Maritime Kent Through the Ages

A wide-ranging history of the geography and communities of Kent from the earliest times to the present day.

A wide-ranging history of the geography and communities of Kent from the earliest times to the present day.

Kent, with its long coastline and its important geopolitical position close to London and continental Europe, and on major trading routes between Britain and the wider world, has had a very significant maritime history. This book covers a wide range of topics relating to that history from the earliest times to the present day. It sets Kent's varied coastline and waters in their geological and geographical context, showing how erosion and sediment deposition have contributed to the changing nature of maritime activities and populations. It examines Kent's strategic role in the defence of the country with the development and redevelopment of coastal defences, including four naval dockyards. It goes on to consider the supporting industries which grew up around the coastline, those which supplied raw materials and agricultural products from the county's hinterland, and its wider national and international trading links. It also discusses the diverse coastal communities of Kent and how they have changed in response to the demands of defence, trade, and changing population and migration patterns. In addition, the book includes detailed case studies which explore particular subject areas as exemplars of the major themes covered by the book.

List of illustrations
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1) Introduction - Stuart Bligh, Elizabeth Edwards and Sheila Sweetinburgh
Part 1 Topography
2) Kent's Changing Coastal Landscape: A View across Space and Time (or "where the land meets the sea"!) - Chris Young
Part II Defence
3) Defending the Kent coast - Roman to Anglo-Saxon - Keith Parfitt
4) The Maritime Defences of Kent from the Loss of Normandy to the Hundred Years' War - Adrian Jobson
5) To Defend the Coast - Chris Ware
6) Kent's Role in the National Defence Strategy, 1815 to 1865: Dockyards and Harbours in the Age of Steam - Andrew Lambert
Part III Trade and Industry
7) Trade and Industry during the Roman Period - Elizabeth Blanning
8) Far-Fetched Treasures: The Maritime Networks of the Kingdom of Kent - Andrew Richardson
9) Maritime Trade and Industry in Medieval Kent - Maryanne Kowaleski
10) The Early Modern Period 1500-1700: Trade and Industry - Jane Andrewes
11) Maritime Kent: Trade and Industry since 1700 - David Killingray
Part III Coastal Communities
12) Urban Privilege? The Advantages and Enjoyment of Cinque Ports Status in the Middle Ages - Gillian Draper
13) Empire, Race, and Diversifying Kent's History, c.1500-1840 - Ben Marsh and David Killingray
14) Maritime Communities in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Kent - Sandra Dunster
15) A Rich Diversity: Modern Kent Coastal Communities - Elizabeth Edwards
Part IV Case Studies
16) The Political and Strategic Importance of the Port of Sandwich in the Later Middle Ages c.1340-1500 - Susan Rose
17) "Ready for to go to the Sea": maintaining Fishing Families in Late Medieval Hythe - Sheila Sweetinburgh
18Saints and Weirs: Late Medieval and Early Modern Communities within a Small Island Landscape in North Kent - Melanie Caiazza
19) Early Modern Thanet: An Open Society - Gill Wyatt
20) "Dost Thou Know Dover?": Locating Dover in the Early Modern Literary Imagination c.1500-1660 - Claire Bartram
21) "fat persons bathing whose appearance was most disgusting": Entertaining Thanet in the Age of Steam - Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton
22) Rhododendrons and Raids: Dover Naval Women's Daily Life and Emotions in 1918 - Jo Stanley
23) Afterword - Margarette Lincoln
Bibliography
Index