25 historical facts about Kent that will blow your mind

Kent has a rich and colourful history, but there are some facts that are absolutely astounding.

There is something about Kent that seems to attract people.

Whether it is the Romans or the rich and famous, people seem to fall in love with the county.

Read more: The fascinating stories behind Kent’s lost and abandoned towns and villages

History is often forgotten but it is hard not to be reminded of it when walking around the numerous historical towns and villages.

Here we have compiled 25 facts that will absolutely astound you.

Kent gave birth to the first Western samurai

It sounds like something out of Hollywood starring Tom Cruise.

But the unassuming town of Gillingham was the birthplace of William Adams who was the first Englishman to visit Japan and the first westerner to be honoured with the title “samurai”.

Adams was born in 1564 and served under Sir Francis Drake, facing the Spanish Armada.

He then sought riches in the forerunner to the Dutch East India Company.

Halfway around the world after a long arduous journey, his ship crewed by 23 sick and dying men dropped anchor off the island of Kyushu.

The vessel was seized and Adams was imprisoned in Osaka Castle.

Luckily the Kent native had expert nautical knowledge which helped him earn the trust of the country’s rulers.

He then became a personal advisor to the Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Although he was not permitted to leave, he embraced the country’s culture, took a Japanese wife and was awarded harbourside estate and honorary samurai status.

He was buried in Hirado in 1620 on a hill overlooking the town.

Pocahontas is buried there

The inspiration for the Disney princess started life as the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful ruler of a group of Native American tribes in Virginia.

Captured and held for ransom by the English in 1613, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe – an English farmer.

The couple travelled to London in 1616 and Pocahontas was presented as a “civilised savage” to encourage the investment in the Jamestown settlement.

Sadly, she died three years later by unknown causes.

The theories range from smallpox to poisoning.

She was buried in Gravesend, which brings us to another interesting fact.

Gravesend is the hottest place in Britain

Thanks to a combination of geography and sandy subsoil – which heats up faster than other types – Gravesend is often declared the hottest place in the country.

It has the biggest “ears” in the country

Up the coast from Dungeness on the edge of Romney Marsh between Lydd Airport and Greatstone is a collection of concrete structures.

These are known as the Denge Sound Mirrors built between 1914 and 1939.

They are a rudimentary air defence system in which they “listen” to incoming enemy aircraft.

But by the time the wall of “ears” was finally ready in 1930, radar was already on its way – making them obsolete.

Julius Caesar loved Kent

It is thought the first-ever Roman landing in Britain was around Deal.

This took place around 55 and 54 AD, although the Emperor wasn’t particularly impressed with the barbarians of the British isles.

Except, that is, for the Kentish tribes.

He said in De Bello Gallico v. 14: “Of all these (British tribes), by far the most civilised are they who dwell in Kent, which is entirely a maritime region, and who differ but little from the Gauls in their customs.”

It has the tallest Roman building in Britain

The lighthouse in Dover was once one of a pair that stands 80 feet tall.

This makes it the tallest Roman remains in the country.

It watched over the port of Dubris but now stands inside the grounds of a 12th-century castle built by Henry II.

Dover is the military key to England

While it may not seem like it now, Dover is historically one of the most important towns in the entire country and is the “military key” to Britain, according to Historian Dan Jones.

The town is engulfed by the shadow of Dover Castle that lies on the hill.

But there is a reason why it was so heavily defended.

It was the first point of call for foreign dignitaries and was fiercely defended during the civil war that followed the failure of Magna Carta in 1215.

The town is the first point of call to any invasion.

Defensive tunnels are under the castle, built in the era of the Napoleonic wars.

In the Second World War, it was the base from which small ships left to evacuate Dunkirk.

There is also a massive Cold War bunker built to house a regional government in the event of a Third World War.

Henry VIII was the first to describe the county as the “Garden of England”

While people may assume the reason for the title is the huge amount of produce in the county, the origin actually derived from the Tudor era 400 years ago.

The monarch is said to have tried a bowl of Kentish cherries and was so delighted by the flavour of the fruits that the title became associated with the county.

The Isle of Thanet used to really be an island

Thanet was once separated from the rest of Kent by the Wanstum channel, which was originally up to two-miles wide. This channel was protected by Richborough Castle at the Western End and Reculver Fort, which guarded the East.

The first bridge across to the island was built in 1483, and as late as the mid-1700s you could get a ferry from Sandwich across.

Over the course of the last millennium, the channel has silted up and closed, with the shingles being built up enough to connect Thanet to the rest of Kent.

Although in 1953, the island was cut off again temporarily, forcing the sea defences to be strengthened in Thanet.

Bromley was originally part of Kent

Yes, it was (and some say still is)!

Bromley, in Greater London, was historically part of the county of Kent, up until 1965.

The BR and TN postcodes hark back to a bygone age, though the red Transport for London buses tell another story, as does the fact the borough is served by the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service.

But, despite all the evidence to the contrary, it would appear all sorts of businesses, organisations and services think, or perhaps wish, it was still 1964.

It may handle thousands of letters every day but it would appear the Post Office thinks all of its Bromley branches are still in Kent.

The London Government Act of 1963 mandated that on 1 April 1965 a Greater London Authority would replace the administrative counties of Middlesex and London.

The new authority swallowed up parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Kent, including the former market town of Bromley.

Dungeness was once rumoured to be Britain’s only desert

The shingle beach of Dungeness makes quite a harrowing sight: with its barren and stony landscape.

This led to an incorrect rumour that Dungeness was the country’s only officially recognised desert, which the Meteorological Office officially debunked in 2015.

Even though the site is not the country’s only desert, it is still a significant place in Kent.

