Swanscombe

Swanscombe /ˈswɔnzkəm/ is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford.

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 (1 mile) outside the village. This site is now the

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, newts, frogs etc., indicating a site with standing water similar to a swamp. The elephant is thought to have been butchered by humans at the site.^[5][6]

During archaeological work undertaken at Ebbsfleet, before construction of High Speed 1, an Anglo-Saxon mill and a Roman villa were found near Swanscombe.

From

It is claimed, apparently without evidence, that 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 gavelkind. The men of Kent met William near Swanscombe, where the Saxons concealed their number with branches, thus intimidating the Norman army. Again according to legend, they were offered a truce that left Kent as the only region in England that William left unconquered. Hence in this area of England alone, Kent County Council adopted the motto Invicta, meaning unconquered.^[7]

The flint parish church of St Peter and St Paul is mostly of the 13th century. However various sections contain Early Norman material. The tower and chancel contain 11th- and 12th-century work respectively, although the tower was reconstructed in the 13th century and the chancel arch is from the 14th century. The lower section of the tower contains some Saxon material. The tower is topped with a broached shingled spire, and in 1902 the church was struck by lightning causing extensive damage. A large-scale restoration was undertaken by Jabez Bignall in 1872–73 and again by him after the damage from the lightning strike. The parish register dates from 1559. George Cecil Renouard is buried in the Swanscombe churchyard.^[9]

Just after 8 o'clock in the evening of Sunday 10 November 1940 a German bomb crashed down direct 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 smouldering 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."^[10]

On 30 July 1940 another Luftwaffe raid led to the death of more than 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.^[11]

On 10 April 2023, Galley Hill, Swanscombe, was closed because part of the chalk cliff supporting the A226 collapsed on Easter Monday, taking some of the road with it, near the old George & Dragon pub. Buses have been on diversion to Stanhope Road, the A2,

Swanscombe was originally part of

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 kilns 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^{[citation needed]}.

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,

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 by 2007 only two operational kilns remained, both at Northfleet. As of 2014^[update] all have been removed.

One of the large quarries created as a legacy of the cement industry, between

An adjacent quarry is to be given up for housing – more than 6,000 houses will be built there. The development by

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.[19]

At the 2001 UK census the Swanscombe electoral ward had a population of 6,418.^[20]

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.^[20]

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 ward's residents aged 16–74, 7.7% had a

• The Ebbsfleet Academy
• London Resort – proposed theme park and resort on Swanscombe Peninsula

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swanscombe.

• Swanscombe archaeology
• PDF file Swanscombe in the County plan
• Government regeneration scheme