|
Gravesend is an ancient town in north west Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east south-east of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the Thames estuary and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is the administrative centre of the Borough of Gravesham. Its geographical situation has given Gravesend strategic importance throughout the maritime and communications history of south east England. A Thames Gateway commuter town, it retains strong links with the River Thames, not least through the Port of London Authority Pilot Station and has witnessed rejuvenation since the advent of High Speed train services via Gravesend railway station. ==Toponymy== Recorded as Gravesham in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it belonged to Bishop Odo of Bayeux (half-brother of King William I), its name probably derives from "graaf-ham": the home of the Reeve, or Bailiff of the feudal lord. Another theory suggests that the name ''Gravesham'' may be a corruption of the words grafs-ham – a place "at the end of the grove".〔Paul Theroux's report that "the town bore the name of Gravesend because east of it, the dead had to be buried at sea", is unsupported (Theroux, ''The Kingdom by the Sea'' 1983:19).〕 Frank Carr asserts that the name derives from the Saxon ''Gerevesend'', the end of the authority of the Portreeve (originally ''Portgereve'' - chief town administrator). The Domesday spelling is its earliest known historical record;〔(www.visionofbritain.org.uk )〕 all other spellings – in the later (c. 1100) Domesday ''Monachorum'' and in ''Textus Roffensis'' the town is ''Gravesend''/''Gravesende''. A variation, ''Graveshend'', can be seen in a court record of 1422, where Edmund de Langeford was parson,〔Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/647; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no647/bCP40no647dorses/IMG_0499.htm; 4th entry, as defendant;〕 and attributed to where the graves ended after the Black Death. The municipal title ''Gravesham'' was adopted in 1974 as the name for the new borough. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gravesend」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|