In this section: Introduction

MEDIEVAL DARTFORD: RURAL ROOTS AND URBAN GROWTH

DARTFORD IN 1086

The Domesday Book entry for Dartford compiled by the Norman invaders in 1086 reveals that the royal manor of TARENTFORT (Dartford) was a small but thriving agricultural community supporting a population of approximately 150 families. The manor of Dartford comprised a mixture of arable land, meadow, pasture and woodland. Other features of note were the parish church, Holy Trinity, three smaller chapels, a mill, and two wharves on the River Darent. Teams of oxen were used to plough the land; pigs foraged in the local woods.

DARTFORD AS A MARKET TOWN

The years 1000-1500 saw a remarkable transformation in the size and importance of this former royal manor. Dartford evolved into a thriving and successful medieval market town supporting a population of approximately 1,000 people. The town’s new status arose from its position on the main road from London to Canterbury and the Kent coast, and its close involvement with trade and commerce. Dartford became an important market town at the centre of a network of smaller agricultural communities scattered along the fertile Darent Valley and along the south bank of the River Thames.

DARTFORD AS A RELIGIOUS AND COMMERCIAL CENTRE

Dartford’s status was further enhanced by its role in the religious life and administration of Kent. The town became a deanery of the diocese of Rochester, provided one of the venues for the bishop of Rochester’s consistory court and housed England’s only community of Dominican nuns at Dartford Priory. The expansion and increasing economic prosperity of Dartford during the Medieval period was also helped by the large numbers of pilgrims who passed through the town en route to the cathedral shrines at Rochester and Canterbury.

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