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Sheppey, Kent

Historical Description

Sheppey, an island, a district, and a liberty, in the N of Kent. The island is bounded by the Thames, the Swale, and the Medway; measures 10½ miles in length south-eastward, 5 in breadth, and about 30 in circuit; was known to the Saxons as Sceapige, signifying " sheep island;" suffered devastation by the Danes in 832, 849, 851, 854, and some subsequent years; retains vestiges of Danish invasion in the form of " coterels " or tumuli; rises towards the centre, with diversity of hill and dale; is edged along most of the N by cliffs of from 60 to 80 feet high; suffers so much encroachment by the sea as to lose about 50 acres in twenty years; and consists entirely of the London clay formation, very rich in interesting fossils, and containing many pyrites or copperas-stones. The L.C. & D.R. affords communication with the mainland, the line being carried over the Swale by means of a movable iron viaduct.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:


Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.

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