Kingsnorth (Medway)

Kingsnorth is a place in Kent, England, on the south side of the Hoo Peninsula. It is distinct from the village of Kingsnorth, also in Kent, near Ashford. The nearest village is Hoo St Werburgh and the nearest town Rochester, Kent.

Kingsnorth is the location of Kingsnorth thermal power station. It was the location of an airship base, RNAS Kingsnorth, during the First World War.

References

Coordinates: 51°25′22″N 0°35′41″E / 51.42278°N 0.59472°E / 51.42278; 0.59472

Kingsnorth

Coordinates: 51°07′04″N 0°51′41″E / 51.1178°N 0.8615°E / 51.1178; 0.8615

Kingsnorth is a mixed rural and urban village and relatively large civil parish adjoining Ashford in Kent, England.

Features

The Greensand Way, a long distance footpath stretching from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent, passes through the parish on the final stretch.

Ashford Town Football Club's ground, Homelands, is just outside the village.

A 20th century primary school in the village has been greatly expanded due to the influx of people moving to the main neighbourhood Park Farm, which has a large supermarket and may eventually have its own rail halt on the Marshlink Line.

The village post office is based in the Kingsnorth Village Hall on Church Hill, although the hamlet or neighbourhood of Stubbs Cross retains its shop/post office. The village cluster of Kingsnorth where the parish church can be found is quite small.

History

A Roman settlement was discovered at the crossing of two important Roman roads on Westhawk Farm. The centre of the settlement has been preserved unexcavated as an open space, but before building began on the rest of the site, part of a Roman road was uncovered. There was evidence to show that there had been timber buildings at the side of the road, some of which were associated with ironworking. A shrine or temple was also found with a water-hole which contained 74, mostly 2nd-century coins probably left as offerings. Over 250 coins and many other artefacts were discovered on the site together with a Roman cemetery and an Iron Age burial.

Kingsnorth power station

Kingsnorth is a decommissioned dual-fired coal and oil power station on the Hoo Peninsula at Medway in Kent, South East England. The four-unit station was operated by energy firm E.ON UK, and had a generating capacity of 2000 megawatts. It was capable of operating on either coal or oil though in practice oil was used only as a secondary fuel or for startup. It was also capable of co-firing biofuel, up to a maximum of 10% of the station's fuel mix. A replacement power station, also coal-fired, was considered by owners E.ON, but plans were abandoned. The proposed replacement attracted substantial public protests and criticism, including the 2008 Camp for Climate Action.

History

Built on the site of the former World War I airship base RNAS Kingsnorth, Kingsnorth power station was constructed between 1963 and 1973 by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). From 1975 to the early 1980s, Kingsnorth was linked to the London power grid by HVDC Kingsnorth, one of the few examples of high-voltage direct current transmission then in use.