and some ships' timbers. The settlement was later variously called Suinescamp (in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
), Sweinscamp and Swanscamp, the name deriving from the Viking king Sweyn Forkbeard, who landed in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, and became King of England in 1013. Father of Canute
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
, Sweyn died at Gainsborough on the Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
in 1014. Canute (Cnut) died in 1035 his sons were unable to hold on to his empire, he was king of England, Scotland, Norway and Denmark.
Other research suggests that deneholes might have been dug as a method of extracting chalk for use on the fields above, or the mining may have been a by-product of defence. In any case, the practice reached a peak around the 13th – 14th centuries, long after the Viking raids had ceased.
Norman Conquest
In 1066 Swanscombe locals massed an army in defiance of William I, and so won the right to continue their ancient privileges, including the tradition of passing inheritance by gavelkindGavelkind
Gavelkind was a system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent, but found also in other parts of England. Its inheritance pattern bears resemblance to Salic patrimony and as such might testify in favour of a wider, probably ancient Germanic tradition.It was legally abolished in...
. The men of Kent met William near Swanscombe, where the Saxons concealed their number with branches, thus intimidating the Norman army. They were offered a truce that left Kent as the only region in England which William did not conquer, and leaving William known as William the Bastard (never conqueror) in this area of England alone. Kent County Council have inherited the motto Invicta, meaning unconquered.
Churches
Richard Norman ShawRichard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...
(commonly known as Norman Shaw) built a church at Swanscombe for the workers of the cement industry, and it survives as a rare example of his design.
The flint-built parish church of St Peter and Saint Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, partially Saxon, had a spire on its tower until 1902, when the church was struck by lightning causing extensive damage. The parish register dates from 1559. George Cecil Renouard
George Cecil Renouard
George Cecil Renouard was an English classical and oriental scholar.-Biography:Renouard, born at Stamford, Lincolnshire, on 7 September 1780, was the youngest son of Peter Renouard George Cecil Renouard (7 September 1780–15 February 1867) was an English classical and oriental...
is buried in the Swanscombe churchyard
Churchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
.
Second World War
Just after 8 o'clock on the evening of Sunday 10 November 1940 a German bomb crashed down directly into The Morning Star Inn, causing in a single explosion, Swanscombe's worst wartime disaster. All that was left after the explosion was, where the pub had stood, a "heap of bricks and twisted rafters"¹ surrounding the smoldering pit that had been the cellar, although the staircase leading to the clubroom upstairs extended up out of the wreckage. Distressed families of those known to be in the pub at the time gathered at the street corners awaiting news of the casualties as bodies were gradually recovered from the ruins.The official casualty lists revealed the death toll to be 27, with six others seriously injured and five people slightly hurt.
- "The landlord was amongst the dead, although his wife and son survived. The barmaid who was killed had given notice the week before the raid but had stayed on that evening because of the match. One of the other victims was a merchant seaman on seven days' leave who had spent two days travelling from Scotland to see his wife and children and was having a drink with his father in the pub at the time of the bombing: both were killed."
On 30 July 1940 another Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
raid led to the death of over a dozen civilians, with 22 seriously injured. Its proximity to London and position under the German flight path to the city meant that Swanscombe fell victim to this kind of damage several times during the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
On 30 July 1944 a V1 rocket landed on Taunton Road. Half of one side of the road was wiped out. 13 were killed and 22 seriously injured.
Cement industry
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
and chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
. The first mining activity known in the area was for flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
, a rock commonly found across the North
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
and South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
and in the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
. This was used for tools.
Swanscombe was important in the early history of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
. The first cement manufacturing works near Swanscombe were opened at Northfleet
Northfleet
Northfleet is a town in the Borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. Its name is derived from North creek , and the settlement on the shore of the River Thames adjacent to Gravesend was known as Norfluet in the Domesday Book, and Northflet in 1201...
by James Parker
James Parker (cement maker)
James Parker was a British clergyman and cement manufacturer who invented one of the pioneering new cements of the late eighteenth century.In 1791, he was granted a patent "Method of Burning bricks, Tiles, Chalk"...
, around 1792, making "Roman cement
Roman cement
For the architectural material actually used by the ancient Romans, see Roman concrete."Roman cement" is a substance developed by James Parker in the 1780s, and finally patented in 1796...
