59-700: Conyer is a hamlet within Teynham civil parish in the borough of Swale in Kent , England. It is located around one mile north of the village of Teynham, and at the head of Conyer Creek, which flows into the Swale to the north. The Saxon Shore Way and National Cycle Route 1 pass through the hamlet. Amenities in Conyer include a pub and a marina . The hamlet was frequently mentioned in early records, being described as Roman in nature, and often mentioned in relation to smuggling . It
118-701: A "cargo hold", he airlifted one small pig. The Eastchurch airfield was also the site, in July 1911, of the competition for the Gordon Bennett Cup for powered air racing, attended by flyers from all over the world, and won that year by the American pilot C. T. Weymann . A stained glass window in the south side of All Saints' Church, Eastchurch (built in 1432), was dedicated to Rolls and Grace, who were killed in July and December 1910 respectively. In July 2009, Eastchurch celebrated 100 years of aviation history associated with
177-701: A 130 vehicle pile-up on the Sheppey Crossing bridge and its northern approach in which eight people were seriously hurt and another 30 hospitalised. Four ferries previously connected the island to mainland Kent: the King's Ferry to Iwade , the Harty Ferry to Faversham , one from Elmley , and a passenger ferry connecting to the Port Victoria railway terminus on the Grain Peninsula . The most recently active of these,
236-494: A Commission formed for the purpose (and who had powers to levy a scot ). The disease in the UK threatens a return to the Swale marshes, with dry habitats such as vacant pill boxes allowing over-wintering for vector species, however few carriers frequently come to the area and gradually derelict structures are being removed. The town is a very ancient place and it is mentioned as having been
295-521: A charter of free warren for his manor of Ufton, in the parish of Tunstall . He fought on the rebel baronial side at the Battle of Boroughbridge (1322), was captured, and was held for over a year in the Tower of London . On his release, he was appointed mayor of Bordeaux (1323–1324). A curious legend (first recorded in the 17th century) surrounds Sir Robert. It is said that he killed a priest, and resolved to ask
354-528: A few kilometres the next year to Eastchurch where a new more appropriate aerodrome had been built for the club. The Eastchurch airfield played a significant role in the history of British aviation from 1909 when Frank McClean acquired Stonepits Farm, on the marshes across from Leysdown, converting the land into an airfield for members of the Aero Club of Great Britain. The Short brothers, Horace, Eustace and Oswald , built aircraft at Battersea to be tested at
413-1005: A few shops, and a post office, and has a library on the London Road. The most historic buildings in Teynham are almost all relatively near the Saxon Shore Way , marina and wharf in Conyer and consequently the village and Conyer has some guesthouses. The village is accessible off the M2 from the Sittingbourne junction, with the A2 providing short distance motor journeys and an easy cycle route to Sittingbourne and Faversham. The railway station provides services to key destinations as follows (for London Victoria see above): Isle of Sheppey 51°23′28″N 0°49′52″E / 51.391°N 0.831°E / 51.391; 0.831 The Isle of Sheppey
472-405: A lengthy planning application process. The rest of the site will be left as a Nature Reserve . In 1803, John Huggens built the earliest known barge was built in the area. John Bird (who was born 1832) is reputed to be the first of the barge builders to settle in Conyer. Records exist for a sailing barge built there in 1866, the year he began his work at the yard. The last of the many sailing barges
531-415: A naturalist. He discovered much of interest to the antiquarian, naturalist, geologist and zoologist, although there was little prior knowledge. In 1777, Jacob published a book about his various fossil finds, including what he called "the remains of an elephant". The island has an established scorpion population. Euscorpius flavicaudis has been resident since the 1860s, believed to have been imported on
590-683: A noble on such a humble vessel was the locally hated Jesuit Edward Petre and so took his money, watch and coronation ring. At length he was recognised by one of the assailants and the group took him in custody to Faversham , where he was detained. Bluetown hosts the history and Heritage Centre for the Isle of Sheppey. The Heritage Centre contains memorabilia and artefacts pertinent to the Sheppey's history, including displays on aviation, maritime, wartime activities, and island history and offers guided walks of Sheppey Isle and Bluetown. The present Heritage Centre
649-577: A ship. They have been found to be highly adaptable and hence have survived the relative cold by conserving energy and only acting for nutrition and reproduction. The last known colony in England of the British endemic subspecies of the Essex Emerald moth, at Windmill creek, died out as late as 1991. In 2008 palaeontologists published details of the fossil skull, found on the island, of a large flying bird from
