UK Travel Guide - Interesting Facts For Kent Travelers

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29th May 2009 - by Ben Royman

Interesting Facts For Kent Travelers

One of the largest Home Counties, Kent, is a county situated in the south east of England. It shares its borders with East Sussex, Greater London and Surrey.

Kent shares the English Channel with France which is only 22 miles away and now easily accessed through the Channel Tunnel built under the English Channel sea. Its county town is Maidstone and historically Canterbury and Rochester have been granted city status, but only the former still holds it.

Kents ideal location has made it witness many wars and battles for the past hundreds of years. Major ports of England thrive on its coastline and they have provided security to English people.

On a clear and sunny day you can see France from the white cliffs of Dover. It has lots of orchards and hops gardens, and thus is called as The Garden of England, a name that is often used when marketing of the county or any of its produce takes place, although many other regions have also tried to claim this enviable title.

Significant industries of Kent are aircraft construction, cement and papermaking. Mostly however East and South Kent rely on tourism and agriculture. The name, Kent was taken from the Brythonic word Cantus that means border or a rim. Even Julius Caesar had called the region as Cantium or the home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC. The 11th century made the people of Kent adopt a motto, Invicta meaning that it played a vital role in some famous rebellions during this medieval period.

The River Medway was first used by The Royal Navy in 1547. During Elizabeth I reign from 1558 to 1603 a rather small dockyard was built at Chatham. A dry dock, a ropewalk storehouses and houses for officials were also built by 1618, downstream from Chatham.

Tensions prevailed in the 17th century, leading to attacks by the Dutch and the 18th century witnessed many wars with France. The government built lots of castles and docks to build ships to resist these attacks and The first 1 inch map of Kent was made and published in 1801.

Many counties were created in 1889 from areas of Kent and it along with London almost was reduced to ashes during World War II. After the war, the borders of Kent were changed many times and today it stands as one of the nicest counties of the UK.

It shares its borders with the River Thames and the North Sea to the north and the English Channel and the Straits of Dover to the south. Geographical features of the county consist of a series of ridges and valleys that run from east to west all over the county. These include the Wealden dome, which still exists even after millions of years. The ridges and valleys are thus formed with the exposure of different forms of clay.

Many domes were eroded and washed away by the sea, but cliffs such as the white cliffs of Dover are still present, thus making a chalk ridge called the North Downs meet with the coast. Spanning Dover and Westerham is the Kent Downs which is an area of Spectacular Natural Beauty.