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The Swale
The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also a Ramsar site, Ramsar internationally important wetland site and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Birds Directive, Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Parts of it are a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, National Nature Reserves, a Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserve and a Local Nature Reserve. History The name "Swale" is Old English in origin, and is believed to mean "swirling, rushing river", or "rushing water". Peri-glacial period At these times the Swale was a gully from what had been a sea channel in very warm periods. Namely before the Strait of Dover had swept away so much swampy land, accentuated by sea levels being lower, even to beyond the end of the ice age, i.e. in the mid seventh millenni ...
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Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar, Mazandaran, Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971. Every three years, representatives of the contracting parties meet as the Ramsar Convention#Conference of the Contracting Parties, Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the policy-making organ of the wetland conservation, convention which adopts decisions (site designations, resolutions and recommendations) to administer the work of the convention and improve the way in which the parties are able to implement its objectives. In 2022, COP15 was held in Montreal, Canada. List of wetlands of international importance The list of wetlands of international importance included 2,531 Ramsar site, Ramsar sites in Februa ...
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Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ...
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Sheppey Crossing
The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across the Swale (a tidal strait of the Thames Estuary), linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height of 35 m (115 feet) over the water. The A249 links the M20 motorway, M20 and M2 motorway (Great Britain), M2 motorways to Sheppey. The bridge opened in 2006, and it provides an alternative highway to the neighbouring Kingsferry Bridge that was completed in 1959. The Sheppey Crossing is not open to pedestrians, bicycles, or horses, and these continue to use the older bridge, as does the Sheerness Line, railway line to Sheerness. Both bridges are monitored by an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to detect lawbreaking vehicles. Construction The bridge was constructed as part of a £100 million plan to improve the A249 between the M2 and the port of Sheerness. The Kingsferry Bridge, which previously carried the A249, suffers f ...
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Kingsferry Bridge
The Kingsferry Bridge is a combined road and railway vertical-lift bridge which connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent in South East England. The seven-span bridge has a central lifting span which allows ships to pass. Opened in 1860, the first bridge on this site was constructed for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company on their line between Kent and the port of Sheerness. Originally a bascule bridge, it opened to allow large vessels to navigate past and not obstruct maritime traffic on the Swale. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge; it was repaired and returned to service after 10 months. The bascule bridge was closed in the 1950s and was replaced by the present Kingsferry Bridge. The new bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, and constructed by John Howard, in conjunction with Dorman Long and Sir William Arrol & Co. Swale railway station is at the southern end of the bridge. When opened, the structure carried the ...
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Elmley
Elmley is the local name for the Isle of Elmley, in the civil parish of Minster-on-Sea, part of the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale district, in the county of Kent, England. It was also the name of a very late 19th century industrial village on the isle. Edward Hasted describes, in 1798, the isle as two-eighths of the Isle of Sheppey (in turn) estimated as 11 miles by 8 miles. Its present national nature reserve covers more than the easily traceable area of the former isle by extending to the east, over Windmill Creek, one of two Sheppey inlets, former internal tidal channels. History The village was a settlement and area that fluctuated between 1640 and up to 2341 acres by definition. The former civil parish at its height as recorded by decennial censuses had 219 residents at the 1891 census, falling to 50 in twenty years and to 8 in 1961. On 1 April 1968 the parish was abolished to form Queenborough in Sheppey. It consisted of the Turkey Cement Works, which was the major employe ...
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Murston
Murston is a suburb of Sittingbourne, in the Borough of Swale, Swale district, in the county of Kent, England. It is about 1 mile north-east of central Sittingbourne, on the east bank of the Milton Creek. History According to Edward Hasted in 1798, it was once called 'Muston'. The parish contains about 1000 acres of land, of which about 30 are used as woodland. North of the village are salt marshes that suffer from winter fogs and are foul-smelling. In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, referred to Murston having a post office (under Sittingbourne control) and a quay and several docks on the creek. It also comprised 1,317 acres of land, and 145 acres of water. The population in 1851 was 191 and then in 1861, it rose to 572. There was a ferry over the Swale to Elmley. In 1921 the civil parish had a population of 1603. On 31 March 1930 the parish was abolished to form Sittingbourne and Milton, part also went to Luddenham, Kent, Luddenham. It is no ...
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Oare, Kent
Oare is a village and civil parish north of Davington, Faversham in southeast England. It is separated from Faversham by the Oare Creek. To the north of the village are the Oare Marshes, and the Harty Ferry which once linked to Harty on the Isle of Sheppey. Kent Wildlife Trust manages a nature reserve that is an important stopping place for migratory birds. According to Edward Hasted, in 1798, it was part of the hundred of Faversham. It was once anciently recorded as 'Ore', meaning fenny or marshy place in the Anglo-Saxon language. The manor of Oare belonged to Odo of Bayeux, the Bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was noted so in the Domesday Book of 1086. After Odo's trial for fraud, the manor passed to the Arnulf Kade who gave it to the Knights Hospitallers. During Edward VI's reign, it passed to Lord Clinton (a relative of Edward Clinton, Lord Clinton). Historically, Oare was the southern terminus of the Harty Ferry, which ran across the Swal ...
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Harty, Swale
Harty is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Leysdown, on the Isle of Sheppey, in the Swale district, in the county of Kent, England. It consists of a few cottages, a church and a public house, the Ferry Inn (a ). History The earliest recorded evidence of human occupation comes from a late Bronze Age hoard of axes, gouged bronze founder's appliances and metal. The find has wider importance from the information it gives into methods used for casting in the late Bronze Age. Evidence of Roman occupation also exists; finds of tesserae, roof and flue tiles may indicate the site of a Roman villa. During the Middle Ages there were extensive salt workings. Remains today consist of groups of ''salt mounds'' which are the waste left over from the process. Park Farmhouse is a dating from the 16 century. In 1798 Edward Hasted recorded that an earlier form of the name was 'Harteigh' which he presumes came from the Saxon Heord-tu, an island "filled with herds of cattle". Other fo ...
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Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (50927 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic peoples, Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the Greece, Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and the Etruscans, Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its hei ...
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River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of . About of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent. The Medway has a Drainage basin, catchment area of , the second largest in southern England after the River Thames, Thames. The map opposite shows only the major tributaries: a more detailed map shows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along the North Downs, the Weald and Ashdown Forest. Tributaries The major tributaries are: * River Eden, Kent, River Eden * River Bourne, Kent, River Bourne, known in the past as the Shode or Busty * River Teise, major sub-tributary River Bewl * River Beult * Loose Stream * River Len Minor tributaries include: * Wateringbury Stream * East Mal ...
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North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, covering . It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind energy, wind and wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Viking Age, Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Golden Age, Dutch Republic, and Kingdom of Great Britain, Brita ...
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Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is Southend-on-Sea, and the county town is Chelmsford. The county has an area of and a population of 1,832,751. After Southend-on-Sea (182,305), the largest settlements are Colchester (130,245), Basildon (115,955) and Chelmsford (110,625). The south of the county is very densely populated, and the remainder, besides Colchester and Chelmsford, is largely rural. For local government purposes Essex comprises a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and two unitary authority areas: Thurrock Council, Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea City Council, Southend-on-Sea. The districts of Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend have city status. The county H ...
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