Faversham
Encyclopedia
Faversham is a market town
and civil parish in the Swale
borough of Kent
, England
. The parish of Faversham (Feversham) grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.
conquest was held in royal
demesne
in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Kenulf, the King of Mercia
. It was recorded in the Domesday Book
as Favreshant. The town has regularly throughout its history obtained curious royal privileges and charters
In 1148 Faversham Abbey
was established in Faversham by King Stephen
who with his consort Matilda of Boulogne
, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne
was buried there. During Stephen's reign, Faversham was a very important settlement and even became the capital of England for a short period King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells
in 1201, but the church was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbey
at Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and kept Simon from receiving the church. Sir Thomas Culpeper
was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII of England
during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
about 1536. The abbey was demolished directly after the dissolution and much of its masonry taken to Calais
to reinforce that town's defences against French
interests. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney
, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
.
Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two Barns at Abbey Farm. The smaller (Minor) Barn dates from 1425 and the larger (Major) Barn dates from 1476. In the farmyard of which they form part there are other listed buildings, including Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century, and a small building which is thought to have been the Abbot’s stable. Also surviving is the Abbey Guest House, on the east side of the Outer Gateway of the Abbey; now known as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the infamous murder of Thomas Arden
in 1551. Globe House opposite is thought to have been the Abbey steward's home. The Faversham Almshouses
were founded and endowed by Thomas Mendfield in 1614 and exist to this day.
Kent is the centre of hop-growing
in England and Faversham was home to three breweries - Fremlins, Whitbread and Shepherd Neame. Of these only the Shepherd Neame Brewery survives; founded in 1698 it claims to be the oldest brewery in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The years during the First World War saw an uncertain time for the breweries. In the first instance, the scarcity of labour soon became evident from 1915, as a number of employees turned to offers of higher wages elsewhere, including the local ammunition
s works.
A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world. Vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette both constructed of concrete were the forerunners to over 1200 ships built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.
Abbey Street and the centre of the town include a remarkable collection of original medieval houses. Much of it was intended for demolition as recently as the 1960s, until the value of the buildings, now listed, was recognised and local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeology
projects are run every year. Most recently, evidence of the town’s medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project in 2005.
plant was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of Faversham Abbey
. With their estates and endowments
monasteries were keen to invest in promising technology.
The town was well-placed for the industry. It had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. On its outskirts were low-lying areas ideal for the culture of alder
and willow
to provide charcoal
— one of the three key gunpowder ingredients. The stream fed into a tidal Creek where sulphur, another key ingredient, could be imported, and the finished product loaded for dispatch to Thames-side magazines. The port was also near the Continent where in warfare demand for the product was brisk.
The first factories were small, near the town, and alongside the stream, between the London-Dover road (now A2) and the head of the creek. By the early 18th century these had coalesced into a single plant, later to be known as the Home Works, as it was the town’s first. In 1759 the British government nationalised the works, upgrading all the machinery. From this phase dates the Chart Gunpowder Mill, the oldest of its kind in the world. This was rescued from the jaws of the bulldozer, and then restored, by the Faversham Society in 1966. It is open to the public on weekends and Bank Holiday afternoons between April and the end of October.
A second factory was started by Huguenot
asylum-seekers, towards the end of the 17th century, and became known as the Oare Works. It became a leading supplier to the East India Company
. The third and last gunpowder factory to open was the Marsh Works, built by the British government 1 km northwest of the town to augment output at its Home Works and opened in 1787. This also had access to the sea via Oare Creek.
All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934. ICI
, then the owners, sensed that war might break out with Germany, and realised that Faversham would then become vulnerable to air attacks or possibly invasion. They transferred production, together with key staff and machinery, to Ardeer
in Ayrshire
, Scotland.
Guncotton, the first “high explosive”, more useful for its destructive powers, was invented by Dr Christian Schonbein, of the University of Basel
, in 1846. It was first manufactured, under licence from him, at Faversham’s Marsh Works in 1847. The manufacturing process was not fully understood and on 11 a.m. 14 July 1847 a serious explosion killed 21 people (18 staff), only 10 of whose bodies could be identified. Discretion being the better part of valour, the factory owners shut the plant. Guncotton was not made again in Faversham till 1873, when the Cotton Powder Company, independent of the gunpowder factories, opened a factory on a remote new site. Near Uplees
, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of the town centre but still within the parish, this was alongside the Swale
, the deep-water channel that divides mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey. Deliveries of raw materials — cotton waste and sulphuric and nitric acids — could readily be made, and the product readily dispatched by water.
The factory rapidly expanded, producing new high explosives as they were formulated. Adjoining it, on the west, in 1913 an associate venture, the Explosives Loading Company, built a plant to fill bombs and shells. Both plants were high-tech, with a power station, hydraulic mains, and internal telephone and tramway systems. Together they occupied an area of 500 acres (2 km²) — almost as large as the City of London.
When the First World War started in 1914, the two factories were requisitioned by the Admiralty
and armed guards were mounted. Production facilities were further expanded and many new staff recruited from Faversham and elsewhere in east Kent. Road access for the workers was poor, so the Admiralty built a metre-gauge railway to transport them
from a terminus at Davington
, near the Home Works, to Uplees.
On Sunday 2 April 1916, a store of TNT and ammonium nitrate (used to “stretch” the TNT) exploded. More than 100 staff were killed in this explosion and in other “sympathetic” ones that followed. It was a Sunday, so no women were at work (see below).
The owners of both Swale-side factories closed permanently in 1919. The Davington Light Railway
track was lifted, and its three steam locomotives found new homes in South America, where at least one is thought to survive. The station sites at Davington and Uplees have been obliterated by development, but the route of the trackbed at Oare can be traced, and the tunnel under the road at Oare still exists.
However, in 1924 a new venture, the Mining Explosives Company, opened a factory on the east side of Faversham Creek, not far from the site of Faversham Abbey — hence its Abbey Works name. Its Mexico telegraphic address led to it being known as “The Mexico” by local people. After a fatal accident in 1939 the proprietors decided to abandon the manufacture of high explosives and instead make an explosive-substitute based on a large reusable steel cartridge filled with carbon dioxide
. The premises still needed to be licensed under the 1875 Explosives Act, as gunpowder was used in the initiator. Under the name Long Airdox, production continues today. Unusually, the company is owned by its main customers. Its appearance is still that of a traditional high explosive factories, with small buildings widely spaced for safety. It has one of the UK’s few surviving manumotive railways.
ripped through the gunpowder mill
at Uplees, near Faversham, when 200 ton
s of TNT ignited. The blast killed 105 people and many were buried in a mass grave
at Faversham Cemetery
.
The weather might have contributed to the origins of the fire
that followed on the morning of Sunday 2 April 1916. The previous month had been wet but had ended with a short dry spell so that by that Sunday the weather was "glorious" ... but provided perfect conditions for heat-generated combustion.
The munitions factory was in a remote spot in the middle of the open marshes of north Kent, next to the Thames coastline, which explains why the great explosion at about noon on 2 April was heard across the Thames estuary
as far away as Norwich
, Great Yarmouth
and Southend-on-Sea
, where domestic windows were blown out and two large plate-glass shop windows shattered.
The East Kent Gazette of Sittingbourne
reported the explosion on 29 April. Although recognising the need for some censorship
, it referred to the reply given in Parliament to the question as "mystifying and ambiguous" and called for the fullest precautions to be implemented to "prevent another calamity of the kind" occurring again.
Although not the first such disaster of this kind to have happened at Faversham’s historic munitions works, the April 1916 blast is recorded as "the worst ever in the history of the UK explosives industry", and yet the full picture is still somewhat confused. The reason for the fire is uncertain and considering the quantity of explosive chemical stored at the works — with one report indicating that a further 3,000 tons remained in nearby sheds unaffected — it is remarkable, and a tribute to those who struggled against the fire that so much of the nation's munitions were prevented from contributing further to the catastrophe.
The Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener, had in 1914 written to the management of the CPC, and it is presumed the ELC, instructing the workforce on "the importance of the government work upon which they (were) engaged". "I should like all engaged by your company to know that it is fully recognised that they, in carrying out the great work of supplying munitions of war, are doing their duty for their King and Country, equally with those who have joined the Army for active service in the field," Kitchener said.
The Marsh Works then became a site for mineral extraction, as it remains today, and almost all its buildings were destroyed. Except for Chart Mill, Stonebridge Pond, and a few other buildings, most of the Home Works site was redeveloped for housing in the 1960s. The Oare Works is now a country park, known as Oare Gunpowder Works.
. The parliamentary constituency of Faversham
was created for the 1885 general election
and replaced by the new constituencies of Sittingbourne and Sheppey and Faversham and Mid Kent at the 1997 general election
. The town has been represented by a Member of Parliament
from the Conservative Party
other than between 1945-1970. Since 2001, the constituency's MP has been Hugh Robertson of the Conservatives.
Faversham is within the Swale
local government district. The town contains the four electoral wards of Abbey, Davington
Priory, St Ann's and Watling. These wards have seven of the forty seven seats on the Swale Borough Council. As of the 2007 Local Elections
, all seven of those seats were held by the Conservatives
.
The town has absorbed several former civil parishes such as Buckland-by-Faversham
and Faversham Without
. The latter was founded in 1894 to the west of the town, but reduced to a series of exclaves by 1961 as new parishes were carved out of it such as Graveney
, Luddenham, Oare
and Sheldwich
.
and Canterbury
. It lies 48 miles (77.2 km) east of London
, off the London-to-Dover
A2 road
, 18 miles (29 km) east north east of Maidstone
and 9 miles (14.5 km) west of Canterbury. The parish holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK
. 38.5C (101.3F) was recorded at the Brogdale Horticultural Trust
on 10 August 2003. Nearby villages include Oare
across Oare Creek to the north, Luddenham, Mockbeggar
and Ospringe
.
The historic central area, especially the part-pedestrian parts between the station and the creek, attracts visitors, who can learn about the town's history and features at the Fleur-de-Lis centre, which provides tourist information and houses a museum. There is still a regular market several days each week in the market square where the Guildhall stands. Nearby streets feature old pubs, almshouse
s, shops and a growing collection of art galleries and restaurants.
As of the 2001 UK census
, Faversham had a population of 17,710.
The ethnicity of the town was 98.6% white
, 0.6% mixed race, 0.1% black
, 0.3% non-Chinese Asia
n and 0.4% Chinese
or other.
The place of birth of residents was 96.4% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland
, 0.3% Germany
, 0.7% other Western Europe
countries, 0.4% Far East
, 0.4% Africa
, 0.3% North America
, 0.3% South Asia
, 0.3% Oceania
, 0.2% Eastern Europe
and 0.2% Middle East
.
Religion was recorded as 75.6% Christian
, 0.3% Muslim
, 0.1% Hindu
, 0.2% Buddhist and 0.1% Jewish. 15.4% were recorded as having no religion, 0.4% had an alternative religion and 7.8% did not state their religion.
For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. The age distribution was 7% aged 0–4 years, 14% aged 5–15 years, 5% aged 16–19 years, 33% aged 20–44 years, 24% aged 45–64 years and 17% aged 65 years and over.
17% of residents aged 16–74 had a Bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 20% nationally.
are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside. Shepherd Neame
remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes Indian and other beers under licence and its largely Kentish pub estate is as noted for its food as its owner's beers.
As of the 2001 UK census
, 6,210 people were employed within the town and 8,166 of the town's residents were in employment; the economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 42.2% in full-time
employment, 13.8% in part-time
employment, 7.3% self-employed, 2.7% unemployed, 2.4% student
s with jobs, 2.9% students without jobs, 14.2% retired, 7.2% looking after home or family
, 4.6% permanently sick or disabled and 2.5% economically inactive for other reasons. The rate of unemployment in the town of 2.7% was below the national rate of 3.4%.
The industry of employment of residents was 19% retail, 14% manufacturing, 11% real estate, 10% health & social work
, 10% education, 9% construction, 7% transport & communication
s, 5% public administration
, 4% hotels & restaurants, 4% finance, 2% agriculture and 5% other community, social or personal services. Compared to national figures, the town had a relatively high number of workers in agriculture and construction and a relatively low number in finance, public administration and hotels & restaurants.
is a play about the murder of Thomas Arden written in 1592, possibly by William Shakespeare
. It gives its name to the modern Arden Theatre in the town, and inspired the 1966 opera Arden Must Die
(Arden muss sterben) by Alexander Goehr
. The work of local artists is revealed in open houses linked to the Canterbury Festival
each autumn. There is an early and largely unchanged but functioning cinema. The town has close links with MUSEA (Music School of Eastern Africa)
in Kenya, and the parish church hosts fundraising concerts for MUSEA each year.
