Kent Time Line Select a century from the menu below |  BC  |  0-10C  |  11C  |  12C  |  13C  |  14C  |  15C  |  16C  |  17C  | 18C |  19C  |  20C  | Date Event BC 400,000 Swanscombe man 10,000 - 4,000 Mesolithic period 4,000 - 2,350 Neolithic period 2,350 - 1500 Early Bronze Age 1600 -1000 Middle Bronze Age 1000 - 800 Late Bronze Age 0 - 10th Century  800 - 43AD Iron Age 57 Julius Caesar conquers Gaul 55-54 Julius Caesar invades Britain 55BC-43AD Four kings or war lords dominate Kent 43 Claudius invades Britain First Roman Fort built in Canterbury, abandoned 70 130 Construction of the Dover lighthouses 250-270 Construction of forts around the coast 270-290 Construction of Canterbury town walls 410 Withdrawal of Roman troops from Britain 449 Vortigern, according to legend, invites Hengist and Horsa to help protect Kent 597 Augustine arrives in Kent Bishopric established in Canterbury 604 Diocese of Rochester created 597-616 Athelbert issues a series of written laws 685 Hlothhere and Eadric issue written laws 695 Whited issues a third series of laws 668 Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury 760 Death of Aethelberht, last of the Eskings 774 Rising in Kent against King Offa of Mercia at the battle of Otford. 797 Danish and Viking invasions begin 805 Kent again a province of Mercia 825 Kent rules by Egbert of Wessex 832 Vikings raid the Isle of Sheppey 850 Vikings winter in Thanet 851 King Athelstan defeats the Vikings at Sandwich 854 Vikings winter on the Isle of Sheppey 865 Vikings control much of Eastern Kent 893 Vikings build forts at Appledore and near Milton Regis 11th Century  991-1011 Regular Viking raids 1011 Siege of Canterbury by the Vikings 1066 William defeats Harold at Hastings William crowned King of England 1082 Odo, Earl of Kent, arrested, tried, banished. 1086 Domesday book compiled 1087 Timber castle at Rochester replaced by stone walls 1088 Siege of Rochester Castle by William Rufus against Odo 12th Century  1127 Rochester Castle keep built 1143 Cistercian Abbey founded at Boxley 1147 Benedictine Abbey founded at Faversham 1155-6 Two charters giving rights to the Cinque Ports 1178 Austen Canons established at Erith 1180s Keep and curtain walls built at Dover Castle 13th Century  1204 King John loses Normandy 1215 Siege of Rochester Castle 1216-17 Siege of Dover Castle 1217 Sea battle against the French off Sandwich 1220 Maison Dieu, Dover, built for pilgrims 1240 Carmelite House founded at Aylesford 1264 Siege of Rochester castle 1272 Carmelite Friary established in Sandwich 1290 Edward I builds a small castle at Sandwich 14th Century  1324-6 Coastal flooding 1335 Statute of Money – pilgrims can only enter England through Dover 1337 Start of the Hundred Years War 1348-9 Black Death, possibly half the population of Kent dies 1351 Statute of Labourers 1363-80 Re-building of the Canterbury town walls 1381 Peasants Revolt 1392 The first stone bridge at Rochester 15th Century  1401 The monopoly of Gravesend ferrymen confirmed 1448 Canterbury granted a charter 1450 Cade’s Rebellion starts in March July rebellion ends 1452 John Wilkins Rebellion 1457 Sandwich sacked by the French 16th Century  1509 Coronation of Henry VIII 1539-44 Construction of Henry VIII castles 1553 Mary crowned 1554 Wyatt rebellion 1548 Maidstone granted a charter 1558 Elizabeth crowned 1559 Upnor castle built 1560-80 Walloon refugees settle in sandwich and Canterbury 1570 Lambarde publishes the first history of Kent 1574 First book published on hop growing. 