" from cement stone brought from the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
. James Frost
James Frost (cement maker)
James Frost was a British cement manufacturer who invented processes that led to the eventual development of Portland cement.- Biography :...
opened a works at Swanscombe in 1825, using chalk from Galley Hill, having patented a new cement called British Cement. The Swanscombe plant was subsequently acquired by John Bazley White & Co, which became the largest component of Blue Circle Industries
Blue Circle Industries
Blue Circle Industries was a British public company manufacturing cement. It was founded in 1900, and was bought out by the French company Lafarge in 2001.-History:...
when it formed in 1900. It finally shut down in 1990. Between 1840 and 1930 it was the largest cement plant in Britain. By 1882 several cement manufacturers were operating across the north Kent region, but the resulting dust pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
drove the people of Swanscombe to take legal action against the local cement works. Despite various technological innovations, the problem persisted into the 1950s, with telegraph lines over an inch thick in white dust. Modern cement kiln
Cement kiln
Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage of manufacture of Portland and other types of hydraulic cement, in which calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates...
s in Kent using chimneys 170 m (550 feet) in height are now said to be the cleanest in the world. However, the neighbouring Medway towns
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
are reported to be the most polluted inhabited area in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the cement industry contributes to acid rain
Acid rain
Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
.
Blue Circle
The Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM), later known as Blue Circle Industries, came to the area in 1900 and by 1920 owned four local factories located at Swanscombe, NorthfleetNorthfleet
Northfleet is a town in the Borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. Its name is derived from North creek , and the settlement on the shore of the River Thames adjacent to Gravesend was known as Norfluet in the Domesday Book, and Northflet in 1201...
, Greenhithe
Greenhithe
Greenhithe is a town in Dartford District of Kent, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.Greenhithe, as it is spelled today, is located where it was possible to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and...
and Stone.
By 1970 the North Kent cement industry had evolved to become the largest centre for the production of cement in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, supporting a long tradition of research and development to perfect the processes used in the manufacture of chalk-based products. Since then the industry has declined considerably due to the potential for more economic manufacture elsewhere, and currently (2007) only two operational kilns remain, both at Nothfleet.
Bluewater shopping complex
One of the large quarries created as a legacy of the cement industry, between Watling StreetWatling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
and the village of Stone
Stone, Kent
Stone, also known as Stone-next-Dartford, is one of a string of villages lying along the Dartford to Gravesend road on the south bank of the River Thames in Kent, England.-History:...
, is the site of the Bluewater shopping complex, one of the largest such centres in Europe. [2004] It has been announced that an adjacent quarry is to be given up for housing – more than 700 houses will be built there.
Palaeoloxodon antiquus
The skeleton of an ancient species of elephantElephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
has been preserved in the sediment
Sediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
near what was once the edge of a small lake. The skeleton was surrounded by flint tools. Only a few elephant skeletons have been found in Britain. The Swanscombe example was discovered by geologist
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
Dr Peter Allen and has since been identified by the Natural History Museum as the straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon antiquus
Straight-tusked Elephant
The Straight-tusked Elephant is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian Elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene . Some experts regard the smaller Asian species E...
, which became extinct over 100,000 years ago.
Cricket club
There is one cricket club with its home in Swanscombe, Swanscombe and Greenhithe 1880 CC. Its home ground is at Broomfield Park. The club dates back to 1880.Demography
| Swanscombe compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK Census | Swanscombe | Dartford District | England |
| Total population | 6,418 | 85,911 | 49,138,831 |
| Foreign born | 3.4% | 5.8% | 9.2% |
| White | 96.6% | 94.5% | 90.9% |
| Asian | 1.2% | 3.2% | 4.6% |
| Black | 0.8% | 0.9% | 2.3% |
| Christian | 72.7% | 73.3% | 72% |
| Muslim | 0.2% | 0.7% | 3.1% |
| Hindu | 0.3% | 0.8% | 1.1% |
| No religion | 17.3% | 15.1% | 15% |
| Unemployed | 3.8% | 2.5% | 3.3% |
As of the 2001 UK census, the Swanscombe electoral ward had a population of 6,418.
The ethnicity was 96.6% white, 1.1% mixed race, 1.2% Asian, 0.8% black and 0.3% other.
The place of birth of residents was 96.6% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% other Western European countries, and 2.4% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 72.7% Christian, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.3% Hindu, 0.3% Sikh and 0.2% Muslim. 17.3% were recorded as having no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 8.7% did not state their religion.
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 46% in full-time employment, 11.9% in part-time employment, 6.5% self-employed, 3.8% unemployed, 1.4% students with jobs, 2.5% students without jobs, 11.1% retired, 8.7% looking after home or family, 5% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. Of the wards's residents aged 16–74, 7.7% had a higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
qualification or the equivalent, compared with 20% nationwide. The industry of employment of residents was 21.6% retail, 9.3% health and social work, 15.7% manufacturing, 10.5% construction, 10.4% real estate, 4.7% education, 8.6% transport and communications, 4.7% public administration, 3.7% hotels and restaurants, 4.4% finance, 0.7% agriculture and 5.7% other.
External links
- Gravesend, Northfleet and Swanscombe Cage Bird Society (Local bird club)
- Swanscombe archaeology
- Swansconme Skull Site National Nature Reserve
Swanscombe today: