County town: Maidstone
Kent is one of the oldest English kingdoms, the Cantium of the Romans and one of the first areas of Britain to adopt Christianity. It became a shire in the 9th century, though its earlier kingdom status gave it distinctive land customs including gavelkind inheritance.
Kent is England's gateway to the Continent, its chalk cliffs facing France across the Strait of Dover at its narrowest point. Canterbury, the seat of the Archbishop and the mother church of English Christianity since Augustine's mission of 597, gives the county its greatest historical significance. The county's hop gardens, orchards, and 'garden of England' reputation developed from the medieval period. The North Downs, the Weald, and the Romney Marsh give it three distinct landscapes. Its medieval ports — Dover, Sandwich, Hythe, Romney, Hastings — were among the most important in England, forming the Cinque Ports confederation. Leeds Castle, Knole, and Hever reflect the county's wealth.
Kent was surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086, William the Conqueror's great census of England. The survey recorded 353 settlements in the county, with details of their lords, landholders, population, and resources.
Browse 353 Domesday settlements in KentEngland's 39 historic counties, established between the 9th and 12th centuries, are the framework through which English local history, legal records, and landscape have been organised for a thousand years. Most survive today as ceremonial counties, their boundaries deeply embedded in place identity.
This page introduces the historic county of Kent. A full Aubrey report for a location within it pulls together everything the record actually holds about that ground, from the geology beneath it to the last coin dropped in a field:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Read in-depth research reports on notable historical places across the UK — explore →
Kent contains 457 scheduled monuments — sites of national importance protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Browse scheduled monuments in EnglandAn Aubrey report for a specific location in Kent draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.