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KENT. 



KKKT. 



IM 



each for the cinque port of Hythe and the borough of Cb>Uuun. The 

 total number relumed from toe whole county >■ eighteen. 



J/istoty and Anliquitia. — This county comprehend! that part of 

 Kiiptnn<l which from it* proximity to the (jonlinent firet obtained 

 distinct htKtorical notice: Ctnar mentions the district by its name, 

 which he g:iTes in the Latinised form Cantium ; he ascribes to the 

 inhabitant* oiviliaation much superior to that of the other islandera 

 It was the part on which his attack was made in his first inTasion, 

 and he did not then pass beyond its limits ; in his second invasion he 

 pasMd through it to the assault of other tribes; some sharp 

 eocooBtcrs took place during his msroh in this county, and in his 

 ahaence Atb of the reguli, or petty princes of Cantium, made an un- 

 ■oooeaafnl attempt to storm the fortified iutrmchment which pro- 

 tected bis fleet, B.a H. Ptolemicus places Londinium (London) 

 among the towns of the Cantii, or the people of Cantium ; a state- 

 ment which, if accurate, supposes the district to have exceeded the 

 limits of the present county. In the division of the Koman empire 

 which prevailed in its later period, Cantium was comprehended in 

 the province of Britannia Prima. Several important stations were 

 witliin the limits of fha modem county. There were the four 

 harbours of Kegulbium (Reculver), Ritupa;, or Ad Portum Kitupia 

 (Richborougb near Sandwich), DubrsB, or Ad Portum Dubris (Dover), 

 and I^mana), or Ad Portum Lemanianua (Lympne or Limne, near 

 Hytbe). Koada from theae places met at Durovemum (Canterbury), 

 whence the military way called Watling-street ran in a direct line to 

 Lon<linium (London), passing by the way through Durolevum 

 (Newington, or more probably Judde Hill near Ospringe), Durobrivre 

 or Durobrivis (Rochester), and Vagniacic (Southfleet near Qravesend). 

 The above places, with the exception of Regulbium, are mentioned 

 in the Itineraiy of Antoninus, which also notices several other stations. 

 Besides Watling-street, and Stone-street, which runs from Canterbury 

 to Lympne, there are probably other Roman roads in Kent. 



Of these stations and roads there are many remains. Regulbium, 

 now Reculver, defended the northern entrance of the channel between 

 Thanet and the rrst of the county. The incroachments of the sea 

 have washed away part of the station. The inclosure was a square 

 with the angles rounded off. The town is supposed to have been to 

 the north of the station, on a site now undermined and washed away. 

 Ritupm, or Ad Portum Ritupis, now Richborougb, is called Ithutupis 

 by Richard of Cirencester, who terms it a colony ; it is Katupis in 

 the Pentin^er table. Richborougb is one of the noblest Roman 

 remains in the island. It was the usual place of communication with 

 the Continent, and guarded one mouth of the channel which then 

 insulated Thanet. The walls form a parallelogram, but the east wall 

 has disappeared and probably fallen into the Stour, on the side of 

 which thu station is placed. The area within the walU is five acres. 

 The walls are flanked by projecting round towers at the angles, and 

 by intermediate round towers. The walls to the height of 6 feet are 

 11 feot 3 inches thick, above that height they are 10 feet 8 inches. 

 The top of the wall is everywhere imperfect ; its greatest height is 

 S3 feet A quarter of a mile from tlie south-weat angle of the castle 

 are the remains of a Roman circular amphitheatre of about 70 yards 

 diameter. Coiiu and other antiquities have been dug up here. In 

 the cirouit of Dover Castle are the ruins of a pharos, or watch-tower, 

 an indubitable relic of the Roman Dubra;. This watch-tower has an 

 octangular base externally, but within it is a square. The structure 

 is composed of long, thin, irr^ular bricks, with intermediate courses 

 formed by blocks of hard stalactitical incrustations : it is now in a 

 very dilapidated state. The ruin of an old church adjoining the 

 pharos is not Roman, but Roman bricks have been worked up in it 

 The remains of the Roman fortress Lemans, or Ad Portum Lemania- 

 nua, at Lymne, or Lympne, near Hythe, have been mentioned above 

 in the notice of Lympne village, as well as in the article Hythe. At 

 Durovemum (Canterbury) numerous antiquities liave been discovered. 