The Maison Dieu
('House of God') is a hospital, monastery, hostel, retirement home and Royal lodge commissioned by Henry III
in 1234 and now in the care of English Heritage
. Located beside what is now the A2 road
, it is now managed by the Faversham Society as a museum of Roman
artefacts from the surrounding area.
The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale
, two miles to the south, has over 2,040 varieties of apple, 502 of pear, 350 of plum, 322 of cherry and smaller collections of bush fruits, nuts and grapes, all grown in 150 acres (60.7 ha) of orchards. Formerly a government research station, it is now run by a charity that organises annual events celebrating Kent's agricultural heritage, its biodiversity and local products such as Kentish cider which is made from dessert apples rather than cider apples. The 9-inch Faversham miniature railway
runs through the orchards.
In November 2011 it was discovered that the town owns an original version of Magna Carta
, potentially worth about £20 M, rather than a copy worth only £10,000.
are an important reserve for birds, attracting binocular-toting enthusiasts to view the many species of migrants. There is an interesting information centre (as well as other bird hides) near the site of the former Harty ferry over the Swale to the Isle of Sheppey
. Remains of the process houses and other mill leat
s have been carefully conserved. From the visitor centre, signed trails radiate in various directions. An early 20th century electric-powered gunpowder mill which was transferred to Ardeer (in Ayrshire
, Scotland
) in 1934 has been repatriated to the country park and is on display. The 18th-century works bell has also been repatriated and is on display at Faversham’s Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre.
is the ruined Church of Our Lady of Elwarton, an Ancient Monument
managed by The Faversham Society. Its origins date back to the Roman era when it was used for pagan purposes. In AD 601 Pope Gregory directed St Augustine not to destroy pagan buildings, but to adapt them for Christian use; this is an example of a building that was converted. It was reported to be in disrepair by 1511 and seems to have been abandoned by 1600.
, the historically important route from London to Canterbury and the Channel ports. This was an ancient trackway
which the Romans later paved and identified as Iter III on the Antonine Itinerary
. The Anglo-Saxons named it Wæcelinga Stræt which developed into Watling Street, now the A2 road
. In turn the A2 was supplanted by the M2 motorway and the more southerly M20 motorway through Ashford.
Trains travel from Faversham railway station
to London
, terminating at either Victoria or St. Pancras International. In the other direction, trains travel either to Dover Priory
(via Canterbury East
) or to Ramsgate
(via Margate
). Since 13 December 2009 Southeastern Highspeed
links Faversham to High Speed 1, Ebbsfleet International
, and London's Stratford International
and London St Pancras
stations.
National Cycle Route 1 passes through the town.
is a selective co-educational grammar school with approximately 850 students. It was formed in 1967 by the merger of Faversham Grammar School for Boys, the William Gibbs School for Girls and the Wreights School. The merged school stands on the site of the abbey. The Abbey School is a Business and Enterprise Academy formed in September 1983 by the amalgamation of the Ethelbert Road Boys School and Lady Capel School for Girls. It has over 1000 pupils and is located in the south of the town, beside the A2 London Road.
was dissolved by Henry VIII
the nearby St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church
remains. It has an unusual 18th-century flying spire, known as a crown or corona spire, which is visible for long distances. The interior was restored
and transformed by Sir George Gilbert Scott
, known for St Pancras Station, the Foreign Office and many college and cathedral buildings, in 1874. Notable features of the church include the reputed tomb of King Stephen
(the church is thus one of only a few churches outside London where an English king was interred), nationally important misericords in the quire
, a rare medieval painted pillar and a recently installed altar dedicated to Saints Crispin and Crispinian
. The church supports a strong choral tradition with a choir of adults and children who sing Anglican matins, evensong and communion.
St Catherine's Church
dates from the Norman period and was extensively restored
in the 1860s. The National Shrine of Saint Jude
is a Roman Catholic shrine in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
were formed in 1884 and compete in Division One South of the Isthmian League
. They have a 2000-seat stadium to the south of the town and are the only team besides the England national football team to wear the 3 lions badge. The King George V playing fields are all that remain of the Mount Field
, which in 1876 hosted a first-class
match between Kent
and Hampshire County Cricket Club
.
was a philosopher born in Faversham around 1260 who became Chancellor of Oxford University in 1304. Haymo of Faversham
was a thirteenth-century scholar born in the town who joined the Franciscan
s after having a vision of himself praying before the crucifix in the local church. Jack Ward was born in Faversham around 1553 and started life as a fisherman before he turned to piracy, becoming a notorious Barbary corsair. John Wilson
was a composer, lute
nist and teacher born in Faversham in 1595 who was principal composer
for the King's Men
and professor of music at Oxford. The Irish novelist Kate O'Brien
lived nearby and is buried in Faversham cemetery. Violet Wood
was born in Dargate in 1899 and is the oldest person in Britain.
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
and civil parish in the Swale
Swale
Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The borough is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the...
borough of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The parish of Faversham (Feversham) grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.
History
Faversham, established as a settlement before the RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
conquest was held in royal
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Kenulf, the King of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. It was recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Favreshant. The town has regularly throughout its history obtained curious royal privileges and charters
In 1148 Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey was a Cluny style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham in the county of Kent in England.It was founded by King Stephen and his queen Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey Abbey provided the nucleus and the first abbot.The Abbey was...
was established in Faversham by King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
who with his consort Matilda of Boulogne
Matilda of Boulogne
Matilda I was suo jure Countess of Boulogne. She was also queen consort of England as the wife of King Stephen.-Biography:...
