Visit Swanscombe Places

Welcome to Visit Swanscombe Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Swanscombe

  

Swanscombe Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Swanscombe

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Swanscombe history

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Prehistory

Bone fragments and tools, representing the earliest humans known to have lived in England, have been found from 1935 onwards at the Barnfield Pit about 2 km (1 mile) outside the village. This site is now the Swanscombe Heritage Park. Lower levels of the site yielded evidence of an even earlier, more primitive human, dubbed Clactonian Man.

Viking era

The Vikings settled throughout the winter along the Thames estuary with their ships, and established camps in Kent and Essex. From Crayford to the Isle of Thanet, the Danes occupied the land and terrorised the Saxon inhabitants. The settlement was later variously called Suinescamp (in the Domesday Book), Sweinscamp and Swanscamp.

Norman Conquest

In 1066 Swanscombe locals massed an army in defiance of William I. They won the right to continue their ancient privileges, including the tradition of passing inheritance by gavelkind. They were offered a truce that left Kent as the only region in England which William left unconquered.

Churches

Richard Norman Shaw designed All Saints Church in 1894, built out of knapped flint for the workers of the cement industry. It survives as a rare example of his design, covering multiple Gothic Revival styles throughout its architecture and features such as Decorated tracery on the windows and Arts and Crafts Perpendicular woodwork in the interior.

Second World War

A German bomb crashed into The Morning Star Inn in Swanscombe on 10 November 1940. 27 people were killed and six seriously injured in the explosion. The pub was the site of several similar attacks on the town during the Second World War.

You can visit Swanscombe places with Walkfo Swanscombe to hear history at Swanscombe’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Swanscombe has 45 places to visit in our interactive Swanscombe map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Swanscombe, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Swanscombe places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Swanscombe & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 45 audio facts unique to Swanscombe places in an interactive Swanscombe map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Swanscombe Places Map
45 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Swanscombe historic spots	Swanscombe tourist destinations	Swanscombe plaques	Swanscombe geographic features
Walkfo Swanscombe tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Swanscombe

  

Best Swanscombe places to visit

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Swanscombe has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Swanscombe’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Swanscombe’s information audio spots:

Belmont Castle Belmont Castle was a neo-Gothic mansion near Grays in the English county of Essex . Built c.1795 to designs by Thomas Jeffery, it was the most prominent building in the parish . It was demolished in 1943 to make way for a chalk quarry .

Northfleet Urban Country Park Northfleet Urban Country Park is in Northfleet, in Kent, England. The site is owned by and managed by Gravesham Borough Council. It is land encompassed by Springhead Road, Thames Way and (on its northern boundary) the railway.

Rosherville Gardens Rosherville Gardens was a 19th-century pleasure garden in a disused chalk pit in Gravesend, Kent, England. It closed after the advent of the railways, when other tourist destinations became easy to reach. Structures still surviving at the gardens include a Grade II-listed bear pit, a hermit cave in a chalk grotto, an Italian garden central feature which also formed part of the Broadwalk.

Springhead, Kent Springhead lies at the source of the River Ebbsfleet, just southwest of Gravesend. It is the point at which the High Speed 1 rail line meets the A2 road.

Baker’s Hole Baker’s Hole is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, mostly consisting of a back-filled quarry, adjacent to Ebbsfleet International railway station in Kent. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.

London Resort The London Resort is a proposed theme park and resort in Swanscombe, Kent. Originally known as the London Paramount Entertainment Resort, the project originally involved Paramount Pictures. Paramount pulled out of the project in 2017.

Swanscombe and Greenhithe Swanscombe and Greenhithe is a civil parish in the Borough of Dartford in Kent. It includes much of the Ebbsfleet Valley new town development.

Stone Castle Stone Castle is a castle at Stone, near Bluewater in Kent, England. It was built between 1135 and 1140 on the site where William the Conqueror signed a treaty with the men of Kent.

Watling Street (Dartford) Watling Street was the home ground of Dartford F.C. from 1921 until 1992. It was also used by Maidstone United during their time in the Football League.

Darenth Country Park Darenth Country Park is on the site of a former demolished hospital site. Site of a scheduled ancient monument and site of ancient Saxon burials. Turned into millennium open-space park.

Visit Swanscombe plaques