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| Dartford | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Dartford Location withinKent | |
| Population | 51,240 [1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ538739 |
| • London | 18.8 mi (30.3 km) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DARTFORD |
| Postcode district | DA1, DA2 |
| Dialling code | 01322 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°26′40″N00°13′02″E / 51.44444°N 0.21722°E /51.44444; 0.21722 | |
Dartford is the principal town in theBorough of Dartford,Kent, England.[2] It is located 18 mi (29 km) south-east ofCentral London andis situated adjacent to theLondon Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across theThames Estuary, isThurrock inEssex, which can be reached via theDartford Crossing. To its east lies the Borough ofGravesham and to the south the district ofSevenoaks. It had a population of 51,240.
The town centre lies in a valley through which theRiver Darent flows[2] and where the old road from London toDover crossed: hence the name, which derives fromDarent +ford. Dartford became amarket town in medieval times and, although today it is principally acommuter town forGreater London, it has a long history of religious, industrial and cultural importance. It is an important rail hub; the main through-road now by-passes the town itself.
Dartford lies within the area known as theLondon Basin. The low-lying marsh to the north of the town consists ofLondon Clay and thealluvium brought down by the two rivers—theDarent and theCray—whose confluence is in this area. The higher land on which the town stands and through which the narrow Darent valley runs, consists ofchalk[2] surmounted by the Blackheath Beds of sand and gravel.
As ahuman settlement, Dartford became established as a river crossing-point with the coming of the Romans; and as a focal point between two routes: that from west to east being part of the main route connecting London with the Continent; and the southerly route following the Darent valley. As a result, the town's main road pattern makes the shape of letter 'T'. The Dartford Marshes to the north and the proximity ofCrayford in theLondon Borough of Bexley to the west, mean that the town's growth is to the south and east.Wilmington is contiguous with the town to the south; whilst the almost continuousThames Gateway development means that there is little to show the town boundary in an easterly direction.
Within the town boundaries there are several distinct areas: the town centre around the parish church and along the High Street; the Joyce Green area; Temple Hill estate constructed in 1947;the Brent; Fleet Downs; as well as two important areas of open space and several industrial estates. The open spaces are Central Park, alongside the river; andDartford Heath.
Like most of the United Kingdom, Dartford has anoceanic climate.
| Climate data for Dartford | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.7 (44.1) | 7.1 (44.8) | 9.9 (49.8) | 12.6 (54.7) | 16.3 (61.3) | 19.6 (67.3) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.4 (70.5) | 18.8 (65.8) | 15.0 (59.0) | 10.1 (50.2) | 7.7 (45.9) | 13.9 (57.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.4 (32.7) | 0.5 (32.9) | 1.5 (34.7) | 3.4 (38.1) | 6.3 (43.3) | 9.3 (48.7) | 11.3 (52.3) | 10.9 (51.6) | 8.8 (47.8) | 6.4 (43.5) | 2.8 (37.0) | 1.3 (34.3) | 5.2 (41.4) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 79 (3.1) | 51 (2.0) | 61 (2.4) | 53 (2.1) | 56 (2.2) | 56 (2.2) | 46 (1.8) | 56 (2.2) | 69 (2.7) | 74 (2.9) | 76 (3.0) | 79 (3.1) | 750 (29.7) |
| Source:[3] | |||||||||||||
In prehistoric times, the first people appeared in the Dartford area around 250,000 years ago: a tribe of prehistoric hunter-gatherers whose exemplar is calledSwanscombe Man. Many other archaeological investigations have revealed a good picture of occupation of the district with important finds from theStone Age, theBronze Age and theIron Age.
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When the Romans engineered theDover to London road (afterwards namedWatling Street), it was necessary to cross theRiver Darent by ford, giving the settlement its name.Roman villas were built along the Darent Valley, and at Noviomagus (Crayford), close by. TheSaxons may have established the first settlement where Dartford now stands. Dartfordmanor is mentioned in theDomesday Book, compiled in 1086, after theNorman conquest. It was then owned by the king.
During themedieval period Dartford was an important waypoint forpilgrims and travellersen route toCanterbury andthe Continent, and various religious orders established themselves in the area. In the 12th century theKnights Templar had possession of themanor of Dartford;[4] theNational Trust property atSutton-at-Hone, to the south of the town, is a remaining piece of that history. In the 14th century, apriory was established here, and two groups of friars—theDominicans and theFranciscans—built hospitals here for the care of the sick. At this time the town became a small but importantmarket town.
