Post by Les on Mar 12, 2021 10:59:18 GMT
811 Fefresham, derives from Old English. The second element is the Old English word hām ('settlement'), which is common in place-names.
The first element, however, is unique.
It has been inferred to derive from an otherwise lost Old English word *fæfere ('smith'), which in turn derived from the Latin faber ('craftsman, smith').
Thus the name once meant 'smith's homestead'. Given its Latin derivation, however, the name may have referred specifically to Roman smiths.
Fefresham was established as a settlement before the Roman conquest.
The Romans established several towns in Kent including Fefresham , with traffic through the Saxon Shore ports of Reculver, Richborough, Dover and Lympne converging on Canterbury before heading up Watling Street to London.
The town was less than 10 miles from Canterbury, and consequently it had become established on this road network by 50 AD following the initial conquest by Claudius in 43 AD.
Numerous remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in and around the Town, including under St Mary of Charity Church where coins and urns were discovered during reconstruction of the western tower in 1794.
In 2013, the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, able to accommodate some 12,000 people, were discovered at a hillside near the town.
The cockpit-style outdoor auditorium, the first of its kind found in Britain, was a style the Romans used elsewhere in their empire on the Continent.
There is archaeological evidence to suggest that Fefresham was a summer capital for the Saxon kings of Kent.
It was held in royal demesne in 811, and is further cited in a charter granted by Coenwulf, the King of Mercia.
Coenwulf described the town as 'the King's little town of Fefresham', while it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Favreshant.
The town had established itself as a seaport by the Middle Ages, and became part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports in the 13th century, providing a vessel to Dover.
The Gough Map of Britain, printed in 1360, shows the Swale as an important shipping channel for trade.
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Abbey Street, which includes many historic houses, was saved from demolition in the 1950s.
Kent is the centre of hop-growing in England, being centred on nearby Canterbury.
Faversham has been the home of several breweries. The Shepherd Neame Brewery was officially founded in 1698, though brewing activities in Faversham pre-date this. The brewery claims to be the oldest in Britain and continues to be family-owned.
The Rigden brewery was founded in the early 18th century by Edward Rigden. It subsequently merged with the Canterbury-based George Beer in 1922 to become George Beer & Rigden before being purchased by the Maidstone based Fremlin's.
Whitbread bought out Fremlin's in 1967, and closed the Faversham brewery in 1990. The site is now a Tesco superstore.
Shepherd Neame remains a significant regional brewer despite a decline in consumption of traditional bitter beer, producing around 230,000 barrels a year.
It now also makes India Pale Ale under licence. Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame, recipient of the Victoria Cross, was born in Faversham and a memorial to him was placed in the town centre in 2014.
A shipyard was established in Faversham by James Pollock & Sons (Shipbuilders) in 1916 at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty, for manufacturing barges for landing craft.
Faversham already had a tradition of shipbuilding, and it soon became a major contributor to markets throughout the world, producing vessels such as the Molliette and the Violette, both constructed of concrete.
Over 1200 ships were built and launched from Faversham between 1916 and 1969.
Faversham Market is still held in the town centre. It is now the oldest street market in Kent, dating back over 900 years. Monthly markets are also held in Preston Street and Court Street.
Having been an important thoroughfare since the 12th century, Abbey Street went into decline around the start of the 20th.
Some buildings on the street adjoining Quay Lane were demolished in 1892 and much of the entire street was intended for demolition as recently as the 1950s, until intervention from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
Local people began a determined fight to restore and preserve the area.
Faversham has a highly active archaeological society and a series of community archaeology projects are run every year. In 2009, evidence of the town's medieval tannery was unearthed in back gardens of one street and evidence from the Saxon period was uncovered during the Hunt the Saxons project between 2005 and 2007.