Gravesham

Gravesham is a local government district and borough in the north-west of Kent, England. It has borders with The River Thames to the north; the city of Medway to the east; the borough of Tonbridge and Malling (to the south); and the boroughs of Sevenoaks and Dartford to the west.

Its council [ [http://www.gravesham.gov.uk/ Gravesham council website] ] is based in Gravesend, and it shares similar borders with the Gravesham constituency. As well as the parishes listed below, the area of the former urban district of Northfleet was also included in the borough when it was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It was a successor to the Gravesend Municipal Borough, Northfleet Urban District, and part of Strood Rural District.

The name 'Gravesham'

Robert H Hiscock, Chairman of the Gravesend Historical Society, in the foreword to his book, 'A History of Gravesend' (Phillimore, 1976) wrote:

:"The name Gravesham appears only in the Domesday Book, 1086, and was probably the error of a Norman scribe. It was 'Gravesend' in the Domesday Monarchorum c.1100, and 'Gravesende' in the Textus Roffensis c.1100. It is strange that this 'clerical error' has now been adopted for the name of the new Council".

Government

The MP for Gravesham is Adam Holloway; the Mayor for 2007/8 is Cllr Pat Oakeshott. There are eighteen wards represented on the Borough Council:
*Those serving Gravesend town:
** Central
** Pelham
** Riverside
** Singlewell
** Whitehill
** Woodlands
* Other urban areas:
** Northfleet (2 wards - North & South)
** Coldharbour
** Istead Rise
** Painters Ash
** Riverview
** Westcourt.
*Outlying villages:
* Chalk
* Higham
* Meopham: 2 wards North & South
* Shorne, Cobham & Luddesdowne
* Vigo is part of the Meopham South ward

"see also List of civil parishes in Kent"

The District

Much of the District is pictured in "About Gravesend" [* [http://www.about-gravesend.co.uk Pictures and info of Gravesend from the past and present. The new pictures were taken from as near as possible the same vantage point as in the old ones.] ] .

References