Dartford

Dartford borough sits in northwest Kent, on the south bank of the Thames and within commuting distance of London. The River Darent runs through the district, shaping old mill sites and town centres in Dartford, Crayford and Stone. Transport arteries meet here: the M25 crosses the Thames at the Dartford Crossing on the borough’s northern edge, while rail routes serve Dartford and the Ebbsfleet area. Local industry has long included paper-making along the Darent and riverside wharves that linked the district to wider trade networks.

Recent decades have seen large-scale change around Ebbsfleet Valley and Greenhithe. Ebbsfleet International station provides high-speed rail services, and the Bluewater shopping centre sits close to Greenhithe. The borough also holds archaeological links reaching far back: gravel workings at Swanscombe produced Palaeolithic human skull fragments and associated artefacts, tying the landscape to some of Britain’s oldest human finds. Town centres, parkland and river corridors form the mix of built and natural places that define the district.