72-573: Ulcombe is a village near the town of Maidstone in Kent , England. The name is recorded in the Domesday Book and is thought to derive from ' Owl -coomb': 'coomb' (pronounced 'coo-m') meaning 'a deep little wooded valley; a hollow in a hill side' ( Chambers Dictionary ) in Old English . The original deserted Medieval village site lies to the east of the parish church in a valley. There is also
144-475: A maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at East Malling , about three miles west of Maidstone. East Malling's highest temperature of 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) was recorded in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded is −17.8 °C (0.0 °F) during January 1947 and 1972. East Malling also holds
216-402: A ruined state . Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Kit's Coty House belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows produced in
288-470: A shire moot , and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley , hospitals and a college for priests . Today's suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times. Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The rebel priest, John Ball , had been imprisoned there and was freed by Kentish rebels under the command of Wat Tyler , who is reputed to have been
360-524: A dense, hard, and durable stone that occurs naturally throughout Kent, having formed out of sand from the Eocene epoch. Early Neolithic builders would have selected blocks from the local area, and then transported them to the site of the monument to be erected. These common architectural features among the Medway Megaliths indicate a strong regional cohesion with no direct parallels elsewhere in
432-483: A great round one lying on them, of great bigness, although not so big as those on Salisbury Plain . But certainly it is a thing of great antiquity, and I am mightily glad to see it. Stukeley included four engravings of Kit's Coty House in his two volumes of Itinerarium Curiosum . A 1722 print of the site showed the chamber, mound, and the General's Tombstone. In c.1783, James Douglas set one of his workmen to dig on
504-435: A horizontal capstone . The archaeologist Timothy Champion suggested that these stones "give some idea of the scale of the sculpture". The front part of the chamber, as well as a possible façade, are now gone. The mound and flanking ditches have largely been ploughed flat but remain visible from aerial photographs. A 1981 survey found the mound to be circa 70 metres long and 1 metre high. Champion suggested that in total,
576-624: A local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare and Hounds , was damaged by a bomb during an IRA campaign in England. Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. It is just to the north of Oakwood Hospital (originally the Kent County Asylum), which closed in the mid-1990s. Residents are employed in
648-572: A low percentage in agriculture. According to the Office for National Statistics estimates, the average gross income of households between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year). The town is served by 15 secondary schools, 23 primary schools, and two special schools. Non-selective secondary schools include Cornwallis Academy , The Maplesden Noakes School , New Line Learning Academy , St Augustine Academy , St. Simon Stock School and Valley Park School . Grammar schools serving
720-411: A prominent feature of the landscape. Maidstone has continued to grow. In doing so it has incorporated hitherto separate settlements , villages and hamlets within its boundaries. These include Allington , Barming , Bearsted , Penenden Heath, Sandling , Tovil and Weavering Street. Housing estates include Grove Green , Harbourland, Ringlestone , Roseacre, Shepway, Senacre and Vinters Park. Maidstone
792-454: A resident of the town. Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I , and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river (in heraldic terms: Or, a fess wavy Azure between three roundels Gules, on a chief Gules a leopard passant gardant Or ). Recently to these arms were added
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#1732776653403864-510: A trampoline park), and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum. In the 2001 UK census, 45.2% of residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.7% part-time, 7.6% self-employed and 2.5% unemployed, while 2.3% were students with jobs, 3.0% without jobs, 12.9% retired, 6.6% looking after home or family, 3.8% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. These figures were roughly in line with
936-722: A victory for the Parliamentarians . Andrew Broughton , who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I , and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as 'Mayor and Regicide '. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper (Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in
1008-509: A water-mill below this site, probably of early origins. It stands below the Greensand Way . There is much evidence from recent archaeological fieldwork, undertaken under the direction of Neil Aldridge, for prehistoric and later occupation. A number of Palaeolithic hand-axes have been found to the east of Great Tong Bank, and are the result of solifluction over the last 70,000 years from an earlier river system. Lithic implements from
1080-519: Is also held, with Maidstone and Beauvais taking it in turns to host the event. The BBC Local Radio station which broadcast to the town is BBC Radio Kent , on 96.7 FM. Kit%27s Coty House Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is a chambered long barrow near the village of Aylesford in the southeastern English county of Kent . Constructed circa 4000 BCE, during the Early Neolithic period of British prehistory, today it survives in
