Elmley
| Elmley | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
 Kings Hill Farm buildings and Elmley Marshes | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 51°23’27"N, 0°46’32"E |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Sheerness |
| Postcode: | ME12 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Swale |
Elmley or the Isle of Elmley is an island and ancient parish, conjoined to the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. It was also the name of a very-late-19th century industrial village on the isle. Edward Hasted describes, in 1798, the isle as two eighths of the Isle of Sheppey (in turn) estimated as 11 miles by 8 miles.[1] Its present National Nature Reserve covers more than the easily traceable area of the isle by extending to the east, over Windmill Creek, one of two Sheppey inlets, former internal tidal channels.
History
The former civil parish at its height as recorded by decennial censuses had 219 residents at the 1891 census, falling to 50 in twenty years and to 8 in 1961, shortly before its abolition.[2] It consisted of the Turkey Cement Works, which was the major employer for the area, as well as a school, a church, a public house and 30 dwellings. The ailing cement works closed in 1902 and then the population dwindled. Elmley School closed in the 1920s and the church was demolished in the 1960s leaving memorials of graves.[3]
There was also once a ferry service crossing the Swale to Murston (near Sittingbourne).[4]
The last surviving buildings of the village are the Grade-II listed 'Kingshill Farmhouse'[5] and 'Kingshill Farmhouse Barn'[6]
Elmley today
In the 1970s a bird reserve was established on the marshes, the centrepiece of the Elmley National Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Elmley Conservation Trust.[7] It covers 3,250 acres, more than the easily traceable area of the isle and is one of the largest bird reserves in England.
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Elmley) |
- ↑ Hasted, Edward (1798). "Parishes". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (Institute of Historical Research) 6: 207–216. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62960. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- ↑ "Elmley CP/AP through time | Population Statistics | Total Population". http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10193473/cube/TOT_POP.
- ↑ Rymill, John (2006). The Three Sheppey Islands in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Green Arrow Publishing. ISBN 0-9551431-5-2.
- ↑ "Walk 4 Trail around Elmley". Medway Council. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140307183527/http://www.discoveryourestuary.com/Elmley.pdf. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
- ↑ "Kingshill Farmhouse, Minster-on-Sea". http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-444225-kingshill-farmhouse-minster-on-sea-kent. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- ↑ "Barn Adjoining Cattle Shed Immediately North of Kings Hill Farmhouse, Minster-on-Sea". http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-446560-barn-adjoining-cattle-shed-immediately-n. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- ↑ "Elmley NNR". http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/nnr/1007024.aspx. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
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