River Darent
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River Darent Dartford Creek in the lower reaches |
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 The River Darent at Shoreham |
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| Data | ||
| location | Kent , England | |
| River system | Thames | |
| Drain over | Thames → North Sea | |
| River basin district | South east | |
| origin | south of Westerham 51 ° 15 ′ 54 ″ N , 0 ° 4 ′ 19 ″ E |
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| muzzle | in the Thames Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 55 " N , 0 ° 13 ′ 8" E 51 ° 28 ′ 55 " N , 0 ° 13 ′ 8" E
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| length | 32 km | |
| Left tributaries | River Cray | |
| Medium-sized cities | Dartford | |
The River Darent is a watercourse in Kent , England . It arises in the south of Westerham from the confluence of several tributaries. It flows first in an easterly direction and turns in the southeast of Longford in the north of Sevenoaks in a northerly direction and flows east of Erith into the Thames. The river forms in parts the border between the London Borough of Bexley and the Borough of Dartford .
The name is derived from the Celtic word derva (German: oak) as 'the river on which oaks stand'.
The place name Dartford is based on a contraction of Darent and Ford (German: Furt ). There are reports of a ford in the River Darent from Roman times. In 1235 a ferry was set up by a hermit and operated until 1518. The first bridge was built under Henry IV . It stood until the middle of the 18th century.
From the time of the Doomsday Book to the beginning of the 20th century, numerous water mills were in operation on the river. In the 19th century the Darent was a busy river, the course of which was adapted to the needs of shipping.
In the late 1980s, the River Darent was considered to be one of the slowest flowing rivers in England. In summer 1996 parts of the river dried up. The Environment Agency then initiated measures to correct the course of the river and severely restricted the abstraction of water. The settlement of numerous fish, including trout , in the river is considered a success of the measures.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ River Darent on London's Lost Rivers