Kent

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the county in England. For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation).

Kent
Ceremonial county
Kent within England
Coordinates: 51°12′N 0°42′E / 51.200°N 0.700°E / 51.200; 0.700
5th of 48
Density494/km2 (1,280/sq mi)
Ethnicity93.7% White
(89.1% White British) [2]
Non-metropolitan county
County councilKent County Council
ExecutiveConservative
Admin HQMaidstone
Area3,544 km2 (1,368 sq mi)
 • Ranked8th of 26
Population1,581,555
 • Ranked1st of 26
Density446/km2 (1,160/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2GB-KEN
ONS code29
GSS codeE10000016
ITLUKJ42
Websitewww.kent.gov.uk
Districts
Kent numbered districts.svg
Districts of Kent
  Unitary   County council area
Districts
  1. Sevenoaks
  2. Dartford
  3. Gravesham
  4. Tonbridge and Malling
  5. Medway
  6. Maidstone
  7. Tunbridge Wells
  8. Swale
  9. Ashford
  10. City of Canterbury
  11. Folkestone and Hythe
  12. Thanet
  13. Dover

Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the northwest, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the southwest, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties.

Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes, following the withdrawal of the Romans.[3] Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine. Rochester Cathedral in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainland Europe, Kent has been the setting for both conflict and diplomacy, including the Battle of Britain in World War II and the Leeds Castle peace talks of 1978 and 2004.

England relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of its history; the Cinque Ports in the 10th[4]–14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county and in the Vale of Holmesdale in between and to the south are most of the county's 26 castles.

Kent's

The High Weald
.

Etymology

An early mention of Kent in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
between 11th and 12th centuries

The name Kent is believed to be of British Celtic origin. 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;' Dutch kant 'side, edge'). In Latin sources the area is called Cantia or Cantium, while the Anglo-Saxons referred to it as Cent, Cent lond or Centrice.[6][7]

History

Main article: History of Kent

The area has been occupied since the

Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley.[8]

Julius Caesar described the area as Cantium, or the home of the Cantiaci, in 51 BC.[9] The extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by a celtic Iron Age tribe known as the Regni. Caesar wrote that the people of Kent were 'by far the most civilised inhabitants of Britain'.[7]

The traditional Kent flag

Following the withdrawal of the Romans, large numbers of Germanic speakers from the continent settled in Kent, bringing their language, which came to be Old English. While they expelled the native Romano-British population, some likely remained in the area, eventually assimilating with the newcomers.[10] Of the invading tribes, the Jutes were the most prominent, and the area became a Jutish kingdom[11] recorded as Cantia in about 730 and Cent in 835. The early medieval inhabitants of the county were referred to as the Cantwara, or Kentish people. The city of Canterbury was the largest in Kent.[12]

In 597,

Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained England's centre of Christianity.[13] The second designated English cathedral was for West Kent at Rochester Cathedral.[14]

Kent was traditionally partitioned into East and West Kent, and into lathes and hundreds. The traditional border of East and West Kent was the county's main river, the Medway. Men and women from east of the Medway are Men (or Maids) of Kent, those from the west are Kentishmen or Kentish Maids.[7] The divide has been explained by some as originating in the Anglo-Saxon migrations, with Jutes mainly settling east of the Medway and Saxons settling west of it.[15][16]

In the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto

William of Normandy as he was unable to subdue the county and they negotiated favourable terms. The continued resistance of the Kentish people against the Normans led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. 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.[17]

During the medieval and early modern period, Kent played a major role in several of England's most notable rebellions, including the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led by Wat Tyler,[18]

Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I.[19]

Title page of William Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent (completed in 1570 and published in 1576), a historical description of Kent and the first published county history

The

drydock, and houses for officials had been built downstream from Chatham.[20]

By the 17th century, tensions between Britain and the powers of the Netherlands and France led to increasing military build-up in the county. 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.[21]

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. When the theatre of operation moved to the

Atlantic, this role was assumed by Portsmouth and Plymouth, with Chatham concentrating on shipbuilding and ship repair. As an indication of the area's military importance, the first Ordnance Survey map ever drawn was a one-inch map of Kent, published in 1801.[22] Many of the Georgian
naval buildings still stand.

In the early 19th century, smugglers were very active on the Kent coastline. Gangs such as The Aldington Gang brought spirits, tobacco and salt to the county, and transported goods such as wool across the sea to France.[23]

In 1889, the

Dartford
.

