Fordwich

History

The name Fordwich derives from the Old English fordwīc meaning 'trading settlement at the ford'.

Fordwich is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as a small village. The town grew in the Middle Ages as a port for boats on their way upriver to Canterbury. All of the Caen stone used by the Normans to rebuild Canterbury Cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries was landed at Fordwich. It later became a limb of the Cinque Ports. It lost its status as a town in 1880 when it no longer had a Mayor and Corporation. However, in a reorganisation in 1974, Fordwich was again made a town. Fordwich Town Hall was rebuilt in or shortly before 1544.

The ancient Church of St Mary the Virgin, now redundant but open to the public, and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, contains part of a carved sarcophagus reputed to have contained the remains of St Augustine of Canterbury. The 16th-century building next to the Town Hall, now known as Watergate House, was the family home of John and Gregory Blaxland, early 19th-century pioneers of Australia.

Palaeolithic archaeology

During the 1920s-1930s, a significant amount of Palaeolithic handaxes were discovered during industrial quarrying to the west side of Fordwich. In total, these handaxes numbered some 330 pieces, along with flakes from lithic construction. During 2020, Cambridge University dug exploratory trenches at the same western location, discovering deposits of Palaeolithic archaeology, counting 251 in-situ Lower-Palaeolithic flakes and scrapers from Acheulean industry. In 2022, Archaeologist Peter Knowles [Professor David Bridgland Professor, Archaeology, Mark White ] of Durham University made a handaxe discovery from an area called Moat Rough in Fordwich. Moat Rough is of particular interest archaeologically because the ground there has been left fallow for decades with no quarrying or development. The new handaxe discovery at Moat Rough revealed that gravel terraces bearing Palaeolithic archaeology running underneath Fordwich are much more widespread than previously thought, indicating that there is much more research on early-man that needs to be done there.

Community

There are two pubs in the town, the George & Dragon and Fordwich Arms, which boasts a Michelin star. Fordwich gained angling and fishing repute from Izaak Walton for its "Fordidge trout", one of the largest types found.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Dover TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Kent, Heart South, and KMFM Canterbury, a community based station that broadcast from Canterbury. The town is served by the local newspaper, Kentish Gazette.

References

References

1. Matthews, Peter. (1992). "The Guinness Book of Records, 1993". Guinness World Records Limited.
2. link. (20 October 2016 [[2011 United Kingdom census]] [[Office for National Statistics]] Retrieved 14 October 2016)
3. http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/Fordwich
4. [https://opendomesday.org/place/TR1859/fordwich/ Open Domesday Online: Fordwich] {{Webarchive. link. (14 January 2019 , accessed January 2019.)
5. (1994). "Archaeologia Cantiana". Kent Archaeological Society.
6. "St Mary's Church, Fordwich, Kent: A walk round guide". [[Churches Conservation Trust]].
7. (14 September 2018). "A picture-perfect retreat from the world, in an ideal spot in England's smallest town". Country Life.
8. Murugesu, Jason Arunn. "UK's earliest hand axes were made by ancient humans 560,000 years ago".
9. (June 2022). "On the earliest Acheulean in Britain: first dates and in-situ artefacts from the MIS 15 site of Fordwich (Kent, UK)". Royal Society Open Science.
10. University, Durham. "Professor David R. Bridgland – Durham University".
11. University, Durham. "Professor Mark White – Durham University".
12. Izaak Walton. (1653). "The Compleat Angler".
13. (1 May 2004). "Full Freeview on the Dover (Kent, England) transmitter".