Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for QUEENBOROUGH

QUEENBOROUGH, a village and a parish in Sheppey district, Kent. The village stands on the Swale, near the Medway, and on the Sittingbourne and Sheerness railway, 2 miles S of Sheerness; superseded a Saxonplace called Cyningburg, or King's-Castle, where annual courts were held; was founded, along with a castle, by Edward III., and called Queenborough in compliment to his queen Philippa; received a charter from Edward III., placing it under the government of amayor, two bailiffs, and other officers; sent two members to parliament from the time of Elizabeth, till disfranchised by the reform act of 1832; was long a staplefor wool; had once a weekly market; passed into a state of decadence; underwent some slight revival in the years preceding 1861; carries on an active oyster fishery, and has the oldest copperas manufactory in England; consists of one main street; and has a post-office‡ under Sheerness, a railway station with telegraph, a guildhall, a church, Independent and Wesleyan chapels, a good national school, a fair on 5 Aug., and charities £51. The castle was erected after designs by William of Wykeham; was repaired by Richard II., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth; was taken down in the time of the Commonwealth; and is now represented by only a well and the remains of the moat and glacis. The well was re-opened in 1860, and is 271 feet deep. The church has an ancient tower, probably Norman; and, in 1868, was much out of repair. The parish comprises 400 acres of land, and 100 ofwater. Real property, £2, 525; of which £500 are infisheries. Pop. in 1851, 722; in 1861, 973. Houses, 157 The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £100.* Patron, the Corporation.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Queenborough AP/CP       Sheppey RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Queenborough

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.