Halstead, Kent
Encyclopedia
Halstead is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks
District of Kent
, England
. The parish is located on the North Downs
, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Orpington
and 5 miles (8 km) north of Sevenoaks
.
The name Halstead is derived from the Old English hald (refuge, shelter) and stede (site, place), meaning 'safe place' or 'place of refuge'. The parish church
is dedicated to St Margaret
.
Author Edith Nesbit
spent some of her adolescence in Halstead during the 1870s and her book The Railway Children
is thought to be based on her time living in a house, Halstead Hall, whose garden is about a mile and a half from the railway line.
The parish is adjacent to Fort Halstead
, a government defence research centre that is thought to have developed Britain's first atomic bomb
.
Sevenoaks (district)
Sevenoaks is a local government district covering the western most part of Kent in England. Its council is based in the town of Sevenoaks. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Sevenoaks Urban District, Sevenoaks Rural District and part of Dartford...
District of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The parish is located on the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Orpington
Orpington
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
and 5 miles (8 km) north of Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...
.
The name Halstead is derived from the Old English hald (refuge, shelter) and stede (site, place), meaning 'safe place' or 'place of refuge'. The parish church
St Margaret's Church, Halstead
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican parish church in the village of Halstead and the Sevenoaks deanery, although the church also serves the village of Badgers Mount. St Katharine's and St Margaret's came together in 1983 as a United Benefice under one parish priest. The pattern of services reflects...
is dedicated to St Margaret
Margaret the Virgin
Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20; and on July 17 in the Orthodox Church. Her historical existence has been questioned; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494,...
.
Author Edith Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
spent some of her adolescence in Halstead during the 1870s and her book The Railway Children
The Railway Children
The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906...
is thought to be based on her time living in a house, Halstead Hall, whose garden is about a mile and a half from the railway line.
The parish is adjacent to Fort Halstead
Fort Halstead
Fort Halstead is a research site of Dstl, an Executive Agency of the UK Ministry of Defence. It is situated on the crest of the Kentish North Downs, overlooking the town of Sevenoaks...
, a government defence research centre that is thought to have developed Britain's first atomic bomb
Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane was the test of the first British atomic device on 3 October 1952. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon between the Montebello Islands, Western Australia....
.