 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Queenborough is a small town in Kent, England. The town grew as a port, located near the Thames Estuary, Queenborough a municipal borough in the Faversham parliamentary division of Kent, (UK) is situated two miles south of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, nearby the westward entrance to the river Swale, where it joins the River Medway. The towns population in 1901 was still only recorded as 1,544.
Queenborough Harbour offers the sailor convenient moorings between the Thames and Medway. It is possible to land at Queenborough on any tide and there are boat builders and chandlers available in the marina. Admiral lord Nelson, is reputed to have learnt much of his seafaring skills in these waters, and also shared a house near the small harbour with his mistress, the Lady Hamilton.
Queenborough today still reflects something of its original 18th century seafaring history, from which period most of its more prominent buildings survive. The church is the sole surviving feature to remain from the medieval period. The town was first represented by two members of Parliament in 1572.
A fortress, called Sheppey or Queenborough Castle, was built to guard the passage of ships along the river Swale upon the command of king Edward III between the years of 1361-1377. This was during the Hundred years war with France, when the fort was built at Queenborough to defend the area. Prior to these events only a small fishing hamlet called Bynne existed at the location.
In those days north Kent was geographically different from today, divided by open waters and marshes stretching inland. The safest navigation to the open sea was then found to be by means of the route from the Thames into the Yantlet creek (separating the 'Isle of Grain' from the rest of the Hoo peninsular), and thus into the Swale from the Medway estuary, thus around the leeward side of the isle of Sheppey into the Wantsum channel, navigating past the isle of Thanet to Sandwich and only then into the open waters of the English Channel.
King Edward III had the town renamed after his Queen, Philippa and conferred upon it the rights of a free borough, with a governing body of a mayor and two bailiffs. In 1368 Edward also bestowed upon Queenborough the duties of a Royal Borough. In 1366 Queenborough had been granted a charter from the king.
During this period, Queenborough, on the isle of Sheppey (Sheep) was an important town for the export of wool, a significant crown revenue. From 1368: "by Royal decree, the Wool Staole was transferred from Canterbury to Queenborough, which, together with Sandwich, became one of the only two places in Kent through which all the exported wool was compulsorily directed".
King Charles I had the town re-incorporated under the title of the "mayor, jurat's, bailiffs and burgesses of Queenborough", during which time the population was chiefly employed in the local oyster fishery. However the fort having protected the Swale and Medway estuaries for three hundred years was never in fact to realise its function as a garrison, and recorded no active military history. After being seized by Parliament in 1650, and being considered unsuitable for repair, being of "no practical use" it was demolished during the interregnum.
Not long after this in 1667, the Dutch captured the new Sheerness fort (then under construction) and invaded Queenborough. The occupation lasted only a few days, the Dutch having caused widespread panic, were unable to maintain their offensive, and withdrew having captured the 'Royal Charles' and burnt numerous other ships in the Thames and Medway. Following the raid on the Medway much needed attention was given to the improvement of the Naval defences of the Medway, this at length helped strengthen the economy of Queenborough, and Sheppey. Some 300 hundred years later in 1967, The Queenborough and Brielle (Holland) twinning project was established.
The Parish Church was overhauled during 1690 to 1730, and in addition to this a number of additional houses were added to the growing town during the 18th century. With the general prosperity of the colonial and mercantile trades of the age, Queenborough thrived. However early in the 19th century change was again visited upon the ancient settlement. "Queenborough in the 1850's was a very sorry place indeed; broken down and almost lawless".
With the silting up of the Yantlet creek and the Wantsum channel and improved navigation through the Thames estuary to London, Queenborough begun to lose its importance, becoming something of a back water town. Described by Daniel Defoe as "a miserable an dirty fishing town (with) the chief traders ... alehouse keepers and oyster catchers".
The Royal Navy eventually became less prominent in the river Medway, as other dockyards developed, and ships grew in size, so that they were largely replaced by prison hulks which would frequently dispose of their dead charges on a salt marsh at the mouth of the Swale, which was subsequently to become known as Dead man's Island, and can still be found as such, on local maps today. The new fort and harbour developments completed at Sheerness by this time further replaced Queenborough by being better positioned at the mouth of the Medway.
It is all the same worth noting as evident from records between 1815-20 that the Corporation of Queenborough was in some financial difficulties, in owing some £14,500 it could not hope to meet. It appears that the mayor and other officials had been less than honest in their duties toward the community, with the use of the public monies at their disposal. This fraud caused a great financial burden upon the fisherman and oystermen who were driven to "unlawful and riotous assembly", in protest against unwarranted charges made upon them in the course of their trade.
So serious had this deterioration in conditions become, that by the middle of the C19th the Corporation was bankrupt, and Parliament was called upon to act, vesting by an Act of Parliament much of the towns business in the hands of trustees who were thus able to refinance the towns economy by selling land, property and the ancient oyster fishery. The oyster trade having been corrupted by smuggling and the bribery of the islands members of Parliament it lost its franchise by the Reform Act of 1832.
A Borough Charter granted in 1885 gave some renewed impetus to the struggling Borough Council, but it was not until 1937 that the Charity Commissioners were at last able to appoint a Borough Council, but the town and it fisheries never fully recovered. The present trustees are the Swale borough council. The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors.
Modern unsightly sea wall defences have hindered the character of the beaches but were deemed necessary, a large yachting harbour exists, where the pirate ship Radio Caroline (in the river Medway 2003-4) anchored awhile. Tourism is today a major feature of the island, and rightly so, with Queenborough enjoying some of the fruits of local investment, and with a new modern Kingferry bridge under construction, it is expected the island will prosper once again.
Matthias Falconer, of Brabant established the first copperas factory in England at Queenborough in the year 1579.
The economy of Queenborough was boosted significantly by the establishment of a branch line from Sittingbourne by the South-Eastern & Chatham Railway which operated in conjunction with a mail and passenger service by steamer to Flushing in Holland. The River Swale was bridged when the railway was built in 1860.
From the towns depression in the 1850's there began a process of recovery. New industries came to Queenborough including a Glass Works, a company engaged in coal washing. Besides these many other small industries developed, including Potteries, the Sheppey Fertilizer company and the Glue Works. The Portland cement works opened in 1890, and there is still a considerable trade in timber. A modern pharmaceutical factory and Laboratories, and a steel rolling mill are amongst the more recent developments, but the mill has suffered greatly as a result of the restrictions in place by the American Steel trade. Considerable unemployment is expected locally.
sources: J.C Varker (www),
'Queenborough and its oysters', Geoffrey Hufton. (Bygone Kent Vol.3, No 7).
External link: http://queenborough.freeservers.com/
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