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#1732852120278708-468: A significant feature of the Isle of Sheppey's economy, which includes the extensive export/import of motor vehicles, and a large steel works, with extensive railway fixtures. The island is, however, suffering from an economic recession and these industries are not as extensive as they once were. The area immediately outside the dockyard was occupied by dockyard workers, who built wooden houses and decorated them with Admiralty blue paint illegally acquired from
767-428: Is Grade I listed, by the oldest buildings, Hinkley's Mill, Thatched Cottage, The Old Vicarage, Banks' farmhouse and cottage, Teynham Court and Crown House. The church stained glass windows date two centuries after its building, to the 15th century, restored 1873. Later King Henry III granted the town the right to hold a market and fair. Richard Harrys (or Harris – in some accounts) who also lived at Teynham, and
826-484: Is an island off the northern coast of Kent , England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary , centred 42 miles (68 km) from central London. It has an area of 36 square miles (93 km ). The island forms part of the local government district of Swale . Sheppey is derived from Old English Sceapig , meaning "Sheep Island". Today's island was historically known as the "Isles of Sheppey" which were Sheppey itself,
885-488: Is called the towne of ten houses. He also notes that in 1533, 105 acres of good ground in 'Brennet' (a former name of Tenham) were divided in ten parcels of land to grow fruit for King Henry. J Harris, in his History of Kent (1719) calls it the "place of ten houses" (hams) but there must have been hundreds of places with 10 houses in Anglo-Saxon times. It is also possibly "homestead of a man called Tena" or "homestead near
944-544: Is named after its first owners, the De Shurland family. In 1188 Adam de Shurland possessed a mill with more than 1,000 acres (405 ha) of mixed land, mostly marsh with a small meadow: he also let a number of cottages thereabouts. Sir Robert de Shurland (d. 1324), a member of the family, served in the Anglo-Scottish wars , including the siege of Caerlaverock (1300), where he was knighted; and shortly afterwards obtained
1003-544: Is on the site of two earlier establishments. Originally called the "New Inn", in 1868 the site became "The Royal Oxford Music Hall". The following year the building, which is situated a few doors down from the Bluetown court house, became the Criterion Public House, with a music hall called the "palace of varieties" situated immediately to its rear. In 1879 the building was replaced with a brick structure. On 5 June 1917
1062-576: Is said that a quarter of all the vessels engaged in smuggling nationwide were based in Kent and Sussex , with Conyer playing its part as a smuggling community in the 18th and 19th century. During the Industrial Revolution , barges were used to move many raw materials and finished goods, which were produced in Kent, into the River Thames and on to London and beyond. Paper mills and brickfield in
1121-475: Is the highest point on the island. The rest of Sheppey is low-lying and the southern part of the island is marshy land criss-crossed by inlets and drains, largely used for grazing. The economy is driven by a dockyard and port, the presence of three prisons, and various caravan sites. Sheppey is separated from the mainland by a channel called the Swale . In concert with the Wantsum Channel that once separated
1180-617: The Domesday Book of 1086 the name occurs as "Therham" (probably a clerical error). The historian JK Wallenberg (in 1931) suggests an Anglo-Saxon root, tynan, to enclose, followed by the Anglo-Saxon word "Hamm", a land drained by dykes. The philologist Eilert Ekwall (in 1936) suggested an early owner named Teona, whose name is found in Teonanhyll in Berkshire. In 1590, William Lambarde wrote his book Perambulation of Kent , in which Tenham
1239-616: The Eocene epoch called Dasornis in the deposits of the London Clay . From 1894 to 1968, Sheppey comprised the Municipal Borough of Queenborough , Sheerness Urban District and Sheppey Rural District (consisting of the civil parishes of Eastchurch , Elmley , Harty , Leysdown-on-Sea , Minster in Sheppey and Warden ). In 1968, all these units were abolished and simultaneously a new single Municipal Borough of Queenborough-in-Sheppey
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#17328521202781298-511: The Isle of Thanet from mainland Britain to the east (before it silted over in the late Middle Ages ), and Yantlet Creek at the Isle of Grain to the west, it was occasionally used in ancient times by ships navigating to and from ports such as Chatham and London to reduce exposure to bad weather in the Thames Estuary or North Sea . The Kingsferry Bridge was first built in 1860, thus eliminating
1357-461: The Saxon Shore Way along the Swale, or with various footpath links to Sittingbourne and Faversham . Teynham Teynham ( / ˈ t ɛ n ə m / TEN -əm ) is a large village and civil parish in the borough of Swale in Kent, England. The parish lies between the towns of Sittingbourne and Faversham , immediately north of the A2 road , and includes the hamlet of Conyer on an inlet of