, and his son, Eustace, the Earl of Boulogne
Eustace IV of Boulogne
Eustace IV was a Count of Boulogne and the son and heir of King Stephen of England. He became the Heir Apparent to his father's lands by the death of an elder brother before 1135, and inherited Boulogne through his mother, Matilda of Boulogne.In 1137, he did homage for Normandy to Louis VII of...
was buried there. During Stephen's reign, Faversham was a very important settlement and even became the capital of England for a short period King John tried to give the church to Simon of Wells
Simon of Wells
Simon of Wells was a medieval Bishop of Chichester.-Life:...
in 1201, but the church was owned by the monks of St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Canterbury, Kent, England.-Early history:In 597 Saint Augustine arrived in England, having been sent by Pope Gregory I, on what might nowadays be called a revival mission. The King of Kent at this time was Æthelberht, who happened to be married to a...
at Canterbury, who appealed to Rome and kept Simon from receiving the church. Sir Thomas Culpeper
Thomas Culpeper
Sir Thomas Culpeper was a courtier of Henry VIII and the lover of Henry's fifth queen, Catherine Howard. He was born to Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury, to the south of Maidstone in Kent, and his second wife, Constance Harper. He was the middle child and his older brother, also named Thomas, was a...
was granted Faversham Abbey by Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
about 1536. The abbey was demolished directly after the dissolution and much of its masonry taken to Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
to reinforce that town's defences against French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
interests. In 1539, the ground upon which the abbey had stood, along with nearby land, passed to Sir Thomas Cheney
Thomas Cheney
Sir Thomas Cheney KG was the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in South-East England, from 1536 until his death.-Early life:...
, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century but may be older. The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was originally in charge of the Cinque Ports, a group of five port towns on the southeast coast of England...
.
Among the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey are the two Barns at Abbey Farm. The smaller (Minor) Barn dates from 1425 and the larger (Major) Barn dates from 1476. In the farmyard of which they form part there are other listed buildings, including Abbey Farmhouse, part of which dates from the 14th century, and a small building which is thought to have been the Abbot’s stable. Also surviving is the Abbey Guest House, on the east side of the Outer Gateway of the Abbey; now known as Arden's House. This house, now a private residence in Abbey Street, was the location of the infamous murder of Thomas Arden
Alice Arden
Alice Arden was the daughter of John Brigantine and Alice Squire, who conspired to have her husband, Thomas Arden of Faversham, murdered so she could carry on with a long-term affair with a tailor, Richard Moseby. The murder took place on 14 February 1551...
in 1551. Globe House opposite is thought to have been the Abbey steward's home. The Faversham Almshouses
Faversham Almshouses
-History:Almshouses for six widows were founded and endowed by Thomas Mendfield in 1614.In 1721 Thomas Napleton founded and endowed houses for six men....
were founded and endowed by Thomas Mendfield in 1614 and exist to this day.
Kent is the centre of hop-growing
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
in England and Faversham was home to three breweries - Fremlins, Whitbread and Shepherd Neame. Of these only the Shepherd Neame Brewery survives; founded in 1698 it claims to be the oldest brewery in Britain and continues to be family-owned. The years during the First World War saw an uncertain time for the breweries. In the first instance, the scarcity of labour soon became evident from 1915, as a number of employees turned to offers of higher wages elsewhere, including the local ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
s works.
A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty. Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world. Vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette both constructed of concrete were the forerunners to over 1200 ships built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.
Abbey Street and the centre of the town include a remarkable collection of original medieval houses. Much of it was intended for demolition as recently as the 1960s, until the value of the buildings, now listed, was recognised and local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area. Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeology
Community archaeology
Community archaeology is archaeology by the people for the people. The field is also known as public archaeology. There is debate about whether the terms are interchangeable; some believe that community archaeology is but one form of public archaeology, which can include many other modes of...
projects are run every year. Most recently, evidence of the town’s medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street, and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project in 2005.
Explosives industry
Faversham was the cradle of the UK’s explosives industry: it was also to become one of its main centres. The first gunpowderGunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
plant was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey was a Cluny style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham in the county of Kent in England.It was founded by King Stephen and his queen Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey Abbey provided the nucleus and the first abbot.The Abbey was...
. With their estates and endowments
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
monasteries were keen to invest in promising technology.
The town was well-placed for the industry. It had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. On its outskirts were low-lying areas ideal for the culture of alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
to provide charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
— one of the three key gunpowder ingredients. The stream fed into a tidal Creek where sulphur, another key ingredient, could be imported, and the finished product loaded for dispatch to Thames-side magazines. The port was also near the Continent where in warfare demand for the product was brisk.
The first factories were small, near the town, and alongside the stream, between the London-Dover road (now A2) and the head of the creek. By the early 18th century these had coalesced into a single plant, later to be known as the Home Works, as it was the town’s first. In 1759 the British government nationalised the works, upgrading all the machinery. From this phase dates the Chart Gunpowder Mill, the oldest of its kind in the world. This was rescued from the jaws of the bulldozer, and then restored, by the Faversham Society in 1966. It is open to the public on weekends and Bank Holiday afternoons between April and the end of October.
A second factory was started by Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
asylum-seekers, towards the end of the 17th century, and became known as the Oare Works. It became a leading supplier to the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. The third and last gunpowder factory to open was the Marsh Works, built by the British government 1 km northwest of the town to augment output at its Home Works and opened in 1787. This also had access to the sea via Oare Creek.
All three gunpowder factories closed in 1934. ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
, then the owners, sensed that war might break out with Germany, and realised that Faversham would then become vulnerable to air attacks or possibly invasion. They transferred production, together with key staff and machinery, to Ardeer
Ardeer, Scotland
Ardeer lies at the head of the Ardeer peninsula, now part of Stevenston, North Ayrshire, and was a dominant global supplier of explosives to the mining and quarrying industries and a major player in the design and development of products for the chemical and defence industries during the 20th...
in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
, Scotland.
Guncotton, the first “high explosive”, more useful for its destructive powers, was invented by Dr Christian Schonbein, of the University of Basel
University of Basel
The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...
, in 1846. It was first manufactured, under licence from him, at Faversham’s Marsh Works in 1847. The manufacturing process was not fully understood and on 11 a.m. 14 July 1847 a serious explosion killed 21 people (18 staff), only 10 of whose bodies could be identified. Discretion being the better part of valour, the factory owners shut the plant. Guncotton was not made again in Faversham till 1873, when the Cotton Powder Company, independent of the gunpowder factories, opened a factory on a remote new site. Near Uplees
Uplees
Uplees is a hamlet north of Faversham in southeast England. It was a key part of the Faversham explosives industry during World War I, with the Cotton Powder Company importing raw materials via the deepwater channel of the Swale, and the associated Explosives Loading Company exporting completed...
, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of the town centre but still within the parish, this was alongside the Swale
Swale
Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The borough is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the...
