Bridges over B259 Southfleet Road - geograph

Springhead lies at the source of the River Ebbsfleet, just southwest of the

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

suburban conurbations. Springhead forms one of the major quarters of the

Ebbsfleet Valley Ebbsfleet Valley, located in Kent, South East England, southwest of Gravesend, is a new town and redevelopment area within the Thames Gateway regeneration initiative. It is part of the broader Ebbsfleet Garden City project, which encompasses the ...

development, with housing and the associated facilities now under construction. It is the point at which the

High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...

rail line meets the A2 road.

History

In ancient times it surrounded a pool formed from eight natural springs, and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

road

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

, ran through Springhead. They knew it as Vagniacae. The site had a large number of temples, together with various buildings used for trade. William Bradbery was the first man to grow

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

commercially, in Springhead in 1808.

Notes and references

External links

Wessex Archaeology's Springhead pages
{{authority control Villages in Kent Roman sites in Kent