 Many Roman bricks have been worked up into the city walla. At Duro- 

 briviD (Rochester) various antiquities have been found, and Roman 

 bricks have been worked up in the ruined walls of the cathedral 

 precinct To Durolevum two positions have been assigned : one at 

 Newington, the other on Judde Hill, in the parish of Ospringe, south 

 of the Canterbury road. At Soutbfieet, the Roman Vagniacte, a 

 large earthen veaael and a stone tomb containing sevenu funeral 

 antiquities were discovered early in the present century. On Holwood 

 Hill, near Famboroagb, on the Huitings road, the ancient Novio- 

 magiu, there are the remains of an immense elliptical encampment. 



Of the lloman roads, the Watling-street, which nearly coincided 

 with the present road from London to Canterbury, may be traced in 

 several places. It is visible on Bexley Heath, and again just beyond 

 Dartford, where the modem roail bends to the left towards QravaMad, 

 while the Street pursues a direct course through Southfleet to 

 Bochester. From hence to Canterbury the ancient and modem roads 

 ooincidr, and the traces of the ancient one appear to have been, except 

 in a few placet, oblitetated. The branch of Watling-street which 

 led from Durovemum (Canterbury) to Lemams (Lympne), is still 

 conspicuous for soma miles. It pursues a straight course between the 

 two places, and is known by the name of Stone-street 



The North Foreland is mentioned by Ptolemmus under the name of 

 the promontory Cantium or Acantium. The Medway, the Stour, the 

 smiul stream which enters the sea at Dover, and the Kothrr, appear 



to be mentioned by Richard nndar. the NapMtive names of Madna, 

 Sturius, Dubris, and Lemanus. Thanet appears in the pages of 

 Richiud, under the name of Thanatos, and the channel which inrolates 

 it, under that of Wantsuam. 



In the Saxon invasion Cantium was the scene of many interesting 

 events. The fabulous or temi-&bu]ous brothers Heogist and Hor» 

 are said to have landed in Pegwell Bay, near Ipwines Fleet, now Ebb 

 Fleet, in Thanet Of the eariy battles of Hengist and his Jutes with 

 the Britons, the principal were fought in the year 4S8 ; the fir«t on 

 the Derennt (Darent) ; the second atEpsford or Egleaford (Ayleaford) 

 on the Medway, and the third at Stonar, near SandwicL The 

 ancient chronioMS aadgn the victory in the aeoond and third engage- 

 ' ments to the Britons, who were led by Vortimer, son of Vortigem ; 

 the Jutes fled, and did not return to England t-UI Vortimer's death, 

 two years after. In 457, and 473, the Jutes obtained victories over 

 the Britons. Hengist's dominions did not extend beyond Kent ; his 

 ■on Eric, or Mac, was honoured as the real founder of the Kentish 

 dynasty of the yEachingaa, or sons of the ash-tree. Kent was called 

 by tlie Saxons Cantwaraland : Durovemum became Cantwarabyrig or 

 Cantwaraburh, whence Canterbury. In 689, or thereabout, Ethel- 

 bert, king of Kent, obtained the power or dignity of Itretwalda, 

 which he retained till his death in 616. After the conversion of 

 Ethelbert to Christianity, a church was built by Augustine, adjacent 

 to the royal palace, which was the precursor of the present cathedral 

 of Canterbury, which from the political supremacy of Ethelbert, and 

 his earlier conversion, became the ecclesiastical metropolis of England. 