Wat Tyler, a key figure in thePeasants' Revolt, may have been from Dartford, though three other towns in Kent also claim him, and there are some doubts about the strength of Tyler's connection to Dartford.[5] It is, however, probable that Dartford was a key meeting point early in thePeasants' Revolt, with a detachment of Essex rebels marching south to join Kentish rebels at Dartford before accompanying them to Rochester and Canterbury in the first week of June 1381. Although lacking a leader, Kentishmen had assembled at Dartford around 5 June through a sense of county solidarity at the mistreatment of Robert Belling, a man claimed as aserf bySir Simon Burley. Burley had abused his royal court connections to invoke the arrest of Belling and, despite a compromise being proposed by bailiffs inGravesend, continued to demand the impossible £300 of silver for Belling's release. Having left for Rochester and Canterbury on 5 June, the rebels passed back through Dartford in greater numbers on 12 June on their way toLondon.[6]
In the 15th century, two kings of England became part of the town's history.Henry V marched through Dartford in November 1415 with his troops after fighting the French at theBattle of Agincourt; in 1422 Henry's body was taken toHoly Trinity Church byEdmund Lacey,Bishop of Exeter, who conducted a funeral. In March 1452,Richard, Duke of York, camped at theBrent allegedly with ten thousand men, waiting for a confrontation withKing Henry VI. The Duke surrendered to the king in Dartford. The place of the camp is marked today by York Road, Dartford.
The 16th century saw significant changes to the hitherto agrarian basis of the market in Dartford, as new industries began to take shape (see below). Thepriory was destroyed in 1538 during theDissolution of the Monasteries and a new manor house was subsequently constructed byKing Henry VIII. In 1545, Henry held a series of meetings of hisPrivy Council in the town, and from 21 to 25 June 1545 Dartford was the seat of the national government.[7] Henry's fourth wifeAnne of Cleves lived at the new priory for four years before her death in 1557.[8]
Many Protestants were executed during the reigns ofQueen Mary (1553–1554) andPhilip and Mary (1554–1558), includingChristopher Wade, a Dartford linen-weaver who was burnt at the stake on the Brent in 1555. The Martyrs' Memorial on East Hill commemorates Wade and other Kentish Martyrs. In 1576Dartford Grammar School was founded,[2] part of theTudor emphasis on education for ordinary people.
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The earliest industries were those connected with agriculture, such as thebrewing of traditionalbeers andales.Lime-burning and chalk-mining also had their place.Fulling was another: the cleansing of wool needed a great deal of water, which the river could provide. This led to other water-based industries, usinghydropower to operate machinery.
Upon his return in 1578 fromFrobisher Bay in the Canadian Arctic with a reputed cargo of gold-bearing ore, SirMartin Frobisher had the refining done on Powder Mill Lane in Dartford.[9] Assiduous efforts to extract gold were made over five years, but the ore proved to be a valueless rock containinghornblende and was eventually salvaged forroad metalling and wall construction.[10] SirJohn Spielman set up the firstpaper mill in England at Dartford in 1588 on a site near Powder Mill Lane, and soon some 600 employees worked there, providing an invaluable source of local employment.Iron-making on the Weald was in full operation at this time, and iron ingots were sent to Dartford, to England's first iron-slitting mill, set up by the Darent at Dartford Creek in 1595 byGodfrey Box, an immigrant from theLow Countries. In 1785,John Hall, a millwright set up a workshop in Lowfield Street and began to make engines, boilers and machinery (some of it for the localgunpowder factory run byMiles Peter Andrews and thePigou family), marking the foundation ofJ & E Hall, an engineering firm specialising in heavyengineering, and later refrigerating equipment, and, for 20 years from 1906, vehicle production, pluslifts andescalators.
From those humble beginnings in the 18th century was to come the industrial base on which the growth and prosperity of Dartford were founded. In 1840 the mustard factory of Saunders & Harrison was described as being "perhaps the largest in the kingdom".[11]Dartford Paper Mills were built in 1862, when excise duty on paper was abolished. Between 1844 and 1939 thefabric printing works ofAugustus Applegath were in being in Bullace Lane: again a firm using the waters of the river.RAF Joyce Green, at Long Reach, near Dartford was one of the firstRoyal Flying Corps airfields, It was established in 1911 byVickers Limited (the aircraft and weapons manufacturer, who used it as an airfield and testing ground. It was superseded by Biggin Hill, and closed in 1919. The demand created byWorld War I meant that output at the localVickers factory multiplied, with a positive effect on the local economy. Burroughs-Wellcome chemical works (later incorporated intoGlaxoSmithKline) made Dartford a centre for thepharmaceutical industry.[12] There had been a large power station atLittlebrook on the Thames, to the north of the town, from 1939 until its closure in 2015. The station, including one of the tallest chimneys in the UK, was completely demolished in 2019.