1152-445: Is elected every four years: Maidstone elects nine representatives, and villages are in the four rural wards. The town is the main town of Maidstone borough , which includes the surrounding rural areas except to the north-west. The town is divided into the 12 local government wards of Allington, Bridge, Downswood and Otham, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Park Wood, Shepway North, Shepway South, South, and North. These wards have 30 of
1224-428: Is no direct evidence that Aubrey visited the site but Ashbee thought it "inconceivable that he did not" given that he made frequent visits to Kent, using a road which would have taken him very close to Kit's Coty House. William Stukeley visited the site in 1722 and was able to sketch the site whilst it was still largely intact. Before this, Samuel Pepys also saw it and wrote: Three great stones standing upright and
1296-594: Is unclear to what extent this can be attributed to an influx of migrants or to indigenous Mesolithic Britons adopting agricultural technologies from the continent. The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors, because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent. Britain was largely forested in this period; widespread forest clearance did not occur in Kent until
1368-618: The Chestnuts Long Barrow . The eastern group consists of Smythe's Megalith , Kit's Coty House, Little Kit's Coty House , the Coffin Stone, and several other stones which might have once been parts of chambered tombs, most notably the White Horse Stone . It is not known if they were all built at the same time, or whether they were constructed in succession, while similarly it is not known if they each served
1440-494: The Domesday Book of 1086, with possible variation Mayndenstan in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up
1512-649: The Late Bronze Age (c.1000 to 700 BCE). Environmental data from the vicinity of the White Horse Stone , a putatively prehistoric monolith near the River Medway , supports the idea that the area was still largely forested in the Early Neolithic, covered by a woodland of oak, ash, hazel/alder and Maloideae . Throughout most of Britain, there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period, leading archaeologists to believe that
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#17327766534031584-510: The Mesolithic , Bronze Age and Neolithic periods show that the landscape was being used by early settlers. The Iron Age is the period when the local deposits of iron ore were being smelted and this continued into the Roman occupation of the 1st-3rd century AD. Near Jubilee Corner an Iron Age cremation cemetery was excavated along with an iron smelting site. A later Roman occupation site lay to
1656-467: The 55 seats on Borough Council. Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for services such as recreation, refuse collection, most planning decisions and social housing . The town is six miles downstream from where the River Medway , having flowed in a generally west–east direction, is joined by the Rivers Teise and Beult at Yalding and changes its course to a northerly one. It cuts through
1728-636: The British Isles. Nevertheless, as with other regional groupings of Early Neolithic long barrows—such as the Cotswold-Severn group in south-western Britain—there are also various idiosyncrasies in the different monuments, such as Coldrum's rectilinear shape, the Chestnut Long Barrow's facade, and the long, thin mounds at Addington and Kit's Coty. These variations might have been caused by the tombs being altered and adapted over
1800-584: The Creative Arts (formerly Kent Institute of Art & Design ) at which Turner Prize nominated artist Tracey Emin , fashion designer Karen Millen and television personality and artist Tony Hart studied, has a campus at the Maidstone TV Studios . In the 2001 census, 15.7% of residents aged 16–74 had a higher education qualification or equivalent, below the national average of 19.9%. 27.5% had no academic qualifications, compared to
1872-586: The Early Neolithic economy on the island was largely pastoral , relying on herding cattle, with people living a nomadic or semi-nomadic life. Across Western Europe, the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape. These structures included chambered long barrows , rectangular or oval earthen tumuli which had a chamber built into one end. Some of these chambers were constructed out of timber, although others were built using large stones, now known as " megaliths ". These long barrows often served as tombs, housing
1944-461: The Medway Megaliths were a regional manifestation of a tradition widespread across Early Neolithic Europe. He nevertheless stressed that a precise place of origin was "impossible to indicate" with the available evidence. The surviving part of the monument represents three stones covered by a capstone. The H-shaped entrance to the tomb survives. It is made of sarsen (a fine-grained, crystalline sandstone) and consists of three orthostats supporting
2016-608: The Medway Megaliths would have been some of the largest and most visually imposing Early Neolithic funerary monuments in Britain. Grouped along the River Medway as it cuts through the North Downs , they constitute the most southeasterly group of megalithic monuments in the British Isles, and the only megalithic group in eastern England. The archaeologists Brian Philp and Mike Dutto deemed the Medway Megaliths to be "some of
2088-571: The Medway Megaliths, Little Kit's Coty House . The name "Kits Coty" allegedly means "Tomb in the Forest" according to signs at the site, possibly related to the Ancient British *kaitom , later *keiton , meaning "forest". The site is the namesake of Kitscoty , a village in Alberta, Canada. The inclusion of the term "House" in the site's name has confused some visitors, who have gone to
2160-538: The Medway Megaliths, the most publicly visible of which is Druidry . Research conducted among these Druids in 2014 revealed that some Druidic ceremonial activity had taken place at Kit's Coty. Kit's Coty House was briefly mentioned in John Twyne 's De Rebus Albionicis (written c.1550, but not published until 1590), and in William Camden 's Britannia (1586): Camden reported the popular tradition that it