, the deep-water channel that divides mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey. Deliveries of raw materials — cotton waste and sulphuric and nitric acids — could readily be made, and the product readily dispatched by water.
The factory rapidly expanded, producing new high explosives as they were formulated. Adjoining it, on the west, in 1913 an associate venture, the Explosives Loading Company, built a plant to fill bombs and shells. Both plants were high-tech, with a power station, hydraulic mains, and internal telephone and tramway systems. Together they occupied an area of 500 acres (2 km²) — almost as large as the City of London.
When the First World War started in 1914, the two factories were requisitioned by the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
and armed guards were mounted. Production facilities were further expanded and many new staff recruited from Faversham and elsewhere in east Kent. Road access for the workers was poor, so the Admiralty built a metre-gauge railway to transport them
Davington Light Railway
The Davington Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway built to serve the armaments factories near Davington, in Kent, England. It ran between Davington and Uplees.-History:...
from a terminus at Davington
Davington
Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England.The population of Davington parish is approaching 6,000. Davington Priory is a local government ward within the Faversham Town Council and Swale Borough Council areas...
, near the Home Works, to Uplees.
On Sunday 2 April 1916, a store of TNT and ammonium nitrate (used to “stretch” the TNT) exploded. More than 100 staff were killed in this explosion and in other “sympathetic” ones that followed. It was a Sunday, so no women were at work (see below).
The owners of both Swale-side factories closed permanently in 1919. The Davington Light Railway
Davington Light Railway
The Davington Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway built to serve the armaments factories near Davington, in Kent, England. It ran between Davington and Uplees.-History:...
track was lifted, and its three steam locomotives found new homes in South America, where at least one is thought to survive. The station sites at Davington and Uplees have been obliterated by development, but the route of the trackbed at Oare can be traced, and the tunnel under the road at Oare still exists.
However, in 1924 a new venture, the Mining Explosives Company, opened a factory on the east side of Faversham Creek, not far from the site of Faversham Abbey — hence its Abbey Works name. Its Mexico telegraphic address led to it being known as “The Mexico” by local people. After a fatal accident in 1939 the proprietors decided to abandon the manufacture of high explosives and instead make an explosive-substitute based on a large reusable steel cartridge filled with carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
. The premises still needed to be licensed under the 1875 Explosives Act, as gunpowder was used in the initiator. Under the name Long Airdox, production continues today. Unusually, the company is owned by its main customers. Its appearance is still that of a traditional high explosive factories, with small buildings widely spaced for safety. It has one of the UK’s few surviving manumotive railways.
Great Explosion
At 2.20pm on Sunday 2 April 1916, a huge explosionExplosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
ripped through the gunpowder mill
Powder mill
The term powder mill is usually used for a mill that manufactures blackpowder, a type of gunpowder.A powder mill could be driven by wind or water power, and contained rollers for grinding the ingredients of gunpowder together, as well as presses and tumbling barrels and sieves for compacting,...
at Uplees, near Faversham, when 200 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s of TNT ignited. The blast killed 105 people and many were buried in a mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
at Faversham Cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
.
The weather might have contributed to the origins of the fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
that followed on the morning of Sunday 2 April 1916. The previous month had been wet but had ended with a short dry spell so that by that Sunday the weather was "glorious" ... but provided perfect conditions for heat-generated combustion.
The munitions factory was in a remote spot in the middle of the open marshes of north Kent, next to the Thames coastline, which explains why the great explosion at about noon on 2 April was heard across the Thames estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
as far away as Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
and Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, where domestic windows were blown out and two large plate-glass shop windows shattered.
The East Kent Gazette of Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...
reported the explosion on 29 April. Although recognising the need for some censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, it referred to the reply given in Parliament to the question as "mystifying and ambiguous" and called for the fullest precautions to be implemented to "prevent another calamity of the kind" occurring again.
Although not the first such disaster of this kind to have happened at Faversham’s historic munitions works, the April 1916 blast is recorded as "the worst ever in the history of the UK explosives industry", and yet the full picture is still somewhat confused. The reason for the fire is uncertain and considering the quantity of explosive chemical stored at the works — with one report indicating that a further 3,000 tons remained in nearby sheds unaffected — it is remarkable, and a tribute to those who struggled against the fire that so much of the nation's munitions were prevented from contributing further to the catastrophe.
The Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener, had in 1914 written to the management of the CPC, and it is presumed the ELC, instructing the workforce on "the importance of the government work upon which they (were) engaged". "I should like all engaged by your company to know that it is fully recognised that they, in carrying out the great work of supplying munitions of war, are doing their duty for their King and Country, equally with those who have joined the Army for active service in the field," Kitchener said.
The Marsh Works then became a site for mineral extraction, as it remains today, and almost all its buildings were destroyed. Except for Chart Mill, Stonebridge Pond, and a few other buildings, most of the Home Works site was redeveloped for housing in the 1960s. The Oare Works is now a country park, known as Oare Gunpowder Works.
Government
A charter was granted to the Mayor, Jurats and Freemen of the Town of Faversham in 1546, and regranted 1685; the town council was established under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 – sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales...
. The parliamentary constituency of Faversham
Faversham (UK Parliament constituency)
Faversham was a parliamentary constituency centered on the town of Faversham in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
was created for the 1885 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1885
-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...
and replaced by the new constituencies of Sittingbourne and Sheppey and Faversham and Mid Kent at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
. The town has been represented by a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
from the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
other than between 1945-1970. Since 2001, the constituency's MP has been Hugh Robertson of the Conservatives.
Faversham is within the Swale
Swale
Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The borough is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the...
local government district. The town contains the four electoral wards of Abbey, Davington
Davington
Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England.The population of Davington parish is approaching 6,000. Davington Priory is a local government ward within the Faversham Town Council and Swale Borough Council areas...
Priory, St Ann's and Watling. These wards have seven of the forty seven seats on the Swale Borough Council. As of the 2007 Local Elections
United Kingdom local elections, 2007
The 2007 UK local government elections were held on 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern...