 Under Eadbald, son and successor of Ethelbert, the crown of Kent 

 lost the supremacy which the talent or power of Ethelbert had 

 acquired. A succession of obscure princes followed. For a time 

 Kent was in subjection to tiie king of Wessex. In 725 the reigning 

 authority was in the hands of three brothers, Ethelbert, Eadbert, and 

 Alric, who acknowledged the supremacy of Hereia. Alric was the 

 survivor of the three, and in him ended the line of the .^sohiugas. 



In 752 Kentish men formed part of the army of Ethelbald, the 

 Mercian king, in his wai- against Cuthrod of Wessex. In the follow- 

 ing half century Kent appears to have been in subjection to Meroia, 

 having been conquered by Offo, who defeated the Kentish men in 

 776 at Otford. About 796 or 797 Eadbert, or Ethelbert Pren, king 

 of Kent, was attacked by Cenwulf of Mercia; and the country was 

 again brought under subordination to Mercia. About this time 

 Wessex was establishing its supremacy over the other Anglo-Saxon 

 kingdoms. Egbert, king of the West Saxons, having defeated the 

 Mercians at Ellandun, or Wilton, in 823, dispatche<l a foreo into 

 Kent, at whose approach Baldrod, the reigning prince, fled, and Kent 

 passed from under the Merci.-m supremacy to that of the West Saxons, 

 under which it long remained. 



From this time Kent, with which Surrey and Sussex, and probably 

 Essex, were incorporated, became a subordinate part of the West 

 Saxon empire. It commonly formed the appanage of the eldest son, 

 or heir apparent, of the king of Wessex, and when the heir succeeded 

 to the paramount sovi'reigiity he usually resigned the Kentish crown 

 to his heir. Thus Ethulwulf, sou of Egbert, was, during his father's 

 reign over Wessex, king of Kent; and when he succeeded to the 

 throne of Wessex he bestowed Kent successively on his sons Athelstan 

 and Ethelbert; the latter of whom retained the crown when his 

 brother Ethelbald ruled over Wessex, and on the death of Kthelbald 

 united Kent and Wenez under one sceptre. During the reign of 

 Ktholwulf in Weasez, and of his sons in Kent, the latter kingdom was 

 repeatedly attacked by the Danes : Canterbury and liocbester were 

 sacked by them. Athelstan, king of Kent, and we alderman Elohere, 

 or E^lhera, however defeat^ the Danes at Sandwich, and took many 

 of their ships. At a subsequent period the Danes landed in the Isle 

 of Thanet, and vanquished the men of Kent and Surrey. In the 

 warfare of Alfred the Great with Hasting the Northman, Kent was 

 for a short period in the year 803 the scene of conflict From thia 

 time the crown of Kent was never separated from that of Weasez. 

 The 'Juti Cautiani,' Jutes of Kent, are mentioned by an ancient 

 clironicler as subdued by Edward the Elder in the very commence- 

 ment of his reign. In the next reign, that of Athelstan, Kent 

 possessed its separate legislature, which regulated the terms on which 

 the laws of Weasez should be accepted. Traces of the distinct laws 

 and franohisos of Kent continued however till long afterwards. 



In the reign of Ethelred (980-991), when the Northmen renewed 

 their ravages, Kent was subject to their fury until they were bought 

 ofi' by Ethelred. In 999 they entered the Medway, took Rochester, 

 and plundered the western part of the county. In 1006 Sandwich 

 was plundered by Sweyn, king of Denmark, who re-umbarked on 

 receiving a lai^e sum as the price of his retreat In 1009 a large 

 Saxon fleet had its rendezvous at Sandwich, but performed nothiqg; 

 and in 1010 the Danes landed on the Isle of Thanet and besieged 

 Canterbury, extorting as usual a large sum as the condition of their 

 withdrawal In a later invasion they took Canterbury by treachery, 

 plundered it, and reduced it to ashes. In the short but fierce 

 struggle between Canute and Edmund Ironside, Edmund defeated his 

 rival at Otford in 1016, and drove him to the Isle of Sheppey. 



In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Kent was included in the 

 earldom of the famous Godwin, but it does not appear that ho took 

 his title from it, but from his mora important earldom of Wesaez. 