1588 Preparation for a possible Spanish invasion. The Armada 17th Century  1608 Major rebuilding of Knole House 1635 First demand for the ‘Ship Money’ 1640-42 Kent Petitions to Parliament 1642 Start of the First Civil War 1643 Royalist Rising in West Kent. Parliamentary County Committee based at Knole House 1644 County Committee based at Aylesford 1646 County Committee based at Maidstone 1647 Christmas cancelled. Riots in Canterbury 1648 Royalist Rising in Kent. Battle of Maidstone 1649 Execution of Charles I, January 1660 The Restoration . King Charles returns and lands at Dover May 25th 1665 First Royal Navy dockyard laid out at Sheerness 1667 Dutch fleet in the Medway and Thames 1698 Shepherd Neame Brewery opened 18th Century  1709 First Turnpike Act for Kent 1730’s Mereworth Castle constructed 1740 Only four iron furnaces working in the Weald 1743 Kent beat All-England eleven at cricket 1758 Chatham Lines defences built 1778-83 Amherst Fort built 1785-95 Hasted writes his History of Kent 1791 Royal Sea bathing School opened 1796 Boy’s publishes his book on the agriculture of Kent 1796 Early warning semaphore stations opened across Kent 19th Century  1803-15 Western heights constructed at Dover 1805-9 Construction of the Military Canal 1805-12 Construction of 74 Martello Towers around the South coast 1810 Folkestone harbour constructed 1815 The first steamboats run between London and Margate 1823 Cobbett publishes on his ride through Kent 1824 Gravesend to Strood canal opened 1830 The first Swing Riots 1830 Canterbury Whitstable Railway line opened May 3rd 1832 Great Reforn Act 1834 New Poor Law. Anti Poor Law riots in Kent 1834 First production of Portland cement at Northfleet 1835 First conical oasthouse built by John Reid 1838 Courteney Rising 1842-3 South Eastern Railway line built 1844 Maidstone linked to the rail system 1847 Faversham gunpowder mill explosion, 50 killed 1857 Medieval stone bridge at Rochester replaced Kent County Constabulary formed 1858-63 Establishment of the London, Chatham and Dover rail Company 1859 & 1864 Drop Redoubt up-dated 1859 Kent County Cricket Club formed 1865 First railway specials bring hop pickers to Kent 1870 Education Act allows school boards to be formed 1889 Formation of Kent County Council 1896 Maidstone Typhoid epidemic, 131 die 20th Century  1909 Louis Bleroit is the first man to fly over the Channel 1912 Betteshanger, Chislet, Snowdown and Tilmanstone collieries opened 1913 County Hall opened in Maidstone 1913 Kent coalfield opened 1914 Start of the First World War HMS Bulwark explodes in the Medway, 800 killed 1916 Faversham munitions factory explosion, 106 killed 1918 End of the First World War 1922 Chalk cross of remembrance carved into the Downs at Lenham 1939 Start of the Second World War. Preparations for war and first evacuations 1940 Evacuation of Dunkirk Battle of Britain 1942 Canterbury heavily bombed, Baedecker raids 1944 First V-bombs land in Kent V2 missiles land in Kent Second phase of evacuation in Kent 1945 End of the Second World War. VE & VJ Day celebrations throughout Kent 1953 Coastal flooding around Kent 1959 Oil refinery opened on the Isle of Grain 1960 Opening of the Kingsferry bridge to Sheppey Royal Dockyard at Sheerness closes 1963 Current boundaries of Kent established 1964 First nuclear power station opened at Dungeness 1981 Royal Navy Dockyard at Chatham closes. Historic Dockyard opened 1972 Local Government Act changes local government boundaries in Kent 1973 Britain joins the Common Market 1976 Dartford Tunnel opened 1986 Channel Tunnel Treaty 1989 Last of the Kent collieries closes 1991 Queen Elizabeth II Thames bridge opened 1994 Channel Tunnel opened

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