Originally, the border between Kent and Sussex (later East Sussex) ran through the towns of Tunbridge Wells and Lamberhurst. In 1894, by the Local Government Act, the parts of these towns that lay in East Sussex were absorbed by Kent.

During the Second World War, much of the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over Kent.

Between June 1944 and March 1945, more than 10,000

V1 flying bombs, or "Doodlebugs", were fired towards London from bases in Northern France. 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.

After the war, Kent's borders changed several more times. In 1965, the London boroughs of

Unitary Authority of Medway. Plans for another unitary authority in north-west Kent
were dropped, but in 2016 consultations began between five Kent local authorities (Canterbury, Thanet, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, and Ashford) with a view to forming a new unitary authority for East Kent, outside the auspices of Kent County Council.

For almost nine centuries, a small part of present-day East London (the

London E16
area), formed part of Kent.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Kent
The White Cliffs of Dover
View of the White Cliffs of Dover from France
A map of Romney Marsh "The history of imbanking and drayning" by William Dugdale
(1662).

Kent is in the southeastern corner of England. It borders the

Straits of Dover and the English Channel to the south. France is 34 kilometres (21 mi) across the Strait.[26]

The major geographical features of the county are based on a series of ridges and valleys running east–west across the county. These are the results of

Lower Greensand, Weald Clay
, and Wealden sandstone. The ridges and valleys formed when the exposed clay eroded faster than the exposed chalk, greensand, or sandstone.

Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[29]

The Wealden dome is a

Coal Measures within the Westphalian Sandstone are about 250–400 m (820–1,310 ft) deep, and are subject to flooding. They occur in two major troughs, which extend under the English Channel.[30]

Seismic activity has occasionally been recorded in Kent, though the

Richter Scale. In 1776, 1950, and on 28 April 2007 there were earthquakes of around 4.3. The 2007 earthquake caused physical damage in Folkestone.[31] A further quake on 22 May 2015 measured 4.2 on the Richter Scale.[32]
It was centred in the Sandwich area of east Kent at about ten miles below the surface. There was little if any damage reported.

Geological cross-section of Kent, showing how it relates to major towns

The coastline of Kent is continuously changing, due to

Dungeness have been formed by accumulation of alluvium.[28]

Kent's principal river, the River Medway, rises near East Grinstead in Sussex and flows eastwards to Maidstone. Here it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at Rochester, then joins the estuary of the River Thames near Sheerness. The Medway is some 112 kilometres (70 mi) long.[33][34] The river is tidal as far as Allington lock, but in earlier times, cargo-carrying vessels reached as far upstream as Tonbridge.[33] The Medway has captured the head waters of other rivers such as the River Darent. Other rivers of Kent include the River Stour in the east.

A 2014 study found that Kent shares significant reserves of shale oil with other neighbouring counties, totalling 4.4 billion

Fracking in the area is required to achieve these objectives; it has been opposed by environmental groups.[35]

See also: List of hills of Kent

Climate

Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. On 10 August 2003, in the hamlet of Brogdale near Faversham the temperature reached 38.5 °C (101.3 °F), at that time the highest temperature ever officially recorded in the United Kingdom.[36]

Climate data for Wye, England (1981–2010) data
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 7.4
(45.3) 		7.4
(45.3) 		10.3
(50.5) 		12.9
(55.2) 		16.3
(61.3) 		19.3
(66.7) 		21.8
(71.2) 		21.9
(71.4) 		18.8
(65.8) 		14.8
(58.6) 		10.7
(51.3) 		7.8
(46.0) 		14.1
(57.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.5
(40.1) 		4.4
(39.9) 		6.7
(44.1) 		8.7
(47.7) 		12.0
(53.6) 		14.7
(58.5) 		17.2
(63.0) 		17.2
(63.0) 		14.6
(58.3) 		11.2
(52.2) 		7.5
(45.5) 		5.0
(41.0) 		10.3
(50.5)
Average low °C (°F) 1.7
(35.1) 		1.5
(34.7) 		3.1
(37.6) 		4.6
(40.3) 		7.7
(45.9) 		10.2
(50.4) 		12.6
(54.7) 		12.5
(54.5) 		10.5
(50.9) 		7.7
(45.9) 		4.3
(39.7) 		2.3
(36.1) 		6.6
(43.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 71.4
(2.81) 		50.3
(1.98) 		48.9
(1.93) 		49.1
(1.93) 		50.7
(2.00) 		48.8
(1.92) 		48.2
(1.90) 		61.8
(2.43) 		55.1
(2.17) 		93.0
(3.66) 		83.5
(3.29) 		80.3
(3.16) 		741.1
(29.18)
Average rainy days 12.7 9.6 9.5 9.0 9.2 7.9 7.7 7.4 8.1 12.1 12.0 12.2 117.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours 59.6 79.6 115.3 174.1 205.2 200.1 213.7 210.3 152.2 118.2 71.9 49.8 1,649.9
Source: [37]

Governance

parish councils. Kent County Council's headquarters are in Maidstone,[39] while Medway's offices are at Gun Wharf, Chatham
.