, all seven of those seats were held by the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
The town has absorbed several former civil parishes such as Buckland-by-Faversham
Buckland-by-Faversham
Buckland-by-Faversham was one of the parishes to the south-west of Faversham in Kent, England. It is now part of Faversham town. The parish church no longer exists, and is covered by the church at Norton-External links:*...
and Faversham Without
Faversham Without
Faversham Without was a civil parish around Faversham in southeast England. It was founded in 1894, and over the next 70 years was reduced in size to form other parishes Graveney, Luddenham, Oare and Sheldwich. In 1961 it existed as a series of exclaves....
. The latter was founded in 1894 to the west of the town, but reduced to a series of exclaves by 1961 as new parishes were carved out of it such as Graveney
Graveney
Graveney is a relatively small but widely dispersed village located between Faversham and Whitstable in Kent, England. The main part of the village is located along the intersection of Seasalter Road, Sandbanks Road and Head Hill Road , which is surrounded by farmland...
, Luddenham, Oare
Oare, Kent
Oare is a village and civil parish north of Faversham in southeast England. It is separated from Faversham by the Oare Creek. To the north of the village are the Oare Marshes, and the Harty Ferry which linked to Harty on the Isle of Sheppey. Kent Wildlife Trust manages a nature reserve that is an...
and Sheldwich
Sheldwich
Sheldwich is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swale in Kent, England.-Geography:It is situated 3 miles south of the market town of Faversham, and 10 miles north of Ashford...
.
Geography
Faversham is roughly equidistant between SittingbourneSittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...
and Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. It lies 48 miles (77.2 km) east of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, off the London-to-Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
A2 road
A2 road (Great Britain)
The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
, 18 miles (29 km) east north east of Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
and 9 miles (14.5 km) west of Canterbury. The parish holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. 38.5C (101.3F) was recorded at the Brogdale Horticultural Trust
Brogdale
Brogdale is a hamlet in Kent, England, located beside the M2 motorway south of Faversham. It is one of several hamlets making up the civil parish of Ospringe and is in the Borough of Swale....
on 10 August 2003. Nearby villages include Oare
Oare, Kent
Oare is a village and civil parish north of Faversham in southeast England. It is separated from Faversham by the Oare Creek. To the north of the village are the Oare Marshes, and the Harty Ferry which linked to Harty on the Isle of Sheppey. Kent Wildlife Trust manages a nature reserve that is an...
across Oare Creek to the north, Luddenham, Mockbeggar
Mockbeggar, Swale
Mockbeggar is a hamlet situated north of the A2 road to the east of Teynham in Swale in Kent, England....
and Ospringe
Ospringe
Ospringe is a village and civil parish in the English county of Kent. It has a population of 715. Located south of Faversham, Ospringe forms part of the Borough of Swale...
.
The historic central area, especially the part-pedestrian parts between the station and the creek, attracts visitors, who can learn about the town's history and features at the Fleur-de-Lis centre, which provides tourist information and houses a museum. There is still a regular market several days each week in the market square where the Guildhall stands. Nearby streets feature old pubs, almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s, shops and a growing collection of art galleries and restaurants.
Demography
| Faversham Compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK Census United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.... |
Faversham | Swale | England |
| Total population | 17,710 | 122,801 | 49,138,831 |
| Foreign born | 3.6% | 3.6% | 9.2% |
| White | 99% | 98% | 91% |
| Asian | 0.5% | 0.7% | 4.6% |
| Black | 0.1% | 0.3% | 2.3% |
| Christian | 76% | 76% | 72% |
| Muslim | 0.3% | 0.4% | 3.1% |
| Hindu | 0.1% | 0.2% | 1.1% |
| No religion | 15% | 15% | 15% |
| Over 65 years old | 17% | 16% | 16% |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 17% | 12% | 20% |
As of the 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Faversham had a population of 17,710.
The ethnicity of the town was 98.6% white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, 0.6% mixed race, 0.1% black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
, 0.3% non-Chinese Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n and 0.4% Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
or other.
The place of birth of residents was 96.4% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, 0.3% Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, 0.7% other Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
countries, 0.4% Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, 0.4% Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, 0.3% North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, 0.3% South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, 0.3% Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, 0.2% Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and 0.2% Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
Religion was recorded as 75.6% Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, 0.3% Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, 0.1% Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, 0.2% Buddhist and 0.1% Jewish. 15.4% were recorded as having no religion, 0.4% had an alternative religion and 7.8% did not state their religion.
For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. The age distribution was 7% aged 0–4 years, 14% aged 5–15 years, 5% aged 16–19 years, 33% aged 20–44 years, 24% aged 45–64 years and 17% aged 65 years and over.
17% of residents aged 16–74 had a Bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 20% nationally.
Economy
The munition industry in the area is now extinct and the town is now known as a harbour and market community; old sail-powered Thames bargesThames sailing barge
A Thames sailing barge was a type of commercial sailing boat common on the River Thames in London in the 19th century. The flat-bottomed barges were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narrow rivers....
are repaired, rebuilt and moored along the creekside. Shepherd Neame
Shepherd Neame
Shepherd Neame is an English regional brewery founded in 1698 by Richard Marsh in Faversham, Kent. It is a family owned brewery that produces a range of cask ales and filtered beers. Production is around 230,000 barrels a year...
remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year. It now also makes Indian and other beers under licence and its largely Kentish pub estate is as noted for its food as its owner's beers.
As of the 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, 6,210 people were employed within the town and 8,166 of the town's residents were in employment; the economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 42.2% in full-time
Full time
Full-time employment is employment in which the employee works the full number of hours defined as such by his/her employer. Full-time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically offered to part-time, temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sickleave, and health...
employment, 13.8% in part-time
Part time
A part-time job is a form of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. Workers are considered to be part time if they commonly work fewer than 30 or 35 hours per week...
employment, 7.3% self-employed, 2.7% unemployed, 2.4% student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s with jobs, 2.9% students without jobs, 14.2% retired, 7.2% looking after home or family
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
, 4.6% permanently sick or disabled and 2.5% economically inactive for other reasons. The rate of unemployment in the town of 2.7% was below the national rate of 3.4%.
The industry of employment of residents was 19% retail, 14% manufacturing, 11% real estate, 10% health & social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
, 10% education, 9% construction, 7% transport & communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s, 5% public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
, 4% hotels & restaurants, 4% finance, 2% agriculture and 5% other community, social or personal services. Compared to national figures, the town had a relatively high number of workers in agriculture and construction and a relatively low number in finance, public administration and hotels & restaurants.