2232-590: The Minor Residential category of the Kent Design Awards . [REDACTED] Media related to Ulcombe at Wikimedia Commons This Kent location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent , England, of which it is the county town . Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through
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2304-534: The Sharps toffee factory (later part of Cadbury Trebor Basset ), was in central Maidstone and provided a significant source of employment. Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF was founded in 1961 on the premises of the metal-working operation Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). KEF still occupies the same river-bank site. In the late 1990s KEF manufactured a loudspeaker called "the Maidstone". The town centre has
2376-620: The St. Leger family, the Marquess and Marchioness of Ormonde , and Lady Sarah Wandesford, daughter of the Earl of Carrick . In the 16th and 17th centuries Ulcombe was the location of a bell foundry run by three generations of the Hatch family, whose output included the bell known as "Bell Harry", after which the central tower of Canterbury Cathedral is known. In 2012, Hill House (a private house) won
2448-600: The Weald is Conservative Helen Grant . Previous MPs include Ann Widdecombe , Sir John Wells , Sir Alfred Bossom and Benjamin Disraeli . Since 2015 the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been Conservative Helen Whately . Prior to the 2015 election, the MP was Conservative Sir Hugh Robertson . Kent County Council is responsible for social services, education, maintenance of and new infrastructure, fire services and minerals. It
2520-596: The centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary . Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, which is known as the Garden of England . There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age . The town, part of the borough of Maidstone , had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II ,
2592-463: The course of their use; in this scenario, the monuments would be composite structures. The builders of these monuments were probably influenced by pre-existing tomb-shrines they were aware of. Whether those people had grown up locally, or moved into the Medway area from elsewhere is not known. Based on a stylistic analysis of their architectural designs, the archaeologist Stuart Piggott thought that
2664-677: The electricity industry in 1948 ownership of the station passed to the British Electricity Authority and then to the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1966 the power station had a generating capacity of 13.125 MW and delivered 6,921 MWh of electricity. The CEGB later closed the station and it was demolished in 1973. The town is ranked in the top five shopping centres in the south-east of England for shopping yields and, with more than one million square feet of retail floor space, in
2736-469: The expanded 1610 English translation of Britannia : under the side of a hill I saw foure, huge, rude, hard stones erected, two for the sides, one transversall in the midest betweene them, and the hugest of all piled and laied over them in manner of the British monument which is called Stone-heng but not so artificially with mortis and tenents . Verily the unskilfull common people terme it at this day, of
2808-517: The fellow antiquarian William Stukeley —a local belief that the Lower Kit's Coty House and Kit's Coty House were erected in memory of two contending kings of Kent who died in battle. In 1946, Evans recorded a local folk tale that held that the chamber at Kit's Coty House was erected by three witches who lived on Blue Bell Hill. According to this story, a fourth witch helped them put the capstone on. Several modern Pagan religions are practised at
2880-664: The head of a white horse (representing Invicta , the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an iguanodon . The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of that dinosaur , now in the Natural History Museum in London. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604. During the English Civil War , the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in
2952-457: The history of printing. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment . Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. In 1897-1898 the Maidstone typhoid epidemic killed at least 132 people, and was the largest typhoid epidemic at
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3024-454: The largest office centre in the county and the area is a base for the paper and packaging industry. Many high-technology firms have set up in surrounding business parks. Southern Water and Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system. Maidstone Borough Corporation began construction of Maidstone power station at Fairmeadow in 1900 and supplied electricity from 1901, firstly for street lighting then other uses. Upon nationalisation of
3096-437: The long-barrow would have been about 80m long. As a result of chalk rubble in the plough soul, it estimated that it had once been c.11 to 15 metres wide. An area of dark soil suggested that there had been a wide ditch on the southern side. Ashbee noted that various worn pottery sherds had been found in the soil on the barrow. In 1897, John Evans recounted as having found a leaf-shaped arrowhead—likely of Neolithic date—near to
3168-538: The most interesting and well known" archaeological sites in Kent, while the archaeologist Paul Ashbee described them as "the most grandiose and impressive structures of their kind in southern England". The Medway Megaliths can be divided into two separate clusters: one to the west of the River Medway and the other on Blue Bell Hill to the east, with the distance between the two clusters measuring at between 8 and 10 kilometres (5 and 6 mi). The western group includes Coldrum Long Barrow , Addington Long Barrow , and