TheMazda motor manufacturer has its UK head office at the large Thames-side Crossways Business Park.Thomas Walter Jennings created theVox musical brand, with products such as theAC15 andAC30 amplifiers originating in Dartford. In early 2006, the since-closedSouth East England Development Agency (SEEDA) purchased the formerUnwins depot on the edge of the town. The warehouse was demolished and a business centre, The Base, built in its place,[13] funded by theHomes and Communities Agency.
By 2018, the former GlaxoSmithKline manufacturing site in Mill Pond Road had been redeveloped with residential apartments and is known as Langley Square.[14] Further regeneration is taking place at Market Street, to be known as Brewery Square.[15]
Some of Dartford's key industries, including brewing, paper-making, flour milling and the manufacture of cement,[2] suffered extreme decline in the 20th century, causing redundancies and unemployment.[16] Swanscombe Cement Works (now redeveloped intoBluewater shopping centre) was closed byBlue Circle in 1990.[16][17] This industry had been an economic boon to the area,[17] but left behind a lot of derelict land and pollution. In 1990 Dartford contained around 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) of spoiled land resulting from extractive industries, and cement-dust pollution from local cement works was a regular subject of complaint in the local press throughout the 20th century.[16]
The closure of Dartford's major employers (including Seagers' Engineering Works, J & E Hall International, andVickers), the reduction and subsequent closure of Burroughs Wellcome (nowGlaxoSmithKline), the redevelopment of nearbyBexleyheath as a shopping town in the 1970s, and the opening ofBluewater Shopping Centre in 1999, all had a negative effect on the economy of Dartford, but the town is still home to major brands such asSainsbury's,W.H. Smiths, andBoots. With the opening of the major Bluewater regional shopping centre just outside the town, the high street has seen a growth in cheaper brands such asPrimark andWilko taking over empty premises. Wilko announced in 2023 that it was going into receivership. In the 1990s, the local economy was boosted by the establishment of a number of business parks in the area, the biggest being Crossways Business Park at the foot of theQueen Elizabeth II Bridge.[16] The former offices ofHall-Thermotank have been converted for use asDartford Civic Centre.[18]
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In 2007 Dartford saw an increase in the number of chain stores located in the town asB&Q,M&S Simply Food,TK Maxx andAsda Living opened new outlet stores in the town centre. Before thisSafeway had taken part in the development of Dartford's second shopping centre, The Orchards, located next to theOrchard Theatre. The Safeway's site was eventually taken over byWaitrose but this closed in March 2014 and a new Aldi store opened in June 2015. The historical and once bustling main High Street and adjacent shopping centre, The Priory, continued to decline, and went into receivership in 2013,[19] and the large department store previously occupied by theCo-operative has now been demolished, having been bought by Dartford Borough Council. The oldest independent business still trading in Dartford, the butchers Richardson & Sons in Lowfield Street, established in 1908, closed down in 2014 to make way for the proposed Lowfield centre superstore development.[20] The problems with obtaining planning permission for this development and associated residential units were compounded by the recession. This created persistent delay in regeneration of the Lowfield Street site, and on 8 January 2015 it was finally announced that the Tesco plans were to be abandoned.[21]
TheOrchard Theatre is a professional theatre in the town centre, with a schedule including drama, dance, music and entertainment.The Mick Jagger Centre, within the grounds ofDartford Grammar School on Shepherds Lane, was completed in 2000 and provides facilities for community arts.[22]library and Museum are located on Market Street.
Central Park, in the town centre, is used for various community events.[23] It comprises 26 acres (110,000 m2) of land.[24]
Dartford F.C. play atPrinces Park Stadium and compete in theIsthmian League. There are also three other senior clubs based in Dartford, two of them in theKent County Football League: Fleetdown United, who play at Heath Lane Lower, and Kent United, who play at Glentworth Sports Club, the former home ofKent Football United (now defunct).Southern Counties East Football League side Halls AFC play at the Community Stadium at Princes Park.
Dartford Harriers Athletic Club was formed in 1922 and is currently based at Central Park. Originally founded as Dartford Rugby Football Club, the rugby players began taking part in cross-country runs in an effort to keep fit. Running soon became more popular with the players, and the club eventually dropped rugby around the end of the 1927–28 season, becoming Dartford Harriers AC. The club's running colours of blue and blue "hoops" are a legacy from the club's rugby origins, when the rugby players simply removed the sleeves from their old rugby shirts to create running vests.[25]
Dartfordians Rugby Football Club have five adult teams and a large youth section, and play their home matches at War Memorial Club House on Bourne Road.[26] Their first team currently plays in London 1 South, following promotion from London 2 South-East in the 2017–18 season.[27]
Dartford is also home to Dartford and White Oak Triathlon Club; formed in 1988, it is one of the oldest British Triathlon Federation clubs in the UK. The club trains at The Bridge Estate, Dartford.