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. 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. At the 2007 local elections[out of date], control of Medway Council was held by the Conservatives; 33 of the council's 55 seats were held by the Conservatives, 13 by the Labour Party, 8 by the Liberal Democrats and 1 by an Independent.[40] All but one of Kent's district councils are controlled by the Conservatives: a minority Labour administration took control of Thanet District in December 2011 after a Conservative councillor defected to the Independent group. In the council elections of May 2015 the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took control of the Council[which?], the first and so far only one in the UK. In October 2015 UKIP lost overall control following a series of resignations, although remaining the largest party, only for UKIP to regain control once more following ward elections in August 2016.

At the national level, Kent is represented in

17 MPs, all of whom are Conservative except Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury
since 2017.

Demography

See also: List of settlements in Kent by population

At the

2011 census,[41]
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). 51.1% of Kent's population excluding Medway was female — as to Medway, this proportion was 50.4%.

The tables below provide statistics for the administrative county of Kent, that is, excluding Medway.

Main household types[41]
Married couples with/without children Sole occupants Unmarried couples with/without children Lone parents Shared homes and institutions
210,671 174,331 of which 79,310 over aged 65 63,750 60,645 77,877
Claimants of JSA or Income Support (DWP)[41]
Unit Claimants Population
(April 2011)
August 2012 August 2001
Kent 55,100 89,470 1,463,740
% of 2011 Kent resident population
(2001 population where applicable)		 3.8% 6.7% -
Three highest-ranking districts
Thanet 6.5% 11.3% 134,186
Folkestone and Hythe 4.9% 8.9% 107,969
Swale 4.8% 7.5% 135,835
Three lowest-ranking districts
Tonbridge and Malling 2.5% 4.4% 120,805
Sevenoaks 2.3% 4.3% 114,893
Tunbridge Wells 2.2% 5.1% 115,049

Economy

Converted oast houses at Frittenden

At the

2001 UK census[out of date],[41] employment statistics for the residents in Kent, including Medway, were as follows: 41.1% in full-time employment, 12.4% in part-time employment, 9.1% self-employed, 2.9% unemployed, 2.3% students with jobs, 3.7% students without jobs, 12.3% retired, 7.3% looking after home or family, 4.3% permanently sick or disabled, and 2.7% economically inactive for other reasons. Of residents aged 16–74, 16% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared to 20% nationwide.[41]

The average hours worked per week by residents of Kent were 43.1 for males and 30.9 for females. Their industry of employment was 17.3% retail, 12.4% manufacturing, 11.8% real estate, 10.3% health and social work, 8.9% construction, 8.2% transport and communications, 7.9% education, 6.0% public administration and defence, 5.6% finance, 4.8% other community and personal service activities, 4.1% hotels and restaurants, 1.6% agriculture, 0.8% energy and water supply, 0.2% mining, and 0.1% private households. This is higher than the whole of England for construction and transport/communications and lower for manufacturing.

Kent is sometimes known as the "Garden of England" for its abundance of orchards and hop gardens. In particular the county produces tree-grown fruits,[42] strawberries and hazelnuts.[43] Distinctive hop-drying buildings called oasts are common in the countryside, although many have been converted into dwellings. Nearer to London, market gardens also flourish. Kent is the main area for hazelnut production in the UK.

However, in recent years, there has been a significant drop in agriculture, and industry and services are increasing their utilisation of the area. This is illustrated by the following table of economic indicator gross value added (GVA) between 1995 and 2003[out of date] (figures are in £ millions):[44]

Year Regional GVA[A] Agriculture Industry[B] Services[C]
County of Kent (excluding Medway)
1995 12,369 379 3.1% 3,886 31.4% 8,104 65.5%
2000 15,259 259 1.7% 4,601 30.2% 10,399 68.1%
2003 18,126 287 1.6% 5,057 27.9% 12,783 70.5%
Medway
1995 1,823 21 3.1% 560 31.4% 1,243 68.2%
2000 2,348 8 1.7% 745 30.2% 1,595 67.9%
2003 2,671 10 1.6% 802 27.9% 1,859 69.6%
A Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
B includes energy and construction
C includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

North Kent is heavily industrialised, with cement-making at

Dungeness, although the older one, Dungeness A, built in 1965, was decommissioned in 2006.[45]

Cement-making, papermaking, and coal-mining were important industries in Kent during the 19th and 20th centuries. Cement came to the fore in the 19th century when massive building projects were undertaken. The ready supply of chalk and huge pits between

Gravesend bear testament to that industry. There were also other workings around Burham on the tidal Medway.[46] Chalk, gravel and clay were excavated on Dartford Heath
for centuries.