It has been designated as a place of special scientific interest due to its unusual shingle ridges and it is home to a third of all types of plant found in the UK, totalling over 600 species.

Kent has an underwater village

The tiny settlement, close to Herne Bay, has been underwater for more than 100 years.

It grew from a tiny fishing hamlet in 1864 at the hands of an oyster fishery company.

Then land agents developed it from 1879 but it was abandoned in 1916 and it was finally drowned due to coastal erosion in 1921.

Its great pier would prove to be its downfall as it acted as a buffer to the westerly moving shingle.

Without the replenishing effect of the shingle, Hampton’s coastline was left unprotected and began to erode rapidly.

The site is also notable as Edmund Reid, who was previously the Metropolitan Police head of CID who handled the Jack the Ripper case.

In retirement he championed the plight of the residents of the settlement.

There used to be a Jewish refugee camp in Sandwich

The town of Sandwich is famous for many things, but not many people know that it was once home to a Jewish refugee camp at the start of the Second World War.

As the situation for Jewish people in Europe worsened during the 1930s, plans were drawn up for a refugee camp on the East Kent coast.

In total, the Kitchener Camp took in more than 4,000 male refugees from Austria and Germany in the short time it operated.

Herne Bay is the birthplace of the Horse

The fossil of the world’s earliest known horse was discovered in Herne Bay in 1838, although for many years it was forgotten about until it was rediscovered by Alan Porter, a trustee of the Seaside Museum, a few years ago.

The fossil was originally found at Studd Hill, and dates back to 54 million years ago, making it the world’s oldest horse fossil and a claimant to the title of birthplace of the Horse.

Rochester used to be a city

Recognised as a city in 1227 by the Royal Charter, Rochester held this status until 1998.

Due to an administrative oversight, it lost its city status in the process, a mistake that was apparently only discovered by the Rochester Society four years later when it noticed it had been omitted from the Lord Chancellor’s list of UK cities.

This left Canterbury as the sole city of Kent, which is a status it retains to this day.

Medway Council then made two unsuccessful attempts to make the whole of Medway a city, in 2000 and 2002, before its most recent bid in 2012.

As part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Medway was one of 26 towns that applied for city status, with Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph winning the right.

The Isle of Sheppey was home to the world’s first aircraft factory

In February 1909, the Short Brothers opened the world’s first aircraft factory on the Isle of Sheppey, on unobstructed marshland at Leysdown, near Shellbeach.

The factory produced an initial batch of 6 aircraft, making the Short Brothers the first aircraft manufacturing company in the world to undertake volume production of an aircraft design.

Leeds Castle in Maidstone is known as the Queen of Castles

During its lifetime, Leeds Castle has been home to six medieval queens – Eleanor, Isabella, Philippa of Hainault (wife of Edward III), Joan of Navarre, Catherine de Valois and Catherine of Aragon.

Elizabeth I was even imprisoned there for a time before her coronation.

As a consequence of this history of playing host to female royalty, it is often referred to as the “Castle of Queens, Queen of Castles”.

The first white road lines in the UK were painted in Ashford

The very first white lines were painted on the London to Folkestone Road in 1914, an important step in the urbanisation of the whole country.

Despite this, it wasn’t until 1918 when similar projects were really implemented across the rest of the UK.

Kent is the main grower of hazelnuts in the UK

Kent is the main area where hazelnuts are grown in the UK, with the Kentish cobnut being among the most famous varieties of hazelnut.

The Kentish cob variety was introduced in 1830 and was so popular that it eventually overtook all other varieties in the country.

The production benefited from close links to London by train, meaning that by 1913, plantations extended to more than 7,000 acres, with most of the orchards being in Kent.

Fordwich is the smallest town in the UK

The town is the smallest town in Britain in terms of population

According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 381 people and rose by just 30 people between 2001 and 2011.

Laurel and Hardy opened the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

The Hollywood double act opened the famous Kent attraction in 1947.

Even though it was pouring with rain, large crowds turned out to greet the comedy superstars.

Sevenoaks actually has eight oak trees

As many people know, the town was named after seven oak trees that were on the Vine around AD 800.

But what people may not know, is that there are now eight.

The eponymous oak trees have been replaced several times over the centuries and in 1902 seven oaks were planted on the north side of the cricket ground, to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII.

During the Great Storm of 1987, six of those trees were blown down, and their replacements were planted in a ceremony involving Blue Peter celebrities and Gloria Hunniford.

But these were vandalised, leaving one mature tree standing.

The trees have been replaced and now eight oak trees of varying ages line The Vine.

One of Kent’s villages is owned by the National Trust

The village of Chiddingstone, near Sevenoaks, is entirely owned by the National Trust – with the exception of its church and its castle.

The National Trust website says the village is the most accurate example of a surviving Tudor village in the county and is one of Kent’s oldest villages.

It also has a ‘chiding stone’ – which the village was believed to have been named after – which is rumoured to have been used by ancient druids as an altar or place where judgements were made.

The strawberries found at Wimbledon are grown in Kent

Wimbledon is synonymous with Strawberries and Cream, with 191,930 portions of the dish being consumed at the 2018 Championships.

The strawberries in this dish are supplied exclusively by Kentish farmers from LEAF-registered farms supply Grade-1 English strawberries to the tournament. LEAF ensure the farms carry out Integrated Farm Management which balances organic with organic practices.

The Gypsy tart originates from the Isle of Sheppey

Made with muscovado sugar and evaporated milk, the Gypsy Tart is a sweet treat many of us enjoy. What many people don’t know, is that the tart supposedly originates from the Isle of Sheppey.

The story goes that a woman from Kent created the tart to serve undernourished children playing by her home.