A wide-ranging history of the geography and communities of Kent from the earliest times to the present day.Kent, with its long coastline and its important geopolitical position close to London and continental Europe, and on major trading routes between Britain and the wider world, has had a very significant maritime history. This book covers a wide range of topics relating to that history from the earliest times to the present day. It sets Kent's varied coastline and waters in their geological and geographical context, showing how erosion and sediment deposition have contributed to the changing nature of maritime activities and populations. It examines Kent's strategic role in the defence of the country with the development and redevelopment of coastal defences, including four naval dockyards. It goes on to consider the supporting industries which grew up around the coastline, those which supplied raw materials and agricultural products from the county's hinterland, and its wider national and international trading links. It also discusses the diverse coastal communities of Kent and how they have changed in response to the demands of defence, trade, and changing population and migration patterns. In addition, the book includes detailed case studies which explore particular subject areas as exemplars of the major themes covered by the book.

List of illustrationsNotes on contributorsAcknowledgementsAbbreviations1) Introduction - Stuart Bligh, Elizabeth Edwards and Sheila SweetinburghPart 1 Topography2) Kent's Changing Coastal Landscape: A View across Space and Time (or "where the land meets the sea"!) - Chris YoungPart II Defence3) Defending the Kent coast - Roman to Anglo-Saxon - Keith Parfitt4) The Maritime Defences of Kent from the Loss of Normandy to the Hundred Years' War - Adrian Jobson5) To Defend the Coast - Chris Ware6) Kent's Role in the National Defence Strategy, 1815 to 1865: Dockyards and Harbours in the Age of Steam - Andrew LambertPart III Trade and Industry7) Trade and Industry during the Roman Period - Elizabeth Blanning8) Far-Fetched Treasures: The Maritime Networks of the Kingdom of Kent - Andrew Richardson9) Maritime Trade and Industry in Medieval Kent - Maryanne Kowaleski10) The Early Modern Period 1500-1700: Trade and Industry - Jane Andrewes11) Maritime Kent: Trade and Industry since 1700 - David KillingrayPart III Coastal Communities12) Urban Privilege? The Advantages and Enjoyment of Cinque Ports Status in the Middle Ages - Gillian Draper13) Empire, Race, and Diversifying Kent's History, c.1500-1840 - Ben Marsh and David Killingray14) Maritime Communities in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Kent - Sandra Dunster15) A Rich Diversity: Modern Kent Coastal Communities - Elizabeth EdwardsPart IV Case Studies16) The Political and Strategic Importance of the Port of Sandwich in the Later Middle Ages c.1340-1500 - Susan Rose17) "Ready for to go to the Sea": maintaining Fishing Families in Late Medieval Hythe - Sheila Sweetinburgh18Saints and Weirs: Late Medieval and Early Modern Communities within a Small Island Landscape in North Kent - Melanie Caiazza19) Early Modern Thanet: An Open Society - Gill Wyatt20) "Dost Thou Know Dover?": Locating Dover in the Early Modern Literary Imagination c.1500-1660 - Claire Bartram21) "fat persons bathing whose appearance was most disgusting": Entertaining Thanet in the Age of Steam - Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton22) Rhododendrons and Raids: Dover Naval Women's Daily Life and Emotions in 1918 - Jo Stanley23) Afterword - Margarette LincolnBibliographyIndex