1416-441: The Swale , the channel that separates mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey . Other hamlets include Deerton Street, Frognal, and Teynham Street. The village has a railway station , served by Southeastern trains running between London Victoria and Dover . Charters of 798 to 801 and Domesday Monachorum – a series of Domesday-related texts kept at Canterbury Cathedral – mention it as Teneham, Taenham, Tenaham and Tenham. In
1475-559: The Criterion was badly damaged by a German air raid. Shrapnel marks from the attack can still be seen in the dockyard wall opposite the building. After the air raid, the building was re-built in its present form retaining some of its original features. After a variety of other uses, the site became the Heritage Centre in January 2009. A special exhibition in 2014 commemorated the centenary of
1534-620: The Dutch took supplies, ammunition and guns, then burned everything that was combustible. Three miles (5 km) across the Swale lies Whitstable . The Swale channel was the point of departure selected by James II , when departing in some haste "from the Protestant deliverance of the nation" by William of Orange in December 1688. A hoy having been chartered, the fugitive king landed at Elmley , only to be mobbed by local fishermen. They thought such
1593-594: The First World War. Henry VIII , requiring the River Medway as an anchorage for his navy, ordered that the mouth of the river should be protected by a small fort. Garrison Fort was built in 1545. Sheerness is a commercial port and main town of the Isle of Sheppey and owes much to its origins, as a Royal Naval dockyard town. Samuel Pepys established the Royal Navy Dockyard in the 17th century. Sheerness
1652-774: The Harty Ferry, ceased operation at the start of the First World War , although there was a short lived attempt to start a small hovercraft service between the Harty Ferry Inn and Oare Creek near Faversham in 1970. The complex of causewayed enclosures at Kingsborough Manor attests to the importance of the island's high ground during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages . Later prehistoric, Roman and medieval occupation has been found by archaeologists in advance of development at Neat's Court and St Clements CofE Primary School in Leysdown. In
1711-466: The Isle of Harty to the south east and the Isle of Elmley to the south west. Over time the channels between the islands have silted up to make one contiguous island, which is now linked by two bridges to the Kentish mainland. Sheppey, like much of north Kent, is largely formed from London Clay and is a plentiful source of fossils. The Mount near Minster rises to 250 feet (76 metres) above sea level and
1770-461: The Swale is a large tract of land known as the Teynham Levels. This is devoted solely to the raising of sheep and cattle. At one time these marshes were not properly drained, and malaria was prevalent within the parish. So many residents got the disease that Teynham became known as an unhealthy place. The draining of the marshes eradicated this by 1953, which was carried out under the direction of
1829-466: The dockyard. This area was, and still is, known as Blue Town , though it is now mostly occupied by the Sheerness Steel complex. Beyond Blue Town, an outlying residential area overlooking the sea was chiefly designed for various government officials. This area became known as Mile Town because it is one mile (1.6 km) from Sheerness. About 200 shipwrecks are recorded around the coast of Sheppey,
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1888-460: The employment in the area after the 1920s with its brick works and cement factory. See Charles Richardson (cement merchant) . In the mid-19th Century, Conyer had seven large-scale brickfields. This employed many hundreds of workers, who also then frequented the many new pubs in the area. Most of these have, since been closed and converted. Including the Brunswicks Arms in Conyer. A small railway
1947-557: The end of WW2. The largest town on the island is Minster with a population of 21,319. Other towns include Sheerness and Leysdown-on-Sea . The whole north coast is dotted with caravan parks and holiday homes; there is also a naturist beach beyond Leysdown , towards Shellness. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds managed a portion of Elmley National Nature Reserve known as Elmley Marshes up until 2013, at which point it reverted to management by Elmley Conservation Trust, owners of
2006-424: The island. SkySheppey brought together a number of associations and joined with many visitors to recognise the importance of British aviation history that started at Eastchurch. From March 2015 a new museum, The Aviation Museum Eastchurch, was set up at The Old Mill Green off Brabazon Way, HMP Standford Hill, to commemorate the pioneer aviators and the site as a long established RAF Station serving from WW1 through to
2065-590: The king for a pardon. Mounted on horseback, he swam out to the Nore (north of Sheppey), where the king's ship was anchored, and gained forgiveness. On his return, he met an old woman who predicted that the horse that had helped save his life would be the cause of his death. To defy the prophecy, Sir Robert killed his horse; but later encountering its bones, he kicked them in scorn, only for a shard to pierce his foot, causing an infection from which he died. The tale takes elements from Italian, Slavic and Icelandic folklore (including
