River Darent
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The confluence of the River Darent (left) and the River Cray (right) on Crayford Marshes. |
The
River Darent or
River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the
River Thames in
England. Its name is believed to be from a
Celtic word meaning '
river where
oak-trees grow'. Fed by water from
greensand hills south of
Westerham in
Kent, it rises from springs at
Sevenoaks, then flows northwards past the villages of
Otford and
Shoreham, past the castle and ruined Roman villa at
Lullingstone, past
Eynsford,
Farningham,
Horton Kirby,
South Darenth,
Sutton at Hone,
Darenth, and through the large town of
Dartford to meet the
Thames at Crayford Marshes where it forms the boundary between the
London Borough of Bexley and the borough of
Dartford.
As its name suggests, Dartford ('Tarentefort' in the
Domesday Book) was once a fording place over the Darent where it crossed the road from London to the Kent coast. There are records of a ford operating in Roman times. A ferry, operated by a
hermit, was established there by
1235. The post of hermit continued until
1518, long after the first bridge was built (a footbridge, constructed during the reign of
Henry IV (
1399-
1413) and surviving until the mid-eighteenth century). The landscapes of the river's valley were painted in a visionary manner by the early Victorian artist
Samuel Palmer.
North of Dartford the Darent receives the waters of the
River Cray from the west as it passes through Dartford Marshes and Crayford Marshes, joining the Thames near Crayford Ness. Its length from the springs at Sevenoaks to the Thames, estimated from a map, is about 25 miles (about 40
km).
The river is largely small and peaceful, a surprise given the breadth of the valley it has cut out. The cause of this is believed to be that the 'proto-Darent' was formerly much larger than the present day but that the
River Medway, through erosion of the soft chalk and clays of the
North Downs/Western
Weald, captured much of the headwaters that once supplied the Darent" (Source:
Stone Museum of Geology).
By
1989 it was realised that the flow of the river was decreasing dramatically, when it was officially recognised as the 'lowest flow' river in the country. Wildlife was being destroyed. Since then much work has been carried out to rectify the situation, including shutting down of a number of
boreholes along its length, by the
Environment Agency. A sculpture has now (2004) been unveiled to celebrate the renewed life of the river, depicting the wildlife which has been saved.
*
Dartford Town Archive*
Kent Place Names*
describes with illustrations the work done on the river
