Sheerness Dockyard Sheerness Elmley Bird Reserve Bird Elmley i Towns & Villages of Sheppey of Villages & Towns Your Guide to the to Guide Your www.rspb.org.uk/reserves call 01795 665969/01634 222480 or log on to the website: the to on log or 222480 665969/01634 01795 call members. Parking and toilets are available. For more information more For available. are toilets and Parking members. RSPB members are free but there is a small charge for non for charge small a is there but free are members RSPB distance from the bus and train stations train and bus the from distance worth a visit. a worth paddling pool are situated by the beach and within easy walking easy within and beach the by situated are pool paddling birds of prey and aquatic plants, plus much more and certainly and more much plus plants, aquatic and prey of birds companies. The leisure centre and swimming pool, sand pit and pit sand pool, swimming and centre leisure The companies. inhabited by many breeding wetland birds, marsh frogs, insects, frogs, marsh birds, wetland breeding many by inhabited The High Street has may local shops as well as several national several as well as shops local may has Street High The Marshes! The RSPB Reserve has windswept salt marshes that are that marshes salt windswept has Reserve RSPB The Marshes! wilderness left in the south east, come and have a look at Elmley at look a have and come east, south the in left wilderness blow to the town. the to blow Harvest and Flower festival. However, if you thought there was no was there thought you if However, festival. Flower and Harvest garrison, the main sources of prosperity in Sheerness, was a huge a was Sheerness, in prosperity of sources main the garrison, described as Kent’s most remote church famous for its annual its for famous church remote most Kent’s as described grow. The eventual closure in 1960 of the dockyard and dockyard the of 1960 in closure eventual The grow. place in fact the little St. Thomas the Apostle Church has been has Church Apostle the Thomas St. little the fact in place Harty. Visiting Harty one cannot but feel the remoteness of the of remoteness the feel but cannot one Harty Visiting Harty. original naval quarter, the modern town of Sheerness began to began Sheerness of town modern the quarter, naval original which included the main Island and the smaller ones of Elmley and Elmley of ones smaller the and Island main the included which produced a need for much more housing and, to the east of the of east the to and, housing more much for need a produced recently the neighbourhood was known as the “Isles of Sheppey”, of “Isles the as known was neighbourhood the recently enlarged scale and requiring a greatly increased workforce. This workforce. increased greatly a requiring and scale enlarged Nearby, Harty is really a separate island, and until comparatively until and island, separate a really is Harty Nearby, would witness a total rebuilding of the dockyard on a much a on dockyard the of rebuilding total a witness would buildings’ exteriors. The beginning of the nineteenth century nineteenth the of beginning The exteriors. buildings’ Anne Boleyn visited in 1532. 1532. in visited Boleyn Anne Sheppey originating from dockyard sources that was used to decorate the decorate to used was that sources dockyard from originating Shurland Hall (that is currently being restored) that Henry VIIII and VIIII Henry that restored) being currently is (that Hall Shurland as Blue Town supposedly after the colour of the paint, the of colour the after supposedly Town Blue as opposite the peaceful 14th century church, and it was at nearby at was it and church, century 14th peaceful the opposite collection of dockyard workers’ homes would become known become would homes workers’ dockyard of collection was used in both World Wars. There’s a memorial to all this all to memorial a There’s Wars. World both in used was The aerodrome used during those exhilarating and inspiring times inspiring and exhilarating those during used aerodrome The collection of houses grew up adjacent to the dockyard. This little This dockyard. the to adjacent up grew houses of collection The Isle of Isle The accompanying dockyard. In the years that followed a small a followed that years the In dockyard. accompanying discretion of the wind, but at the will of the pilot of the airplane. the of pilot the of will the at but wind, the of discretion defence of the navy anchorage up the Medway, and build an build and Medway, the up anchorage navy the of defence that were powered and capable of being controlled, not at the at not controlled, being of capable and powered were that in 1665 when Charles II decided to construct a fort there for the for there fort a construct to decided II Charles when 1665 in became a leading centre in this Country for the race to fly machines fly to race the for Country this in centre leading a became uninhabited promontory of marshland. That would all change all would That marshland. of promontory uninhabited is the home of early aviation. 