Longfield
| Longfield | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ604688 |
| Location: | 51°23’46"N, -0°18’17"E |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Longfield |
| Postcode: | DA3 |
| Dialling code: | 01474 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dartford |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Dartford |
Longfield is a village in northern Kent. It is found six miles south east of Dartford and five miles south west of Gravesend. It contains several shops, a pub, and a 14th-century parish church.
Longfield is recorded by name as Langanfelda in Anglo-Saxon Charters of 964 and 995. It appears as Langafel in the Domesday Book of 1086.[1] The name, unsurprisingly, simply means "the long field".
Longfield is four miles south east of Dartford and near Gravesend. It is contiguous with the village of Hartley to the south. It is in the Axstane Hundred.
The villages of New Barn and Longfield are within and give their names to the joint "civil parish" of Longfield and New Barn which also covers the settlement of Longfield Hill. Longfield is the ancient village, standing on the road between Dartford and Meopham. New Barn is larger in population than Longfield, although has little in the way of services, being a recent development and purely a residential location.
History
Longfield led a sweepy existence for most of its history, untl the suburbs spread inexorably. In 1944, with the end of the War in sight and eyes looking to the future, Patrick Abercrombie, an ambitious town planner, proposed in the "Greater London Plan" to build a New Town in the Longfield area. This was rejected.[2]
The railway came to the area in 1861, but Longfield station did not open until 1872. This building was replaced in 1902 after a fire, and rebuilt in 1971. The line was electrified just before the war, but it was many years before the company could be persuaded to set up safety fencing. Many people used to walk to Longfield Halt in Whitehill Road to catch the train to Gravesend West Street.
About the village
The village has a shopping area consisting of a local baker and butcher, two local supermarkets, a post office, chemist, estate agents, hair-dressers, an antiques shop, various restaurants and take-aways, an undertakers and a country market on Fridays.[3]
Longfield suffers from heavy traffic and queues daily.
Parish church
The village church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, and was built in 1343.[4]
Culture
There is one pub in Longfield, the Railway Tavern,.[5] Another, The Wheatsheaf, a 15th-century thatched pub, outside the village on the B255 road to Bluewater.[6] unfortunately closed down in 2011. The Long Valley Club and the Hartley Country Club are club-based venues restricted to paid membership. Other pubs in the area include the Green Man on Longfield Hill, the White Swan near Ash and the Rising Sun in Fawkham.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Longfield) |
References
- ↑ "history". www.longfieldchurch.org. http://www.longfieldchurch.org/history.html. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ↑ "Hartley-Kent: Plans for Hartley New Town 1944". www.hartley-kent.org.uk. http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/history/1944nt.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ↑ "Welcome • Longfield Country Market". www.longfieldcountrymarket.co.uk. http://www.longfieldcountrymarket.co.uk/. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ↑ St Mary Magdalene Church, Longfield
- ↑ "Railway Tavern, Longfield, Kent, DA3 7QD - pub details # beerintheevening.com". www.beerintheevening.com. http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/35/35753/Railway_Tavern/Longfield. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ↑ "Wheatsheaf, Westwood, Kent, DA13 9PH - pub details # beerintheevening.com". www.beerintheevening.com. http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/30/30633/Wheatsheaf/Westwood. Retrieved 2010-06-08.