kent | A set of themed essays about Kent, a county in South East England, which include interactive maps and images. Kent has a rich history and provided inspiration for a number of writers and artists.

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Regeneration and the rise of the DFL.

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Impressions from a Bolthole Window

Low tide. Light breeze. To the north Deal pier waddles seawards towards France, a concrete centipede on rigid legs straddling the falling tide.

In Margate by Lunchtime

There was a mermaid on a scooter outside the station. Gary rubbed his eyes twice, hard, with the back of his fist. ‘Oi Gary!’ she shouted again. ‘Do you wanna ride or not?’

Journal Extracts

Australian poet Laurie Duggan’s journal extracts from his time living in Kent

Margate

Once a popular seaside resort where Victorians came to take the air, Margate was to suffer the fate of many other seaside towns: limping through the end of the last century with rising unemployment, dilapidated structures, organ music, and absent holiday makers.

Romney Marsh and Sepulchre Street

Martin Edwards has set his fourth novel in the Rachel Savernake series, Sepulchre Street in the atmospheric Romney Marshes.

David Seabrook

The word mystery comes to mind when approaching Seabrook and his work - a fitting word, given the author’s obsession with the local lore and hidden historical disjecta membra of Kent’s coastal towns.

Sin of Omission

In her 2021 novel, A Sin of Omission, Marguerite Poland highlights the work carried out by Anglican missionaries in 19th century South Africa. During this time, many young men travelled from all over the world to study at Saint Augustine’s Missionary College in Canterbury.

Starting University in the Covid Year

Starting University in 2020 was meant to bring freedom, doing the subject I cared most about on campus. The reality for myself and other students this year was somewhat different.

Traveller’s Joy

When walking around the city of Canterbury, one quickly notices the amount of representation and references of the city’s rich cultural heritage. Murals are particularly popular, in the first thought to tackle the illegal graffiti, in the second to give a new look to some of the grimmer spots in the city.

Waterstones, Canterbury

In summer, I ate ice cream on the roof. It was a shop of dreams, I can still smell the combination of books and wood, and I dreamed vividly there when I afternoon-napped in my hammock in a basement cupboard.