3240-442: The national average. Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and communications ; 10% health and social work ; 8% public administration ; 7% education; 5% finance; 4% hotels and restaurants; 1% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 5% other. Compared to national figures, Maidstone had a high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and
3312-572: The national figure of 28.9%. Southeastern operates services at three railway stations: Bus services are provided by Arriva Kent and Surrey , Nu-Venture and Stagecoach South East . Routes connect the town with Ashford, Canterbury, Gillingham and Tunbridge Wells. The following roads connect Maidstone with nearby locations: In 2001, religions were 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, while 7.7% did not state their religion. All Saints' Church in
3384-516: The north, when excavated, two timber buildings, one of sill-beam construction, were recorded. The old village hall was dismantled and re-erected at the Museum of Kent Life , Sandling , having been made redundant by the construction of a new building. The manor of Ulcombe belonged to the St Leger family. All Saints Church is a 12th-century Grade I listed building . It includes monuments of
3456-444: The othar thre. And about one quoyts cast from this monument lyethe one othar very greate stone, moche parte therof in the erthe. Stow published a version of this report in his Annals in 1592; while another of the group, William Lambarde , published his own description in the 1596 edition of his Perambulation of Kent , drawing a comparison with Stonehenge . Camden described the monument in greater detail from personal observation in
3528-743: The palace's tithe barn are all Grade I listed buildings . Jubilee Church is an independent Maidstone-based Christian church which forms partnerships not only in Kent, but in Canada and Ukraine . In Ukraine, it has held events with Ockert Potgieter of the Light of the World Church. A Twinning Association Committee meets every month. It organises annual trips to the Jeanne Hachette Festival in Beauvais. An annual sporting weekend
3600-482: The physical remains of the dead within their chamber. Individuals were rarely buried alone in the Early Neolithic, instead being interred in collective burials with other members of their community. These chambered tombs were built all along the Western European seaboard during the Early Neolithic, from southeastern Spain up to southern Sweden, taking in most of the British Isles; the architectural tradition
3672-570: The plan behind the Medway Megaliths had originated in the area around the Low Countries ; conversely, Glyn Daniel thought their design derived from Scandinavia, John H. Evans thought Germany, and Ronald F. Jessup suggested an influence from the Cotswold-Severn group. Ashbee noted that their close clustering in the same area was reminiscent of the megalithic tomb-shrine traditions of continental Northern Europe, and emphasised that
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#17327766534033744-739: The record for the mildest January day in South East England, 17.4 °C (63.3 °F), also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −10.7 °C (12.7 °F) on 20 December 2010. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate). In the 2001 UK census , Maidstone town wards had a population of 75,070, a density of 28 residents per hectare . The town had 31,142 households, of which 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were cohabiting couples, and 9% were single-parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone of pensionable age. The ethnicity
3816-409: The retail, administrative or service sectors; there are industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commute to other towns, including to London. The town is divided between the constituencies of Maidstone and the Weald and Faversham and Mid Kent . Before 1997 Maidstone was in the county constituency of Maidstone . The Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and
3888-434: The ridge formed by the greensand , so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and higher, is Penenden Heath . The River Len joins the Medway at Maidstone. Though a short river, it provided the water to drive numerous watermills . The Loose Stream , which rises at Langley and joins at Tovil , once powered over 30 mills. Mill ponds on these rivers are
3960-521: The same Catigern , Keiths or Kits Coty house . In 1659, Thomas Philipot wrote about the site, again describing it as the tomb of Catigern. The antiquarian John Aubrey made mention of the monument in his unpublished manuscript on British archaeological sites, the Monumenta Britannica . There he included a drawing of the site produced by the classical scholar Thomas Gale . Aubrey then directly cited Philipot's earlier work. There
4032-484: The same function or whether there was a hierarchy in their usage. The Medway long barrows all conformed to the same general design plan, and are all aligned on an east to west axis. Each had a stone chamber at the eastern end of the mound, and they each probably had a stone facade flanking the entrance. They had internal heights of up to 3.0 metres (10 feet), making them taller than most other chambered long barrows in Britain. The chambers were constructed from sarsen ,
4104-518: The site expecting a built dwelling. The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history. Between 4500 and 3800 BCE, it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence, abandoning the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period. This came about through contact with continental societies, although it
4176-403: The site on 21 August 1938, as detailed in his domestic diary of that date. He describes it as "a druidical altar or something of the kind. ... The stones are on top of a high hill & it appears they belong to quite another part of the country." The stones are actually well down the slope of Blue Bell Hill, 1.32 km to the north. In January 1981, Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit carried out
