Halstead, Kent

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St Margaret's Church

Halstead is a village and parish in the Codsheath Hundred of Kent, close to the edge of the metropolitan conurbation. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census is 1,607.[1]

The name Halstead is derived from the Old English hald (refuge, shelter) and stede (site, place), meaning 'safe place' or 'place of refuge'. The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret. Halstead Community Primary School is located in the village.

Author Edith Nesbit spent some of her adolescence in Halstead during the 1870s and her book The Railway Children is thought to be based on her time living in a house, Halstead Hall, whose garden is about a mile and a half from the railway line.

The parish is adjacent to Fort Halstead, a government defence research centre that is thought to have developed Britain's first atomic bomb.

Halstead is served by Transport for London and other bus routes. The nearest rail link to Halstead is at Knockholt station.

See also

References

  • Hasted, Edward - "The History of Kent" pp319–322 (1788, reprinted 1972).
  • Kitchener, Geoffrey - "Halstead in Kent - An Historical Guide" (1978).

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Halstead, Kent)

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