Swanscombe and Greenhithe is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Borough of Dartford The Borough of Dartford is a local government district with borough status in the north-west of the county of Kent, England. It is named after its main town of Dartford, where the council is based. Other notable settlements include Greenhithe ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. Swanscombe and Greenhithe is a recent renaming of the ancient parish of Swanscombe, covering

Swanscombe Swanscombe /ˈswɔnzkəm/ is a town in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford. History Prehistory Bone fragments and to ...

and Greenhithe. The parish included much 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 ...

new town development until 2019. The local council is Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council.

History

Swanscombe was an ancient parish in the

Axstane Hundred Axstane was a hundred in the county of Kent, England. The Hundred of Axstane lay south-east of Dartford and Wilmington Hundred. It is called Achestan in Domesday Book, but by the reign of Edward I it was called Axstane. Its name has been interp ...

of Kent. In 1894 it became part of

Dartford Rural District Dartford Rural District was a rural district with an area of in the county of Kent, England. In 1971 it had a population of 64,561 and an electorate of 43,911. At dissolution it was the most populous rural district council in Kent, but had o ...

and Swanscombe Parish Council was formed. In 1926 it was removed from the rural district and became a separate

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

When the urban district was abolished in 1974 the parish council was formed again as the

successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...

to Swanscombe Urban District. In 1981 Swanscombe Parish Council resolved to become a town council and was renamed Swanscombe and Greenhithe, thus electing its own mayor for the first time.

Governance

The local council is Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council.

Geography

The two villages which give the parish its name are both located on the south bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, approximately midway between

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

town and

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 ...

. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was 14,128.

village is an ancient one. Greenhithe railway station also serves the Bluewater shopping centre. Until 2019 the parish included much of the

area which is undergoing regeneration from industry (

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

works at one time dominated it) to housing and lighter industrial use. The Ebbsfleet area was removed from the parish on 2 May 2019 to become an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

References

External links

Visit Swanscombe, Swanscombe & Greenhithe Town GuideSwanscombe And Greenhithe Town Council
{{Dartford Borough of Dartford Civil parishes in Kent Greenhithe