The secrets of Kent, the county you thought you knew

Everyone knows Kent. White cliffs, Canterbury Cathedral, Margate, hops.

But England’s oldest county, first recorded in the 4th century BC by the Greek voyager Pytheas, and the first port of call for Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, the Roman church and the Eurostar, is so much more than just the gateway to England. For those prepared to linger rather than simply pass through, there are secrets galore to seek out.

The secrets in fact begin at Dover. Dug into the White Cliffs of Dover’s Eastern Heights, below the Pharos, England’s first lighthouse and tallest Roman remain (40ft), and England’s first concentric castle, built by Henry II in 1180, is a warren of secret tunnels. Begun by King John in 1216, these were used in 1940 to mastermind Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk.

Across the valley, built into the cliffs of the Western Heights during the Napoleonic Wars, is the first and only triple spiral staircase in England, the Grand Shaft – two concentric hollow brick cylinders 140 ft high with three interlinked spiral stairways of 200 steps each set between them. This enabled three detachments of troops to descend quickly from the cliff-top barracks to the town in the event of an invasion.

And in 1970, archaeologists in Dover discovered near to the foot of the cliffs the remnants of what has been described as England’s finest Roman house, built around AD 200, complete with elaborate under-floor heating and the oldest wall paintings in the country.

An Emperor’s landing

Fifteen miles north of Dover, between Sandwich and Pegwell Bay, is Richborough Castle (Rutupiae) where the Roman invasion force under the Emperor Claudius landed in AD 43 and built a fort to protect what would become their most important port. Then they built England’s first paved road, now part of Watling Street, to convey their legions from Rutupiae to London, crossing the Medway at Rochester, the route followed today by the A2.

While witness to the Romans’ arrival, Kent also saw their departure. The legions evacuated through Rutupiae in AD 410, leaving behind one of England’s most spectacular Roman ruins, including the impressive foundations of a huge triumphal arch built at the starting point of Watling Street.

The Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived in Kent later in the 5th century, landing, like the Romans before them, at Pegwell Bay, and established Kent as England’s first kingdom.

England’s first Christian county

Next to land at Pegwell Bay was Saint Augustine, sent by the Pope to convert the heathen Saxons in AD 597. A monument marks the spot where he was met by King Ethelbert of Kent before going on to establish England’s first cathedral – and archbishopric – at Canterbury. Beside the cathedral, Augustine set up England’s first school, the King’s School, now the oldest continuously operating school in the world.

It is easy, while dazzled by the glories of Canterbury Cathedral, to overlook another important religious site, half a mile to the east, St Martin’s Church, a mix of Roman, Saxon, Norman and medieval work, and the oldest church in England in continuous use.

Already a church in Roman times, St Martin’s was enlarged by King Ethelbert and given to his Christian wife Bertha as a private chapel. Augustine initially set up his mission in St Martin’s and it is likely that Ethelbert was baptised as England’s first Christian king there, possibly at the Saxon font still in place.

England’s first Christmas Day was celebrated in AD 597 with the baptism of 10,000 Saxons on the fields beside the church where the remains of St Augustine’s Abbey now lie. King Ethelbert, Queen Bertha and Saint Augustine are buried there along with several kings of Kent and early archbishops of Canterbury.

Fittingly, as England’s first Christian county, Kent is the only English county with two Anglican cathedrals, the second being Rochester, begun by King Ethelbert and enlarged by the Normans in 1080. Not long afterwards, a castle was built to guard the river crossing. At 113 ft, its keep is one of the best preserved in England and the view from across the river of castle and cathedral together is one of the great sights of England.

Some seven miles north of Rochester, gazing across the bleak marshes of the Hoo peninsula to the Thames estuary, is St James’ Church at Cooling, in whose churchyard sit Pip’s Graves, 13 lonely gravestones of babies described in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations as “little stone lozenges each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their parents’ graves”. Dickens loved that desolate churchyard “more than any other” and made it the setting for the novel’s opening scene, where Pip meets the villainous Magwitch.

An historic and little known coastline

The Hoo peninsula marks the start of 350 miles of Kent coastline, surprisingly little known save for Dover and the brash delights of Margate. The Isle of Sheppey, for instance, is where England and the world learnt to fly. In 1909 the Aero Club of Great Britain built Britain’s first aerodrome on the marshes south of Leysdown-on-Sea. Amongst the first to use it were the Short Brothers, who built the world’s first aircraft factory there to manufacture six Wright Flyers.

On May 2 1909 John Moore-Brabazon flew for 1,500 ft above the Leysdown marshes in his Voison aircraft to complete the first powered flight by a British pilot. Two days later, Orville and Wilbur Wright visited Leysdown and were photographed with the Short Brothers and Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce fame standing outside the Aero Club’s headquarters, Muswell Manor, a 16th-century farmhouse now run as a B&B and a fascinating place to visit for anyone interested in early aviation. The photograph can be seen in the bar.

Historic Faversham is full of attractive streets lined with Tudor and Jacobean houses. King Stephen, his wife Matilda and son Eustace are buried in the parish church, their bones retrieved from the creek where they were tossed at the dissolution of Faversham’s abbey. The church also boasts a unique painted column dating from the 14th century, the colours still remarkably fresh and vivid. Faversham is also home to England’s oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame, founded in 1698.

Whitstable, renowned for its oysters, stands at one end of the Canterbury and Whitstable railway, the Crab and Winkle Line, which opened in 1830 as one of England’s earliest passenger railway lines and ran through the world’s first purpose-built railway tunnel at Tyler Hill. The six-mile route is now a walking and cycle path.

At Herne Bay you can see the world’s first purpose-built, free-standing clock tower, built in 1837 and designed in the style of a Grecian temple.

Ramsgate is England’s only Royal Harbour, an accolade bestowed by George IV in 1821 to thank the townsfolk for their hospitality when he passed through en route to Hanover. Perched on the cliffs above is The Grange, the earliest domestic example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture that would come to define Victorian England. It was designed and built in 1844 as a home by Augustus Pugin, responsible, amongst other things, for the clock faces of Big Ben. He is buried in the church next door.

And finally to Kent’s furthest south, Dungeness, a vast expanse of shingle scattered with quirky cottages made from old fishing boats and railway carriages and occupied by those who wish to get away from it all. The most famous resident is film director Derek Jarman, who lived until his death in 1994 in Prospect Cottage, a tiny, black clapboard affair near the beach.

Despite being flat, featureless and under the menacing shadow of a nuclear power station, Dungeness is strangely alluring in a melancholy sort of way. But keep it a secret.