Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NORTHFLEET

NORTHFLEET, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in North Aylesford district, Kent. The village stands on the river Thames, and on the North Kent railway, 2 miles W of Gravesend; and has a station with telegraph on the railway, a post-office‡ under Gravesend, two chief inns, a large ship-building yard, and a dockexcavated in the solid chalk, and capable of holding 6 or7 large ships. The parish contains also the chapelry of Rosherville and the village of Perry-Street. Acres, 4, 313; of which 405 are water. Real property, £30,000; of which £400 are in quarries, and £300 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 5,038; in 1861, 5, 743. Houses, 1,079. The manor figures in Domesday book, and belonged anciently to the Archbishops of Canterbury. There are numerous good residences. A marsh in the N W was formerly covered by the Thames, but is now protectedby high flood-gates. Rosherville gardens, lying between Northfleet village and Gravesend, are large and picturesque; contain well-arranged and beautiful promenades; include cliffs upwards of 150 feet high; have connexion with a pier, at which steamers touch; and have, for years, been a favourite resort. Chalk rocks have been extensively quarried, and chalk pits sunk; lime and cement are very largely manufactured; flints from the chalk are exported to Staffordshire, and even to China, for pottery purposes; and fossils in the chalk formation, particularly echinites and glosso-petræ, are veryplentiful. Some masses of chalk, along the bank of the Thames, were left untouched by the excavations, in consequence of not being rich enough for manufacturing uses; are now covered with brushwood; and present a very picturesque appearance. A handsome edifice, called Huggins' college, stands on an eminence near Stone-bridge; was erected by the munificence of John Huggins, Esq., of Sittingbourne, for the occupancy of reduced ladies and gentlemen; gives each of them a weeklyallowance of £1; and comprises forty residences, and a chapel with beautiful lofty spire. A reach of the Thames contiguous to the parish, and 1½ mile long, bears the name of Northfleet Hope, and used to be the anchoring-place of the East India Company's ships. The Roman Watling-street traverses the S; and a Roman station probably was within the limits. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £400.* Patron, the Crown. The church is partly ancient, partly of the 15th century; has a chancel, 52 feet by 22, restored in 1862; has a tower of about 1717, built aftera previous one fell; and contains a 14th century rood-screen, some oak stalls and stone seats, two piscinas, and several good brasses. The churchyard contains a pyramidal mausoleum, erected by John Huggins, Esq., and ornamented with high-relief views of Huggins' college. The vicarage of Rosherville is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and national and British schools.—The sub-district contains also eight other parishes. Acres, 21, 768. Pop., 9, 600. Houses, 1,816.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Northfleet AP/CP       Northfleet SubD       Strood RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Northfleet

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