Davington | |
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Stonebridge Pond | |
Location within Kent | |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Police | Kent |
Fire | Kent |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
Davington is a suburb of Faversham, in the Swale district, in the county of Kent, England.
Davington Priory is a local government ward within the Faversham Town Council and Swale Borough Council areas. Until the civic boundary changes were brought into effect in 2004, the electoral ward had broadly mirrored the ecclesiastical parish of Davington.
It forms the western section of the town, including Bysing Wood and Bysing Wood fishing lakes. But the ward of Davington also encompasses Luddenham and Oare and other nearby rural areas. The parish's most striking geographical feature is the sharply defined ridge, up which Davington Hill, Brent Hill and Dark Hill travel, with the parish church sitting at its top. The ridge runs south-west to north-east, losing height as it approaches the marshes and sea. Its topography is similar to the ridge upon which Bysing Wood stands further to the west of the area, near Oare. [1]
The ecclesiastical parish has large areas of post-war housing developments, as well as industrial estates and complexes along the Oare Road and the Western Link Road. These include Brett's (quarry firm), GIST (business logistics company) and Shepherd Neame Brewery also has a warehouse, as well as in the town centre of Faversham.
Davington was an ancient parish. The parish was fairly rural and essentially was a cluster of houses around the parish church and school, as well as a few widely distributed farm houses and cottages around. It became a civil parish in 1866, but the civil parish was abolished on 1 April 1935. Most of the parish became part of Faversham, but smaller areas were added to the civil parishes of Luddenham and Oare. [2] In 1931 the parish had a population of 173. [3]
Post-war residential development connected the parish to the centre of Faversham.
Davington church is a prominent and much-loved local feature, which stands on top of a ridge above Stonebridge Pond. The Norman Priory Church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence and is the oldest existing building in the Faversham area. Most of its building construction dates from the second half of the twelfth century. [4] Beside it, is a Priory house. This is largely the remains of Davington Priory, [5] which was founded in 1153 for a prioress and her 26 Benedictine nuns. It is well known for being the home of Bob Geldof. [6]
Other important buildings in the parish include Davington Farmhouse [7] and Davington Manor. [8]
Davington also had its own light railway, the Davington Light Railway. Built in 1916, the three mile track was mainly used for passenger traffic. It was also very short-lived and closed in 1919. It linked Davington with the high explosives factories of the Cotton Powder Company and Explosives Loading Company between Uplees and Harty Ferry near Oare. [9]
The parish also has two pubs, Albion Tavern (Shepherd Neame) [10] and Brents Tavern. [11] It also has the popular Davington Primary School.
Also included within the parish is the Faversham Angling Club Lakes and nearby Oare Gunpowder Works (now a country park).
Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. The council is based in Sittingbourne, the borough's largest town. The borough also contains the towns of Faversham, Queenborough and Sheerness, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. It includes the Isle of Sheppey and is named after The Swale, the narrow channel which separates Sheppey from the mainland part of the borough. Some southern parts of the borough lie within the Kent Downs, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, 8 miles (13 km) from Sittingbourne, 48 miles (77 km) from London and 10 miles (16 km) from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The name is of Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".
Faversham and Mid Kent is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2015, the seat has been held by Helen Whately of the Conservative Party.
Luddenham is a widespread hamlet or small village north-west of Faversham in Kent, England, with many long-distance views across the Swale and the Isle of Sheppey. It is on the edge of Luddenham Marshes and is also home of Luddenham School. Oare Gunpowder Works are on the edge of the village. It had, according to Edward Hasted in 1798, 396 acres of low flat arable land and 200 acres of meadow and pasture, although half of those are marsh. It is in the civil parish of Norton, Buckland and Stone.
Harty is a small hamlet on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent consisting of a few cottages, a church and a public house, the Ferry Inn. It is part of the civil parish of Leysdown.
The Saxon Shore Way is a long-distance footpath in England. It starts at Gravesend, Kent, and traces the coast of South-East England as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, 163 miles (262 km) in total. This means that around Romney Marsh the route runs significantly inland from the modern coastline.
Ospringe is a village and area of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It is also the name of a civil parish, which since 1935 has not included the village of Ospringe.
Faversham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Faversham in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Davington Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway built to serve the armaments factories near Davington, in Kent, England. It ran between Davington and Uplees.
Thomas Willement was an English stained glass artist, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865.
Oare Marshes is a 71.4-hectare (176-acre) Local Nature Reserve north of Faversham in Kent. It is owned and managed by Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of The Swale Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, National Nature Reserve, Ramsar internationally important wetland site, Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Milstead is a village and civil parish in the borough of Swale in Kent, England. It is surrounded by the villages of Frinsted, Wichling, Doddington and Lynsted in Kent, England. It is the southernmost parish in the Sittingbourne area, it is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) from Sittingbourne town centre. Just past the M2 motorway.
Murston is a suburb of Sittingbourne, in the 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.
Hernhill is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in southeast England. The parish includes the hamlets of Crockham, Dargate, The Fostall, Lamberhurst, Oakwell, Staple Street, Thread, Waterham and Wey Street.
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.
Faversham Without is a former civil parish, located around Faversham in the Swale district, in the county of Kent, in southeast England. It was founded in 1894, and over the next 70 years was reduced in size as the borough of Faversham expanded and other areas were transferred to Graveney, Luddenham, Oare and Sheldwich. In 1961 it existed as a series of exclaves. It was abolished in 1983 when the parish of Graveney with Goodnestone was formed.
Faversham, in Kent, England, has claims to be the cradle of the UK's explosives industry: it was also to become one of its main centres. The first gunpowder plant in the UK was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of the abbey at Faversham. With their estates and endowments, monasteries were keen to invest in promising technology.
Mount Field was a cricket ground located at Ospringe on the south-western edge of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It was associated with The Mount, a large house built west of the ground, and was used for one first-class cricket match in 1876.
Davington Priory was a priory on the north Kent coast of England. It sits on Davington Hill, now a northern suburb of Faversham but then an isolated rural location.
Norton, Buckland and Stone is a small rural civil parish 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Teynham and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the centre of Faversham in the borough of Swale, Kent, England. It is bypassed by the M2 to the south and traverses the historic A2, on the route of the Roman road of Watling Street.
There are three current histories of different aspects of the parish generally available: