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The ancient parish church (dating from the 14th century, but with work from earlier periods) is dedicated to St Botolph. As a parish it is larger in area than its neighbour of Gravesend: it covers 3000 acres (12 km²) in all. Its tower was built in 1717, after the original had fallen.The church contains a C14th carved oak screen, which is thought to be the oldest in Kent. There are also Anglican churches at Rosherville (St Marks) and at Perry Street (All Saints). The Roman Catholic church, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and with its tower foreshadowing his Liverpool Cathedral, is built entirely of brown brick. It was constructed in 1914
Northfleet Urban District Council was set up under the Local Government Act of 1894. Within its boundaries were the hamlets of Northfleet Green and Nash Street, as well as the now built-up Perry Street; and the later estates at Shears Green, Istead Rise and Downs Road. Northfleet was merged, inter alia, with Gravesend to become Gravesham District Council on 1st April 1974.
With its situation on a busy waterway such as the River Thames, at a point where higher land came close to the river, it was an obvious place for industry to be located. The river provided water supplies and the means whereby raw materials and products could be transported. The forests of the area provided timber for various aspects of most industries.
The Romans first began to dig chalk from the area, but the making of cement came later. The industry require plentiful water supplies, and chalk as its main ingredient, both of which were to hand. When Joseph Aspdin, credited with being the inventor of Portland cement, built his first bottle kilns at Northfleet it was the beginning of a large complex of cement works along this stretch of the river.
Aspdin's became Bevan’s Works in 1853, sold on to the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) in 1903, and taken over by the Lafarge Group in 2001.
Northfleet was by 1800 the home of numerous shipyards which had produced many fine vessels, but the docks were in decline by 1843. One such yard was owned by Thomas Pitcher, a shipwright, laid out in 1788. A list of merchant vessels built at his yard included at least 25 ships for the East Indies and West IndiesThe Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. These islands curve southward from the bottom tip of Florida to the Northwest of Venezuela in South America. There are at least 7000 islands, islets, reefs and cayes in the regio services, and about the same number for the Navy. In 1839 the company was in the hands of Pitcher's sons William and Henry. The yard finally closed in 1860.
Another large employee of labour in Northfleet is the cable works. Originally Henley’s, now AEI, they occupy the land originally used by the Rosherville Gardens (see below).
In 1815 the first steamboat started plying between Gravesend and London: an event which was to bring much prosperity to the area. The number of visitors steadily increased, and in the course of the next ten years several new and rival steam packets were started.. With the regular service given by the steam packets, amenities for the entertainment of visitors began to spring up. One of those amenities was Rosherville Gardens.
The gardens were laid out in 1837 by George Jones in one of the disused chalk pits, covering an area of 17 acres (69,000 m²). Their full title was the 'Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Institution’. They occupied an area in what was to become Rosherville New Town (see below).
Robert Hiscock, in his ’A History of Gravesend’ (Phillimore, 1976) describes them thus:
They were a place of surpassing beauty and a favourite resort of Londoners. Adorned with small Greek temples and statuary set in the cliffs, there were terraces, and archery lawn, Bijou theatre, and Baronial Hall for refreshments, and at one time a.lake. At night the gardens were illuminated with thousands of coloured lights and there were fireworks displays and dancing. Famous bands such as the American SousaJohn Philip Sousa ( November 6, 1854 March 6, 1932), is probably the most famous marching band conductor (although his band rarely marched) and composer in history. He wrote well over 100 marches; some of his most popular are: Semper Fidelis (1888) The Wa were engaged during the season. Blondin , the trapezes performed … In 1857 as many as 20,000 visitors passed through the turnstiles in one week. By 1880 the gardens had reached the peak of their popularity … in 1901 they were closed. During a brief revival 1903-1911, they were used in the making of early films.
A pier was built to carry these crowds ashore, and a railway station opened on the Gravesend West branch railway. It was one of the steamboats from Rosherville Gardens that was involved in a horrific accident in 1878. The ' Princess AliceFor people bearing the title Princess Alice, see Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alice of Albany. The Princess Alice was a passenger steamer. On the evening of September 3, 1878, she collided with the steam collier Bywell Castle and san' passenger steamer, after leaving Rosherville pier, was in a collison with the collier 'Bywell castle', from WoolwichSee also Woolwich, Ontario, Canada and Woolwich, Maine, United States of America Woolwich (pronounced 'Woolitch') is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of. 640 people died from the collision, 240 being children. An inquest was held at Woolwich, but no conclusive reason was ever established as to the cause of the disaster at the Devils Elbow on the Thames.