Culture
Arden of FevershamArden of Faversham
Arden of Faversham is an Elizabethan play, entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 3 April 1592, and printed later that same year by Edward White. It depicts the murder of one Thomas Arden by his wife Alice Arden and her lover, and their subsequent discovery and punishment...
is a play about the murder of Thomas Arden written in 1592, possibly by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. It gives its name to the modern Arden Theatre in the town, and inspired the 1966 opera Arden Must Die
Arden Must Die
Arden Must Die is an opera by Alexander Goehr.The German libretto was written by Erich Fried, with an English version by Geoffrey Skelton. It tells the story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife Alice and her lover Mosbie...
(Arden muss sterben) by Alexander Goehr
Alexander Goehr
Alexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. In his early twenties he emerged as a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
. The work of local artists is revealed in open houses linked to the Canterbury Festival
Canterbury Festival
The Canterbury Festival is Kent's international festival of the arts. It takes place in Canterbury and surrounding towns and villages each October and includes performances of a variety of types of music, ranging from Opera and Oratorio to art, comedy and theatre...
each autumn. There is an early and largely unchanged but functioning cinema. The town has close links with MUSEA (Music School of Eastern Africa)
MUSEA (Music School of Eastern Africa)
MUSEA is a music college based in Kisumu, Nyanza, West Kenya. MUSEA was founded by Isaiah Opere, the organist of the Anglican Cathedral in Kisumu and a group of like-minded church musicians from Western Kenya in 2002....
in Kenya, and the parish church hosts fundraising concerts for MUSEA each year.
The Maison Dieu
Maison Dieu, Faversham
Maison Dieu is a hospital, monastery, hostel, retirement home and Royal lodge commissioned by Henry III in 1234.The building is located beside what is now the A2 road in Faversham, Kent. It is owned by English Heritage and managed by the Faversham Society...
('House of God') is a hospital, monastery, hostel, retirement home and Royal lodge commissioned by Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
in 1234 and now in the care of English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. Located beside what is now the A2 road
A2 road (Great Britain)
The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
, it is now managed by the Faversham Society as a museum of Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
artefacts from the surrounding area.
The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale
Brogdale
Brogdale is a hamlet in Kent, England, located beside the M2 motorway south of Faversham. It is one of several hamlets making up the civil parish of Ospringe and is in the Borough of Swale....
, two miles to the south, has over 2,040 varieties of apple, 502 of pear, 350 of plum, 322 of cherry and smaller collections of bush fruits, nuts and grapes, all grown in 150 acres (60.7 ha) of orchards. Formerly a government research station, it is now run by a charity that organises annual events celebrating Kent's agricultural heritage, its biodiversity and local products such as Kentish cider which is made from dessert apples rather than cider apples. The 9-inch Faversham miniature railway
Faversham miniature railway
Faversham Miniature Railway is a miniature railway built to the unique gauge of 9 inches. It can be found at Brogdale Farm near Faversham, Kent. The railway is maintained and operated by a team of volunteers and opens to the public every Sunday....
runs through the orchards.
In November 2011 it was discovered that the town owns an original version of Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
, potentially worth about £20 M, rather than a copy worth only £10,000.
Community facilities
The Oare Gunpowder Works, scene of the 1916 gunpowder explosion (see above), is now a country park and nature reserve open to the public free of charge all year round. The Oare MarshesOare Marshes
The Oare Marshes on the north coast of Kent to the north west of Faversham bordering The Swale. They include an internationally important nature reserve known especially as a site for migratory birds.-Location:...
are an important reserve for birds, attracting binocular-toting enthusiasts to view the many species of migrants. There is an interesting information centre (as well as other bird hides) near the site of the former Harty ferry over the Swale to the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
. Remains of the process houses and other mill leat
Leat
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s have been carefully conserved. From the visitor centre, signed trails radiate in various directions. An early 20th century electric-powered gunpowder mill which was transferred to Ardeer (in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) in 1934 has been repatriated to the country park and is on display. The 18th-century works bell has also been repatriated and is on display at Faversham’s Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre.
Landmarks
Faversham Stone ChapelFaversham Stone Chapel
Faversham Stone Chapel refers to the ruined Church of Our Lady of Elwarton, located near Faversham, Kent, England. Its origins date back to the Roman era when it was used for pagan purposes. In AD 601 Pope Gregory directed St.Augustine not to destroy pagan buildings, but to adapt them for Christian...
is the ruined Church of Our Lady of Elwarton, an Ancient Monument
Ancient monument
An ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...
managed by The Faversham Society. Its origins date back to the Roman era when it was used for pagan purposes. In AD 601 Pope Gregory directed St Augustine not to destroy pagan buildings, but to adapt them for Christian use; this is an example of a building that was converted. It was reported to be in disrepair by 1511 and seems to have been abandoned by 1600.
Transport
Faversham lies on Watling StreetWatling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
, the historically important route from London to Canterbury and the Channel ports. This was an ancient trackway
Ancient trackway
Ancient trackway can refer to any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity. Such paths existed from the earliest prehistoric times and in every inhabited part of the globe...
which the Romans later paved and identified as Iter III on the Antonine Itinerary
Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another...
. The Anglo-Saxons named it Wæcelinga Stræt which developed into Watling Street, now the A2 road
A2 road (Great Britain)
The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
. In turn the A2 was supplanted by the M2 motorway and the more southerly M20 motorway through Ashford.
Trains travel from Faversham railway station
Faversham railway station
Faversham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, and serves the town of Faversham, 52 miles from London Victoria and 49 miles from London St. Pancras International. Train services are provided by Southeastern. Typical journey times for fastest services to Victoria is 70...
to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, terminating at either Victoria or St. Pancras International. In the other direction, trains travel either to Dover Priory
Dover Priory
The Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark, commonly called Dover Priory, was a priory at Dover in southeast England...
(via Canterbury East
Canterbury East railway station
Canterbury East railway station is one of two stations in Canterbury in Kent. It is south-southwest of the city centre and is served by Southeastern....
) or to Ramsgate
Ramsgate railway station
Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England, and is located about 10 minutes away on foot from the town centre. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line 127 km east of London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate line...
(via Margate
Margate railway station
Margate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet in Kent, England. Train services are provided by Southeastern.Trains from the station generally run to London Victoria via , or to via Ramsgate, Canterbury West and Ashford International...