Sports centres in Dartford include the Becket Sports Centre, within the grounds of Dartford Grammar School on Shepherds Lane, which is the home of several sports groups.[28]
Since the town is close to London, television signals are received from theCrystal Palace TV transmitter, placing Dartford in theBBC London andITV London areas.[29] Some areas of the town can also pick up a signal from theBluebell Hill TV transmitter that broadcastsBBC South East andITV Meridian.[30]
Local radio stations are:BBC Radio Kent (96.7 FM),Heart South (103.1 FM),Gold (603 AM) andKMFM West Kent, which broadcasts from its studios inStrood on 96.2 FM.[31]
The town is served by two local newspapers: the Dartford & Swanley News Shopper[32] and the Dartford Messenger.[33]
Between 1877 and 1903 the number of hospitals in Dartford rose to 11, together providing 10,000 hospital beds, at a time when the town's population was a little over 20,000.[34] The majority of these have been closed, especially since the opening ofDarent Valley Hospital. One of the best-known,Stone House Hospital, in Cotton Lane to the east of the town, was opened on 16 April 1866 as the "City of London Lunatic Asylum". It was, and still is, a largecastellated structure built in spacious grounds. It remained under the direct administration of theCity of London until 1948, when it was transferred to theNational Health Service (NHS). It remains one of the largest and most visible structures in Dartford, and was until recently operated by the NHS to manage regional health care delivery, and was also home to a nursing school,Livingstone Hospital, on East Hill. The main buildings of this facility are now closed, and have been turned into luxury flats.
The route of an ancientCeltictrackway which the Romans later paved and identified as Iter III on theAntonine Itinerary, later to be calledWatling Street, and which the currentA2 roughly follows, passed close to the town. After the Romans left Britain, it fell out of use, as the town developed and traffic went into the town itself; the name Watling Street transferring to the new route. The introduction ofstagecoach services increased the amount of traffic through the town, so that by the 18th century it had become necessary to control the upkeep of such a heavily used road.Turnpike Trusts were set up byAct of Parliament; Dartford was served by two: that for Watling Street and the road south toSevenoaks, both brought into being between 1750 and 1780.
From 1925, theA2 main road took traffic away from Dartford town centre via thePrinces Road bypass. Today, the original main road through the town is theA226 and the former turnpike road south to Sevenoaks is now theA225. A newer by-pass is theA206, which skirts the town to the north. Its prime purpose is to carry traffic from the riverside industrial developments on to theDartford Crossing from both west and east. Dartford is perhaps most well known for the latter, the main mode of crossing theRiver Thames to the east of London, where the southboundA282 (part of theLondon Orbital) crosses the river via theQueen Elizabeth II Bridge toll bridge, opened in 1991. The northbound carriageway crosses via the twin boreDartford Tunnel; the first tunnel was opened in 1963 and the second in 1980.[35]
Dartford railway station is located in the town centre and is connected to London by threeNational Rail routes. The first London to Dartford connection by rail was theNorth Kent Line viaWoolwich Arsenal in 1849, connecting atGravesend with the line to the Medway Towns. Later, two more lines were built: theDartford Loop Line throughSidcup, which opened in 1866, and theBexleyheath Line, which opened in 1895. All the lines were electrified by 6 June 1926.
The station is served by twotrain operating companies:
Dartford is served by many bus services provided byTransport for London,Arriva Kent Thameside and Go Coach Buses.
These routes connect Dartford with areas includingBluewater,Bexleyheath,Crayford,Erith,Gravesend,Greenhithe,Orpington,Sidcup,Swanley,Welling andWoolwich.[38]
The parish church,Holy Trinity, is situated on the western bank of the River Darent, from where a hermit would conduct travellers across the ford. The church was originally a 9th-century Saxon structure, but gained later Norman additions. Also on display within the church is a brass plaque commemorating the work ofRichard Trevithick, the pioneer of steam propulsion, who, at the end of his career, lived, worked (at J & E Hall) and died in the town.
Other places of worship in Dartford include: Brent Methodist Church, Brethren's Meeting Room, Dartford Methodist Church, Highfield Road Baptist Church, Net Church, St Alban's Church, St Andrew's United Reformed Church, Christ Church Dartford, Grace Outreach Church, and Zion Strict Baptist Chapel.
The graveyard is situated in St Edmund's Pleasance on the summit of East Hill (the place where Richard Trevithick is buried), which gave rise to a traditional and derogatory rhyme of Dartford's people: "Dirty Dartford, filthy people, bury their dead above the steeple." The church actually has no steeple; it has a tower featuring a ring of eight bells.[39]
Dartford istwinned with:
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The following are from or have lived in Dartford (or other connection if specified):
Towns and villages in theBorough of Dartford, Kent, England | ||
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