Queenborough

Queenborough
	Queenborough
	Queenborough
	Location in England
Basic data
status	Town and Civil Parish
surface	7.21 km²
population	3407 (as of 2011)
Ceremony county	Kent
District	Borough of Swale
Constituency	Sittingbourne and Sheppey
	Website: www.queenboroughtc.kentparishes.gov.uk

Queenborough is a small town and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent in South East England .

General

Queenborough is about 3 km south of Sheerness and is a port on the Thames estuary , not far from The Swale , where it joins the River Medway . The city has been able to maintain its flair of a seafaring place from the 18th century, a time from which the most important buildings originate. The parish church, however, dates back to the Middle Ages and was completely renovated between 1690 and 1730.

History, economy, traffic

At the time of the Anglo-Saxons the place was called Cyningburh ( "King's Borough" ). During the Hundred Years War with France , King Edward III built here a fortress called Sheppey Castle or Queenborough Castle . The place received from him the right of a royal borough in 1366 . In 1667 the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter (1607–1676) destroyed part of the English fleet in a surprise attack in their port of Medway, not far from Queenborough, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667). The fortress was also occupied by the Dutch for a short time. This later led to an expansion of the fortifications at the Thames estuary.

Admiral Lord Nelson gained his first nautical experience here in the 18th century and later moved to a house near the small harbor with his mistress, Emma Hamilton .

According to a contemporary report, Queenborough was around 1850 "... a very sorry place indeed; broken down and almost lawless". The author Daniel Defoe ( " Robinson Crusoe " ) also wrote of a "... miserable and dirty fishing town ..." . One of the reasons was the withdrawal of the Royal Navy from the canals around Sheppey, as the larger ships could no longer anchor there. Only a few Hulks were left on site as prison ships.

The place got an upswing through the connection to the South-Eastern & Chatham Railway via Sittingbourne and at the same time a constant steamship connection through the Stoomvaart Maatschappij "Zeeland" between Queenborough and Vlissingen on Walcheren . The rail connection was moved directly to the ferry boat pier. In 1860, the Swale Bridge was built to connect with mainland England. The railway line is now called Sheerness line and connects Sheerness via Queenborough with Sittingbourne.

Queenborough has developed into a busy marina behind protective sea walls. Tourism and local industries, such as a Portland cement and rolling mill, also contribute to the residents' income.