2124-470: The largest and fastest expanding ports in the UK. The Port of Sheerness contains at least one Grade II listed building, the Old Boat House. Built in 1866, it is the first multi-storey iron framed industrial building recorded in the UK. Decorated with ornate ironwork, it features operating rails extending the length of the building, for the movement of stores, much like a modern crane. A large ferry terminal
2183-460: The last 27 years of its existence. The island has a long history of aviation development in England. It was home to Lord Brabazon 's Royal Aero Club which formed in Leysdown in the early 1900s to popularise ballooning. The club took to the aeroplane with relish, and in July 1909 the Short Brothers established Shellbeach Aerodrome on nearby marshland to accommodate six Wright Flyers , moving
2242-526: The local area, were fed by the barges that brought in sand, mud and household waste such as cinders for brick making, and took away the newly constructed bricks. The yellow stock bricks from Conyer were used to create the giant railway viaduct running from London Bridge to Greenwich . Conyer was ideally suited for this purpose (due its closeness to the Thames, via The Swale) and then a successful barge-building industry developed. Conyer also provided much of
2301-646: The most famous being the SS Richard Montgomery , a liberty ship loaded with bombs and explosives that grounded on sandbanks during the Second World War . As of 2004 plans were discussed with a view to removing the threat from the Montgomery . These include encasing the ship in concrete or removing the bombs; no firm decision has been made. New research commissioned by the Government in 2005–06 suggested that
2360-485: The need for ferries. Over time, there have been four bridges built over the Swale at this point. All bridges had to allow sufficient clearance for shipping heading to the commercial docks at Ridham . On 19 July 1860 the first bridge came into use. It was built for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway , to an Admiralty design. It had a central span raised between two towers. Trains and road traffic were able to use it, as with
2419-529: The next two bridges. On 6 November 1906 the second bridge, built for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway , replaced the first. It had a "rolling lift" design that was originally worked by hand, but later by electricity. In October 1959 Kingsferry Bridge , a lifting bridge , was completed, able to lift both the road and the railway line to allow ships to pass beneath. In May 2006 the Sheppey Crossing
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2478-441: The site; later Moore-Brabazon, Professor Huntington, Charles S. Rolls and Cecil Grace all visited and used the flying club's services. Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville came to the Isle of Sheppey to visit the new flying grounds of the Aero Club. In 1909, Moore-Brabazon made the first live cargo flight by fixed-wing aircraft, by tying a waste-paper basket to a wing strut of his Shorts-built Wright aircraft. Then, using it as
2537-452: The sixteenth century when it was sold by Sir Henry Cheyne. During the First World War troops were billeted at the Great Hall, and it suffered considerable damage as a result. Shurland Hall is a Grade II listed building . In 2006 a grant of £300,000 was made by English Heritage to restore the hall's façade. The Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust carried out the restoration work which
2596-525: The springtime, with Sheppey's minsters being used by the invaders as feasting halls or general headquarters. In 1016, Cnut the Great of Denmark and his forces are reported to have retreated to the Island of Sheppey rather than face King Edmund Ironside in battle during the winter. King Edmund gathered his forces during Lent and mounted an attack on Cnut shortly after Easter. Shurland Hall , near Eastchurch ,
2655-515: The story of Oleg the Wise , and that of Örvar-Oddr ). It was greatly popularised in a version published in 1837 by Richard Barham ("Thomas Ingoldsby"), as one of his Ingoldsby Legends . Sir Robert died in 1324 leaving as his heir a daughter Margaret, who married William, son of Alexander Cheyne of Patrixbourne . To William passed the manor of Shurland. It remained in possession of the Cheyne family until
2714-461: The stream called Tene". Several other etymologies have been suggested. The "y" in "Teynham" was apparently added by the Roper family, who have been Barons of Teynham from 1616. It is an agricultural parish situated three miles east of Sittingbourne . The southern part of the parish is mainly devoted to agriculture, the principal crops being corn and hops with the produce of some famous orchards. Near
2773-583: The threat has passed and that constant surveillance should ensure the safety of the immediate community. In 1629 the first recorded botanical visit was paid to the island by the apothecary Thomas Johnson and colleagues. They were thought to be foreigners so were arrested and imprisoned in Queenborough Castle before being released by the Mayor. Edward Jacob (1710–1788) purchased the little Manor of Nutts, Isle of Sheppey, in 1752. There, he pursued his hobby as
2832-602: The town in which Archbishops resided in early times. Kenulf, Coenwulf of Mercia , who reigned 794–819, gave the place to Christ Church, Canterbury , and afterwards a palace was built in the village or town as it was known then, which no longer exists. Archbishop Baldwin of Forde (1184–91), Hubert Walter (1193–1207), Stephen Langton (1207–29), and Raynold (1313–28) all in turn lived at Teynham. Archbishop John de Stratford in 1345, entertained King Edward III at Teynham. The church, St Mary's, in Teynham Street towards Conyer
2891-539: The year 835, Viking invaders attacked Sheppey. It is the first known account of a major Viking raid in Southern England. Sheppey would go on to suffer from subsequent raids, its vulnerable coastal monasteries providing a convenient target for the Danes. In 855, Sheppey as part of the kingdom of Wessex , became the winter camp of an occupying Viking force, presumably the raiders from prior attacks. Raiding continued in
2950-555: Was a fruiterer to King Henry VIII instructed to plant 105 acres of land with cherries and apples that he had obtained from Flanders , and thus the village is one of the earliest in which the cherry was grown in Kent and England. By 1848, Teynham had a population of 845 people. It was part of the Hundred of Teynham, in the Upper Division of the Lathe of Scray . Most of the village income
3009-430: Was built at the Conyer yard in 1914, but repair works continued well into the 1930s, with several barge yachts built in the 1920s. Alfred Marconi (who took over John Bird's yard) built many different types of barge. Some continued to exist as house barges, well into the 1960s. The marina near the local pub/restaurant is still popular. Conyer and the surrounding area (mostly farms) is popular with walkers, either following
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#17328521202783068-531: Was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway at Queenborough Pier in 1876 and operated a nightly service to Flushing ( Vlissingen ) in the Netherlands , as well as a German mail service. These services ceased during the First World War; the terminal was used for military traffic. The small port was closed and dismantled in the 1930s. A passenger, car and lorry service was operated by Olau Line from 1974 to 1994. The dockyard and port at Sheerness today are
3127-416: Was built from the main London - Sittingbourne line to Conyer, to transfer materials to the brickfields. All traces of this line have been removed, after its use during World War II . Some of the line is now a footpath from Barrow Green, Teynham to Conyer. The brickworks closed in the 1980s, the site since, has been cleared. Part of the site has a planning application for development (for 24 dwellings) after
3186-514: Was completed and opened on 3 July. This four-lane road bridge rises to a height of 95 feet (29m) at mean high water springs above the Swale, and carries the A249 trunk road. Pedestrian, animal and bicycle traffic, as well as the railway, are still obliged to use the lifting bridge, which still provides the most direct link between the island and the Iwade / Lower Halstow area. On 5 September 2013, fog caused
3245-612: Was completed in 2011. The house was put on the open market for £1.5 million, and was sold. Sheppey is one of few parts of what is now the United Kingdom to have been (temporarily) lost to a foreign power since William the Conqueror 's invasion in 1066 . This was in June 1667, when a Dutch fleet sailing up the Thames Estuary for the Medway captured the fort at Sheerness. The fort at the time
3304-510: Was created, covering the entire island. In 1974, this local government unit was abolished and Sheppey then came within the newly created Swale district. In parliamentary terms, Sheppey has been in the constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey since 1997, a Conservative-Labour marginal seat; prior to this it was in the Faversham constituency , also a marginal but held by the Conservatives for
3363-580: Was incomplete and the garrison underfed and unpaid, so resistance to the heavily armed Dutch Navy (which, according to Samuel Pepys 's diary, was also to a large extent composed of deserters from the English Royal Navy) was hardly enthusiastic. Pepys, then secretary of the Navy Board , described Sheerness as lost "after two or three hours' dispute". The Dutch quickly overran and occupied the whole island for several days before withdrawing. Prior to leaving,
3422-412: Was made from cherry growing, with some from hops . Its patron was still the Archdeacon of Canterbury. A remarkable Roman sculpture of the god Triton , half man and half fish, was discovered close to the line of the Roman A2 road at Teynham in 2023. There are several pubs throughout the parish, some with restaurants and take-aways, there is a substantial primary school with grounds for sports/games and
3481-437: Was the focus of an attack by the Dutch Navy in June 1667, when 72 hostile ships compelled the little "sandspit fort" there to surrender and landed a force which for a short while occupied the town. Samuel Pepys at Gravesend remarked in his diary "we do plainly at this time hear the guns play" and in fear departed to Brampton in Huntingdonshire. The dockyard served the Royal Navy until 1960 and has since developed into one of
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