). Since 13 December 2009 Southeastern Highspeed
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...
links Faversham to High Speed 1, Ebbsfleet International
Ebbsfleet International railway station
Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, 10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London, England. It is near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. Ebbsfleet International...
, and London's Stratford International
Stratford International station
Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in northeast London, United Kingdom...
and London St Pancras
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
stations.
National Cycle Route 1 passes through the town.
Education
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolQueen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School is a selective co-educational grammar school in Faversham, Kent, England. It was formed in 1967, when the Faversham Grammar School for Boys, the William Gibbs School for Girls and the Wreights School merged and moved into new accommodation opposite...
is a selective co-educational grammar school with approximately 850 students. It was formed in 1967 by the merger of Faversham Grammar School for Boys, the William Gibbs School for Girls and the Wreights School. The merged school stands on the site of the abbey. The Abbey School is a Business and Enterprise Academy formed in September 1983 by the amalgamation of the Ethelbert Road Boys School and Lady Capel School for Girls. It has over 1000 pupils and is located in the south of the town, beside the A2 London Road.
Religious sites
Although Faversham AbbeyFaversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey was a Cluny style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham in the county of Kent in England.It was founded by King Stephen and his queen Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey Abbey provided the nucleus and the first abbot.The Abbey was...
was dissolved by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
the nearby St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church
Faversham Parish Church
St Mary of Charity, Faversham Parish Church is one of the most immediately recognisable buildings in the town of Faversham in Kent. The spire dominates the town skyline and is visible for some distance....
remains. It has an unusual 18th-century flying spire, known as a crown or corona spire, which is visible for long distances. The interior was restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
and transformed by Sir George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
, known for St Pancras Station, the Foreign Office and many college and cathedral buildings, in 1874. Notable features of the church include the reputed tomb of King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
(the church is thus one of only a few churches outside London where an English king was interred), nationally important misericords in the quire
Quire (architecture)
Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...
, a rare medieval painted pillar and a recently installed altar dedicated to Saints Crispin and Crispinian
Crispin
Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the French Christian patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers. Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, fled persecution for their faith, ending up in Soissons, where they preached Christianity...
. The church supports a strong choral tradition with a choir of adults and children who sing Anglican matins, evensong and communion.
St Catherine's Church
St Catherine's Church, Preston-next-Faversham
St Catherine's Church, Preston-next-Faversham is a church located in the town of Faversham in Kent, EnglandSir John Betjeman in the Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches has described St Catherine's as, "high and distinguished among the railways and breweries"The Church in its current...
dates from the Norman period and was extensively restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
in the 1860s. The National Shrine of Saint Jude
National Shrine of Saint Jude (England)
The National Shrine of Saint Jude, in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Faversham, England, is a Roman Catholic shrine to Saint Jude, and a place of pilgrimage for Catholics in the United Kingdom and other countries....
is a Roman Catholic shrine in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Sport
Faversham Town F.C.Faversham Town F.C.
Faversham Town F.C. are a football club based in Faversham, England. They joined the Kent League in 1949 and won the title in 1970, 1971 and 1990...
were formed in 1884 and compete in Division One South of the Isthmian League
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League is a regional football league covering London and South East England featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs. It is sponsored by Ryman, and therefore officially known as the Ryman League. It was founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area...
. They have a 2000-seat stadium to the south of the town and are the only team besides the England national football team to wear the 3 lions badge. The King George V playing fields are all that remain of the Mount Field
Mount Field (cricket ground)
Mount Field was a cricket venue located in Faversham, Kent.It hosted one first-class match in 1876, where Hampshire County Cricket Club defeated their hosts Kent by an innings and six runs. Most of the ground is now built over, with a small strip remaining intact as part of the King George V...
, which in 1876 hosted a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
match between Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
and Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
.
Notable people
Simon of FavershamSimon of Faversham
Simon of Faversham was an English thirteenth-century scholastic philosopher. He was born in Faversham, Kent, and educated at Oxford. He was made Chancellor of Oxford University in January 1304....
was a philosopher born in Faversham around 1260 who became Chancellor of Oxford University in 1304. Haymo of Faversham
Haymo of Faversham
Haymo of Faversham was an English Franciscan and schoolman, born at Faversham, Kent and died at Anagni, Italy, circa 1243. Following the custom in the Middle Ages to designate the more celebrated among the doctors by certain epithets, he is called Inter Aristotelicos Aristotelicissimus...
was a thirteenth-century scholar born in the town who joined the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s after having a vision of himself praying before the crucifix in the local church. Jack Ward was born in Faversham around 1553 and started life as a fisherman before he turned to piracy, becoming a notorious Barbary corsair. John Wilson
John Wilson (composer)
John Wilson , was an English composer, lutenist and teacher. Born in Faversham, Kent, he moved to London by 1614, where he succeeded Robert Johnson as principal composer for the King's Men, and entered the King's Musick in 1635 as a lutenist. He received the degree of D.Mus from Oxford in 1644,...
was a composer, lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
nist and teacher born in Faversham in 1595 who was principal composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
for the King's Men
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
and professor of music at Oxford. The Irish novelist Kate O'Brien
Kate O'Brien
Kate O'Brien , was an Irish novelist and playwright.-Biography:Kathleen "Kate" Mary Louie O'Brien was born in Limerick City at the end of the 19th century. Following the death of her mother when she was five, she became a boarder at Laurel Hill convent...
lived nearby and is buried in Faversham cemetery. Violet Wood
Violet Wood
Violet Jane Wood of Whitstable is an English supercentenarian, At the age of , Wood is the oldest person in the United Kingdom following the death of 112-year-old Margaret Fish on 12 March 2011.-Life:...
was born in Dargate in 1899 and is the oldest person in Britain.
See also
- Faversham House GroupFaversham House GroupFaversham House Group is a UK based independent media company located in South Croydon, Surrey. It specialises in publishing B2B magazines and websites, and organising B2B exhibitions, conferences and events...
have no direct relation to the town, but are based in Faversham House in Croydon
External links
- The Faversham Website
- Faversham Gunpowder Mill showing burial plot and list of dead
- Faversham - Associate Cinque Port
- Faversham Group Flickr Images
- A Year in the Life of Faversham - Photographic Project
- A Sideways Launch Film to celebrate and chronicle the achievements of the Pollock Shipyard in Faversham from 1916 to 1970.