Kent's original paper mills stood on streams like the River Darent, tributaries of the River Medway, and on the River Stour. Two 18th century mills were on the River Len and at Tovil on the River Loose. In the late 19th century huge modern mills were built at Dartford and Northfleet on the River Thames and at Kemsley on The Swale. In pre-industrial times, almost every village and town had its own windmill or watermill, with over 400 windmills known to have stood at some time. Twenty-eight survive within the county today, plus two replica mills and a further two in that part of Kent now absorbed into London. All the major rivers in the county were used to power watermills.

From about 1900, several coal pits operated in East Kent. The Kent Coalfield was mined during the 20th century at several collieries,[47] including Chislet, Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and the Snowdown Colliery, which ran from 1908 to 1986.[48]

The west of the county (including Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, and Sevenoaks) has less than 50% of the average claimant count for low incomes or worklessness as the coastal districts of Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, and Thanet (chiefly three resorts: Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate). West and Central Kent have long had many

City of London commuters
.

Culture

Architecture

Canterbury Cathedral

Kent's geographical location between the Straits of Dover and London has influenced its architecture, as has its

metropolitan cathedral; it was founded in AD 598 and displays architecture from all periods. There are nine Anglo-Saxon churches in Kent. Rochester Cathedral is England's second-oldest cathedral, the present building built in the Early English Style.[49]
These two dioceses ensured that every village had a parish church.

The sites of Richborough Castle and Dover Castle, along with two strategic sites along Watling Street, were fortified by the Romans and the Dukes of Kent. Other important sites include Canterbury city walls and Rochester Castle.[50] There remained a need to defend London and thus Kent. Deal Castle, Walmer Castle, Sandown Castle (whose remains were eroded by the sea in the 1990s) were constructed in late mediaeval times, and HM Dockyard, at Chatham and its surrounding castles and forts—Upnor Castle, Great Lines, and Fort Amherst—more recently.

Kent has three unique vernacular architecture forms: the

Kentish peg-tiles
.

Kent has bridge trusts to maintain its bridges, and though the great bridge (1387) at Rochester was replaced there are medieval structures at Aylesford, Yalding and Teston.[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.

Literature and publishing

Kent has provided inspiration for several notable writers and artists. Canterbury's religious role gave rise to

organic agriculture the following year spawning a global movement for sustainable agriculture and food.[54]

Visual arts

A number of significant artists came from Kent, including Thomas Sidney Cooper, a painter of landscapes, often incorporating farm animals,[55] Richard Dadd, a maker of faery paintings, and Mary Tourtel, the creator of the children's book character, Rupert Bear. The artist Clive Head was also born in Kent. The landscape painter J. M. W. Turner spent part of his childhood in the town of Margate in East Kent, and regularly returned to visit it throughout his life. The East Kent coast inspired many of his works, including some of his most famous seascapes.[56] Kent has also been the home to artists including Frank Auerbach, Tracey Emin and Stass Paraskos.

Kent was also the location of the largest number of art schools in the country during the nineteenth century, estimated by the art historian David Haste, to approach two hundred. This is believed to be the result of Kent being a front line county during the Napoleonic Wars. At this time, before the invention of photography, draughtsmen were used to draw maps and topographical representations of the fields of battle, and after the wars ended many of these settled permanently in the county in which they had been based. 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. Nonetheless, some of these small art schools developed into much larger organisations, including Canterbury College of Art, founded by Thomas Sidney Cooper in 1868, which is today the University for the Creative Arts.[57]

Blean near Canterbury was home to Smallfilms, the production company founded by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin and responsible for children's TV favourites Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine and Bagpuss.

Performing arts

The county's largest theatre is the Marlowe Theatre in the centre of Canterbury.[58]

Music festivals that take place in Kent include Chilled in a Field Festival, Electric Gardens, Hop Farm Festival, In the Woods Festival, Lounge On The Farm and the annual Smugglers Festival near Deal. Other venues for live music include Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone and the Assembly Hall in Tunbridge Wells.

Kentish independence

Kentish people have long viewed themselves as Kentish first and British second, and to this day refer to themselves as either 'Men of Kent' or 'Kentish men' depending on whether they live to the East or West of the River Medway.[59] After the 2016 Brexit referendum and subsequent proposals for "border checks" on the Kentish border, effectively making Kent a country within a country,[60] this pride in being Kentish began to form into calls from some areas for an independent Kent or an autonomous republic within the UK, especially from the county's prominent newspapers, with the idea being discussed in detail in some areas[61] - with some ideas such as mock passports[62] and "tongue-in-cheek" manifestos being created.[63] These calls for independence can be explained by the individualistic and rebellious mentality that has always existed in the county, which can be explained by the counties position in the very South-East of the United Kingdom, having been a prominent and independent kingdom for centuries as well as being the source of many major rebellions that have occurred in the United Kingdom.

Transport

Main article: Transport in Kent

Roads

Medway Valley, south of Rochester

With the Roman invasion, a road network was constructed to connect London to the Channel ports of Dover,

A2 runs through Dartford (A207), Gravesend, Rochester, Canterbury, and Dover; the A20 through Eltham, Wrotham, Maidstone, Charing, Ashford. Hythe, Folkestone and Dover; the A21 around Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and on to Hastings in East Sussex.[24] In the 1960s, two motorways were built; the M2 from Medway to Faversham, and the M20 from Swanley to Folkestone. Part of the M25 runs through Kent, from Westerham to the Dartford Crossing. The M26 motorway, built in 1980, provides a short link between the M25 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near Wrotham
. Kent currently has more motorways by distance than any other county in the UK, with sections of the M2, M20, M25 and M26 totalling 173 km (107 mi) within the extents of the ceremonial county.

In the run-up to

Eurotunnel.[66]

Water

The medieval

Thamesport. Following the closures across the lower Medway, and the Swale to the Isle of Sheppey, during the 20th century, the Woolwich Ferry
is the only domestic ferry that runs in the broadest definition of the county.

Railways

A 300 km/h (186 mph) Eurostar train at km 48 (mile 30) on High Speed 1, near Strood

The earliest locomotive-driven passenger-carrying railway in Britain was the

London & Greenwich Railway later merged into South Eastern Railway (SER).[68]
By the 1850s, SER's networks had expanded to Ashford, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, and the Medway towns. SER's major London termini were
Blackfriars
.

The two companies merged in 1899, forming the

Southern Railway.[68] Britain's railways were nationalised in 1948, forming British Railways. The railways were privatised in 1996 and most Kent passenger services were franchised to Connex South Eastern.[69] Following financial difficulties, Connex lost the franchise and was replaced by South Eastern Trains and after Southeastern.[70]

The

Gravesend, serving northern Kent.[71] The high speed lines will be utilised to provide a faster train service to coastal towns like Ramsgate and Folkestone. This station is in addition to the existing station at Ashford International
, which has suffered a massive cut in service as a result.

Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

In addition to the "main line" railways, there are several light, heritage, and industrial railways in Kent. There are three heritage, standard gauge railways;

Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway
, previously the Bowaters Paper Railway.

Air

Charter flights are provided by Lydd Airport at Lydd
.

In 2002, it was revealed that the government was considering building a new four-runway airport on the marshland near the village of

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.[75][76]
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.

Manston Airport, located near the village of Manston in the Thanet district, was a former RAF facility that also handled some civilian flights. It closed in 2014.[77]

Education

See also: List of schools in Kent

Kent has four universities:

Eltham, London and Medway; the University for the Creative Arts
(UCA) also has three of its five campuses in the county.

Although much of Britain adopted a

comprehensive education system in the 1970s, Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Unitary Authority are among around fifteen[78]
local authorities still providing wholly selective education through the eleven-plus examination with students allocated a place at a secondary modern school or at a grammar school.

Together, the two Kent authorities have 38 of the 164 grammar schools remaining in Britain.[78][79]

Kent County Council has the largest education department of any local council in Britain,[80] providing school places for over 289,000 pupils.

In 2005–06, Kent County Council and Medway introduced a standardised school year, based on six terms, as recommended by the Local Government Association in its 2000 report, "The Rhythms of Schooling".[81]

Kent County Council Local Education Authority maintains 96 secondary schools, of which 33 are selective schools and 63 are

secondary modern
schools.

