Dunkirk, Kent

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Dunkirk
The Red Lion Inn, Dunkirk, UK.jpg
The Red Lion Inn, Dunkirk
Kent UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dunkirk
Location within Kent
Population1,187 (2011) [1]
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Faversham
Postcode district ME13
Police Kent
Fire Kent
Ambulance South East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent
51°17′29″N0°58′49″E / 51.2915°N 0.9804°E / 51.2915; 0.9804

Dunkirk is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in southeast England. It lies on the Canterbury Road between Boughton under Blean and Harbledown. [2] This was the main Roman road from the Kentish ports to London, also known as Watling Street. [3]

Contents

Toponymy

The origin of the village's name is still not very clear, but it is understood to come from "Dunkirk" being a word for lawless place in the 17th century, given the area was mostly woodland that was mostly lived on by squatters involved in smuggling at the time. Another explanation claims it came a house called "Dunkirk", lived in by a Flemish man from Dunkirk, however this was dismissed as such a house was never listed on Ordnance Survey maps and the village was already established. [4]

History

In 1800, according to Edward Hasted, the village was once part of the king's ancient forest of Blean in the 'hundred of Westgate'. [2]

Dunkirk's main claim to fame is that in 1838 it was the scene of the last armed rising on British soil, the Battle of Bossenden Wood to the north of the village. [5] Eleven men died when a band of farm labourers were intercepted by a detachment of soldiers. [3]

In 1940 during World War II, the RAF Chain Home radar station in Dunkirk (Courtenay Road) was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe. Although about half of it is still standing as of November 2024. Numerous planning requests were made to build upon it, each time planning permission was rejected due to neighbours complaints. A museum was considered for it but was declined due to being viewed as economically unviable. In 2024, planning permission was granted for a data centre to be built on the site and was able to incorporate the mast as a part of the development as a radio transmitter. [6]

In 2011, the villagers had an official opening of their replacement Village Hall. £230,000 was raised to pay for the new hall. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011" . Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 Hasted, Edward (1800). "Parishes". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. 9. Institute of Historical Research: 2–7. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 "The Blean" (PDF). Explore Kent. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  4. ↑ "Dunkirk Archaeological Report" (PDF). SWAT Archeology. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  5. ↑ Reay, B (1 October 1990). The last rising of the agricultural labourers: rural life and protest in nineteenth-century England . Oxford Clarendon Press. p.  85. ISBN   0-19-820187-7.
  6. ↑ "Plans to build on site of wartime RAF mast set for approval". Kent Online. 12 November 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  7. ↑ "Villagers celebrate official opening of finished new hall". canterburytimes.co.uk. 16 September 2011. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.


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