Margate

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Approximate Population: 57,008

Margate is a seaside resort town within the Thanet district of East Kent, England. It lies 38.1 miles (61.3 km) east-northeast of Maidstone, along the North Foreland of the coastline of the United Kingdom.

Margate was recorded as “Meregate” in 1264 and as “Margate” in 1299, but the spelling continued to vary into modern times. The name is thought to refer to a pool gate or gap in a cliff where pools of water are found, often allowing swimmers to jump in. The cliffs of the Isle of Thanet are composed of chalk, a fossil-bearing rock.

The town’s history is tied closely to the sea and it has a proud maritime tradition. Margate was a “limb” of Dover in the ancient confederation of the Cinque ports. It was added to the confederation in the 15th century. Margate has been a leading seaside resort for at least 250 years. Like its neighbour Ramsgate, it has been a traditional holiday destination for Londoners drawn to its sandy beaches.

Since 1983, the Member of Parliament for North Thanet, covering northern Thanet and Herne Bay, has been the Conservative, Roger Gale. At the 2005 General Election, in North Thanet the Conservatives won a majority of 7,634 and 49.6% of the vote. Labour won 32.2% of the vote, Liberal Democrats 14.4% and United Kingdom Independence Party 3.9%.

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Canterbury

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Canterbury Kent

Approximate Population: 43,432

Canterbury lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, in South East England.   It lies on the River Stour.

Originally a Brythonic settlement, it was renamed Durovernum Cantiacorum by the Roman conquerors in the first century AD.   After the Jutish settlement it became their chief settlement, whence it gained its English name Canterbury, itself derived from the Old English Cantwareburh (”Kent people’s stronghold”).   After the Kingdom of Kent’s conversion to Christianity in 597, St Augustine founded an episcopal see in the city and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, a position that now heads the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Thomas Becket’s murder at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 led to the cathedral becoming a place of pilgrimage for Christians worldwide.   This pilgrimage provided the theme for Geoffery Chaucer’s 14th-century literary classic the Canterbury Tales.   The literary heritage continued with the birth of the playwright Christopher Marlowe in the city in the 16th century.

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Ashford

Web Design Ashford Kent

Approximate Population: 58,936

Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the River Great Stour, M20 motorway, South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most important in the county. Ashford is a relatively common English placename: it goes back to Old English æscet, indicating a ford near a clump of ash-trees.

As a market town, Ashford has for centuries been a local communications hub for surrounding villages and has stood at the centre of five railway lines, (Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line, Swanley to Ashford (via Maidstone East) Line, South Eastern Main Line, Kent Coast Line and the Marshlink Line) since the 19th century and with the opening of the International Passenger Station is now an important European communications centre, with new lines running between London and the Channel Tunnel (via High Speed 1).

The Borough of Ashford lies on the eastern edge of the ancient forest of “Andredsweald” or “Anderida”. This originally stretched as far west as Hampshire and formed the basis from which the Weald is formed.

It is likely that the town originates from an original settlement established in 893AD by inhabitants escaping a Danish Viking raid on the nearby ancient village of Great Chart (Seleberhtes Cert in 762AD), although a Roman road passed through here from the iron making area to Canterbury. It is listed in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, as having a church, two mills and a value of 150 shillings, under its original Saxon name of “Essetesford” (or “Eshetisford,” “Esselesford”, “Asshatisforde”, “Essheford”). The manor was owned by Hugh de Montford, Constable of England at the time. Writer Philpot believed Essetesford stood for “ash trees growing near a ford”, while Lampard, a 16th century local historian, suggested that it meant “a ford over the river Eshe or Eshet”, which was the old name for the tributary of the River Stour between Lenham and Ashford.

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