The Swale Estuary - Looking East
These wonderful shots were taken over the Swale
estuary. The one above looks eastwards with the Isle of Sheppey on
the left and Whitstable in the far distance. On the right,
Faversham creek winds a path inland. The
spectacular photo below maps the course of the creek (left) as it
meanders towards the town of Faversham. The tributary on the right
is Oare Creek.....
Faversham Creek (left), Oare Creek
(right) and Faversham Town (background)
These waterways gave rise to Faverham's heritage
as a centre for marine activities even though, for obvious
reasons, the town is set well back from the flood plains of the Swale. A
big part of this involved the Thames barges that plied their trade
around the coasts of SE England. The boatyards of
Faversham had an important advantage in that they were less
subject to tidal considerations than the beach based yards of
Whitstable. In fact, this was one of the reasons why our last
operational yard (Anderson, Rigden and Perkins) moved to Faversham
a couple of decades ago.
The waterways and barge services also helped
Faversham develop as a market town and centre for the beer
industry. As
you can see from enlarged extract below, the area to the south of
the town provides a home to the orchards, fields and hop gardens
of Kent. The sea provided the vital transport links to major
cities such as London.
The market town of Faversham set
amidst the Garden of England
In recent times, Oare Creek has become popular for larger sailing craft and
cabin cruisers. It is used by a number of Whitstable boat owners
in the absence of suitable local berths. The enlarged extract
below shows the development...
All Photos Copyright of Peter Dalrymple
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