100 years ago in 1909 Eastchurch 1909 in ago years 100 aviation. early of home the is In the middle of the seventeenth century Sheerness was just an just was Sheerness century seventeenth the of middle the In Thames estuary. However it is also steeped in history. Eastchurch history. in steeped also is it However estuary. Thames Welcome to Welcome main shopping and commercial centre. commercial and shopping main walks with some beautiful views across the Swale and to the north the to and Swale the across views beautiful some with walks Sheerness is the gateway to the Island by rail and sea. It is the is It sea. and rail by Island the to gateway the is Sheerness The quiet parish of Eastchurch is surrounded by enjoyable country enjoyable by surrounded is Eastchurch of parish quiet The SHEERNESS ELMLEY & HARTY EASTCHURCH, LEYSDOWN, WARDEN & SHELLNESS MINSTER QUEENBOROUGH Today Leysdown, Warden and Shellness are known as Minster is Sheppey’s highest point so the views here are Queenborough owes its existence to Edward III who founded a traditional seaside resorts, with long sandy beaches, wonderful. The ruined Abbey and its well preserved church, the castle and adjacent town, completed in 1368, on the site of the amusements, night clubs, camping and caravan sites, and good oldest of its kind in the kingdom, occupy the site of this ancient modern borough. Unfortunately the castle, which gave the town food that offer a whole range of tastes for the summer visitor. It natural fortification. The hill upon which this fortress was its main purpose, was demolished by Parliament in 1650. has the added attraction that it is also within easy driving erected has a plateaux that offers extensive and delightful views Queenborough, thereafter, would remain for many generations distance from London and the main towns of the South East. not only of the whole of the Island but also over the North Sea, a small impoverished community relying on its fishing industries the Swale and the Nore; with the Kentish hills on the other. Its for survival. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century the However, its heritage is interwoven with a rich tapestry of panoramic effect is impossible to eclipse by any other part of town was reduced to a state of starvation when the tyrannical aeronautical history – for Shellness is the birthplace of the “first the English coast. Mayor Greet seized control of the town’s oyster beds. The flight”. The Short Brothers and the aero club headed up their recovery of the town from this grim period was greatly helped headquarters at Muswell Manor where they acquired a flying From the earliest times of which we have any authentic historic by the coming of the railway in 1860 and by a Cross-Channel field at Shellbeach and conducted their flying experiments here. record, or even tradition, the whole interest of the Isle of passenger service, which started in 1876 between Queenborough Also, on this site, the world’s first airplane factory was built Sheppey centres in, and radiates from Minster. There is evidence and the Dutch port of Vlissingen, and continued up until the First where historical names from the past met; JTC Moor-Brabazon; of people living in Minster as far back as Roman times and World War. During the Second World War the town played an the Hon CS Rolls; Griffith Brewer; AV Roe; Frank McClean and during the Anglo Saxon period the history of Minster becomes important role as a base for the Royal Navy’s minesweepers. T.O.M. Sopwith together with many others. very interesting when the Saxons swarmed onto the Isle of The heritage can be seen at the Guildhall Museum. Sheppey, threw up fortifications, and settled themselves in the Rushenden is a small outlying area of Queenborough that is Now you can visit Muswell Manor for a meal or a drink and neighbourhood of Minster guarding the mouth of the Thames. home to a small housing estate and various light industries, view lots of early aviation memorabilia. Queen Sexburga, and the ruling monarch King Egbert built and however a significant regeneration project is underway which endowed the Minster Abbey for the maintenance of nuns and will dovetail with the best of local heritage. Halfway, on the old was the paramount manor over all Sheppey. The hilltop church main road between Queenborough and Sheerness, comprises and twelfth century Abbey gatehouse remind you that a predominantly of a growing number of streets of houses Benedictine Abbey began here in medieval times.