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This article is about the town in England. For the place in Canada, see Fordwich, Ontario.

Human settlement in England

Fordwich is a market town and a civil parish in east Kent, England, on the River Stour, northeast of Canterbury.

It is the smallest community by population in Britain with a town council.[2] Its population increased by 30 between 2001 and 2011.[1]

History

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Fordwich is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as a small village.[3] The town grew in the Middle Ages as a port for boats on their way upriver to Canterbury. All of the Caen stone used by the Normans to rebuild Canterbury Cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries was landed at Fordwich. It later became a limb of the Cinque Ports. It lost its status as a town in 1880 when it no longer had a Mayor and Corporation. However, in a reorganisation in 1974, Fordwich was again made a town. Fordwich Town Hall was rebuilt in or shortly before 1544.[4]

The ancient Church of St Mary the Virgin, now redundant but open to the public, and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, contains part of a carved sarcophagus reputed to have contained the remains of St Augustine of Canterbury.[5] The 16th-century building next the Town Hall, now known as Watergate House, was the family home of John and Gregory Blaxland, early 19th-century pioneers of Australia.[6]

Palaeolithic archaeology

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During the 1920s-1930s, a significant amount of Palaeolithic handaxes were discovered during industrial quarrying to the west side of Fordwich. In total, these handaxes numbered some 330 pieces, along with flakes from lithic construction. [7] During 2020, Cambridge University dug exploratory trenches at the same western location, discovering deposits of Palaeolithic archaeology, counting 251 in-situ Lower-Palaeolithic flakes and scrapers from Acheulean industry. [8] In 2022, Archaeologist Peter Knowles [Professor David Bridgland [9] Professor, Archaeology, Mark White [10] ] of Durham University made a handaxe discovery from an area called Moat Rough in Fordwich. Moat Rough is of particular interest archaeologically because the ground there has been left fallow for decades with no quarrying or development. The new handaxe discovery at Moat Rough revealed that gravel terraces bearing Palaeolithic archaeology running underneath Fordwich are much more widespread than previously thought, indicating that there is much more research on early-man that needs to be done there.

Community

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There are two pubs in the town, the George & Dragon and Fordwich Arms, which boasts a Michelin star. Fordwich gained angling and fishing repute from Izaak Walton for its "Fordidge trout", one of the largest types found.[11]

Media

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Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Dover TV transmitter. [12] Local radio stations are BBC Radio Kent, Heart South, and KMFM Canterbury, a community based station that broadcast from Canterbury. The town is served by the local newspaper, Kentish Gazette.

See also

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Broughton in Furness with as few as 529 residents

Stockbridge in Hampshire, with a population of 592

Manningtree in Essex, another claimant for smallest town in England, with 700 people in 20 hectares

Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales, another claimant for smallest town in Britain, has a population of 850

References

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