4248-409: The site. At the western end of the monument was a megalith known as "the General's Tombstone", which was destroyed in 1867. This may once have been part of the long barrow's structure. Ashbee suggested that when the barrow was being slighted, the kerbstones might have been dragged away or buried under the ditches. In 1722, the antiquarian Hercules Ayleway noted—in a letter written to his friend,
4320-515: The state, on the advice of General Augustus Pitt-Rivers , the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. The site is now under the ownership of non-departmental public body English Heritage , and is open to visitors all year round. Kit's Coty can be reached on foot along a track that appears at the junction where the Pilgrim's Way and Rochester Road meet. The chamber is encircled by iron railings. It lies approximately 2 kilometres north of another of
4392-441: The time. Hundreds of nurses from around the country volunteered to care for the patients, and several nurses were sent by Eva Luckes , matron of The London Hospital , including Edith Cavell . Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements (see Geography below). The county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975
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#17327766534034464-519: The top 50 in the UK. Much of this space is located in the two main shopping centres in the town, the 535,000 square feet (49,700 m ) The Mall Maidstone (previously known as The Chequers Centre) and the 32,500 square metres (350,000 sq ft) Fremlin Walk which opened in 2005. Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, with a multiplex cinema , restaurants, nightclubs (now
4536-590: The town centre was the collegiate church of the College of All Saints built in 1395 next to the Archbishop's Palace . It contains a monument to Sir Jacob Astley , the Royalist Civil War soldier and a memorial to Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of George Washington 's great-great-grandfather, that includes the stars and stripes in the family coat of arms The college, the church, the palace and
4608-538: The town include Maidstone Grammar School , Invicta Grammar School , Maidstone Grammar School for Girls and Oakwood Park Grammar School . Alumni of the oldest school, Maidstone Grammar School (founded 1549), include James Burke , television presenter, and Lord Beeching , of the British railway cuts of the 1960s . William Golding , author of Lord of the Flies was once a teacher at the school. The University for
4680-430: The town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services. Saxon charters dating back to c. 975 show the first recorded instances of the town's name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane , possibly meaning stone of the maidens or stone of the people . The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in
4752-530: The vicinity of the River Medway , now known as the Medway Megaliths . Of these, it lies near to both Little Kit's Coty House and the Coffin Stone on the eastern side of the river. Three further surviving long barrows, Addington Long Barrow , Chestnuts Long Barrow , and Coldrum Long Barrow , are located west of the Medway. They were among the first ancient British remains to be protected by
4824-466: The vicinity, suggesting that these were part of the monument of another like it, since destroyed. In his 1924 publication dealing with Kent, the archaeologist O. G. S. Crawford , then working as the archaeological officer for the Ordnance Survey , listed Kit's Coty House alongside the other Medway Megaliths and reprinted one of Stukeley's engravings of it. The author George Orwell visited
4896-403: The western side of the monument, and produced a watercolour painting illustrating the scene. In 1880, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie included the stones at Addington in his list of Kentish earthworks. In 1893, the antiquarian George Payne mentioned the monument in his Collectanea Cantiana , describing it as a "fallen cromlech" and noting that there were various other megaliths scattered in
4968-482: Was 96.6% white, 0.9% mixed race , 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other. The place of birth was 94.1% United Kingdom (91.4% England), 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.6% Germany, 1.3% other European countries, 1.7% Asia, 0.9% Africa and 0.8% elsewhere. Religion was 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion. Until 1998,
5040-482: Was at one time a centre of industry, brewing and paper making being among the most important. Nowadays smaller industrial units encircle the town. The site of Fremlin's Brewery , once the largest in Kent, is now Fremlin Walk shopping centre. The pedestrianised areas of the High Street and King Street run up from the river crossing at Lockmeadow; Week Street and Gabriel's Hill bisect this route. Kent experiences
5112-408: Was introduced to Britain from continental Europe in the first half of the fourth millennium BCE. Although there are stone buildings—like Göbekli Tepe in modern Turkey—which predate them, the chambered long barrows constitute humanity's first widespread tradition of construction using stone. Although now all in a ruinous state and not retaining their original appearance, at the time of construction
5184-430: Was the tomb of the 5th-century British prince Catigern , supposedly killed at the Battle of Aylesford in 455. In 1590, a group of antiquaries visited the site. One of them, John Stow , wrote: It was one great flat stone in the mydst standinge up right, & ij othar the lyke or greatar stones, on eche syd one in closynge the ij edge sydes of the mydle stone, and then one greatar flat stone lyenge flat over and above
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