DARTFORD  , a

market town in the Dartford parliamentary division of Kent, England, on the Darent, 17 M . E.S.E. of London by the South-Eastern & Chatham railway . Pop. ofurban district (1891), 11,962 ; (1901) 18,644 . The town lies low, flanked by two chalky eminences, called East and West Hills . It possesses a town hall, a grammar school (1576), and a Martyr's Memorial Hall: The most noteworthy building, however, is the parish church, restored in 1863, which contains a curious old fresco and several interesting brasses, and has a Norman tower . The prosperity of the town depends on the important works in its vicinity, including powder works, paper mills, and engineering, iron, chemical and cement works . One of the first attempts at the manufacture of paper in England was made here by Sir John Spielman (d . 1607), jeweller to Queen Elizabeth . Dartford was the scene, in 1235, of the marriage, celebrated by proxy, between Isabella, sister of Henry III., and the Emperor Frederick II . ; and in 1331 a famous tournament was held in the place by Edward III . The same monarch established an Augustinian nunnery on West Hill in 1355, of which, however, few remains exist . After the Dissolution it was used as a private residence by Henry VIII., Anne of Cleves and Elizabeth .

The

chantry of St Edmund the Martyr which stood on the opposite side of the town was a part of Edward III.'s endowment to the priory, and became so famous as a place of pilgrimage, especially for those on their way to Canterbury, that the part of Watling Street which crossed there towards London was sometimes called " St Edmund's Way." It was here also that Wat Tyler's insurrection began in 1377, and the house in which he resided is shown . On Dartford Heath is a lunatic asylum of the London County Council, and, at Long Reach, the infectious diseases hospital of the Metropolitan Asylums Board . Stone church, 2 M . E. of Dartford, mainly late Early English (1251-1274), and carefully restored by G . E . Street in 186o, is remarkable ; the richness of the work within increases from west to east, culminating in a choir arcade decorated with work among the finest of its period extant; the period is that of the choir of Westminster Abbey, and from a comparison of building materials, choir arcades and sculpture of foliage, a common architect has been suggested . Greenhithe, on the banks of the Thames, has large chalk quarries in its neighbourhood, from which lime and cement are manufactured .