Schools in Kent (data from 2000)[82]
LEA Nursery Primary Secondary
(modern)		 Secondary
(grammar)
Special
Pupil
Referral
Units
 Independent City
Technology
College		 Total
KCC 1 475 74 32 34 11 83 1 711
Medway 0 89 14 6 3 1 7 0 120

Music education is provided by Kent Music (formerly Kent Music School),[83] which has its origins in the 1940s. Kent Music provides services across the county including Kent County Youth Orchestra, Kent Youth Choirs, and an annual summer school at Benenden School.

National Challenge schools

In 2010, Kent had the highest number of National Challenge schools in England: schools which are branded 'failing' based on the British Government's floor targets that 30% of pupils achieve at least 5 GCSE grades A* to C.[84] Of the 63 secondary modern schools, 33 missed this target; thus 52% of Kent secondary modern schools (34% out of all 96 maintained secondary schools) are 'failing'.[85]

Sport

Football League
team

In association football, Kent's highest ranked football team is

Maidstone United and Dover Athletic playing in the National League along with Ebbsfleet United, who were promoted in 2017. Dartford currently play in National League South
, the sixth tier of the English football pyramid.

Kent is represented in cricket by Kent County Cricket Club. 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. The club is based at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury and also plays matches at the Nevill Ground in Royal Tunbridge Wells and the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham.[87] The Kent Women cricket team has won the Women's County Championship seven times since it was established in 1997. Cricket has traditionally been a popular sport in the county and Kent is considered one of the locations in which the game first developed. Teams have represented the county since the early 18th century. The Kent Cricket League is the top level of club competition within Kent and features teams from throughout the county, including areas such as Beckenham and Bexley which were formerly part of the county.

Canterbury Hockey Club and Holcombe Hockey Club both play in the top division in both the men's and women's England Hockey Leagues. Sevenoaks Hockey Club's women first XI plays in the second tier of national competition.

In

Blackheath FC, a club within the historic boundaries of the county, play in fourth-tier National League 2 South. Both Tonbridge Juddians and Blackheath RFC played in National league 1
(the third-tier of English rugby) up until the end of the 2021-2022 season.

In motorsport, the Brands Hatch circuit near Swanley has played host to a number of national and international racing events and hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix in various years between 1964 and 1986.

Kent is home to two National League netball clubs, both based in northwest Kent: Telstars (Premier Division 2) and KCNC (Premier Division 3).

The 2021-2022 season has seen three Kentish clubs demoted from the third-tier of their respective sports to the fourth-tier, with rugby clubs

Tonbridge Juddians and Blackheath RFC being demoted in rugby and Gillingham FC being demoted in football.[citation needed
]

News and media

Television

Much of Kent is served by the

Crystal Palace transmitter
.

Radio

Kent has two county-wide stations –

KM Group. 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[88]

The county's first commercial station was originally known as Invicta FM and began broadcasting in 1984. After various buyouts, the station was rebranded into Heart Kent in 2009 as part of the Heart Network. The station was closed and merged with several other Heart stations in the south of England in 2019 to form Heart South, with the Kent studios in Whitstable closing and production moving to Fareham in Hampshire.

There are several community radio stations in Kent including:

  • Academy FM (Folkestone).
  • Academy FM (Thanet)
  • Ashford FM (Ashford) on 107.1 FM.
  • BRFM 95.6 FM (Sheppey)
  • Cabin FM broadcasting to Herne Bay on 94.6FM.
  • Cinque Ports Radio 100.2FM for Romney Marsh, Rye and Hythe.
  • CSR 97.4FM (Canterbury) now only available via online listening.
  • Deal Radio (Deal): online only.
  • Dover Community Radio (DCR) Dover: currently online only; due to start broadcasting to Dover District on 104.9FM from May 2022.
  • Radio Faversham (Faversham): online only.
  • Maidstone Community Radio (MCR): online only.
  • Miskin Radio (Dartford and Gravesend): online only.
  • SFM 106.9FM (Sittingboune)
  • Sheppey FM 92.2 (Sheppey)
  • Shoreline Easy (Romney Marsh), online only.
  • West Kent Radio (WKCR) serving Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks. 95.5 and 106.7FM.
  • Whitstable Bay Radio (Whitstable): online only.

Newspapers

The

KM Group, KOS Media and Kent Regional News and Media all provide local newspapers for most of the large towns and cities. County-wide papers include the Kent Messenger, Kent on Saturday, Kent on Sunday, and the Kent and Sussex Courier
.

See also