3. The Sittingbourne-Faversham District.

The dominant feature here is the extensive deposits of brickearth. This was recognised by the Romans, who had potteries all along the Thames estuary here. Diggings over the last hundred years, and those still in progress, have left many large pit remains, which are now largely cultivated. The brickearth is also an excellent agricultural soil, and Henry VIII's cherry orchards at Teynham are said to be the first of the now numerous fruit plantations. This is one of the best fruit growing areas in the World, famed for cherries, pears and dessert apples. London Clay and Thanet Sand deposits are also common. Pebble Beds are found, but in very small patches, and they are not common. Alluvial gravels are found in a few places along the coast, as at Upchurch, and alluvial silts and clays stretch for most of the coastal belt length. The area is very irregular along its southern boundary, which lies along the dip slope of the chalk. Long, narrow, dry valleys cut into the hills all along this slope, and brickearth lies along the valley bottoms, or as wind-blown deposits on one slope, in some places. Very roughly the Watling Street is the southern boundary, except for these valley bottoms.

Woodland is almost non-existent, and only in small patches, which appear to be uninteresting. Hawes Wood, Newington, is derelict oak-birch-hornbeam woodland on London Clay. The woods between Faversham and Luddenham are on Thanet Sand and are mainly stooled chestnut. There are no features which are different from those of the woods further west, but these are poorer. An area of hawthorn scrub on London Clay is found at Raspberry Hill, Iwade, extending down to the salt marsh at Bedlams Bottom. The thorn is dense, up to about 10 feet high, with coarse herbage between where there is sufficient light. Mosses are frequent where herbage has been shaded out, and species are Barbula unguiculata, (Huds.), Hedw., B. cylindrica, (Tayl.), Schp, Fissidens taxifolius, (L.), Hedw, F. bryoides, (L.), Hedw, Brachythecium rutabulum, (L.), B.S. et G., Oxyrrhynchium praelongum, (Hedw.), Warnst. and Pseudoscleropodium purum, (L.), Fleisch.

Heathy areas are also insignificant in extent. South of Key Street are two tiny Calluna heaths, one on either side of the Stockbury Valley. That on the west side of the valley is dry, sandy soil; that on the east side good brickearth. These two areas indicate natural regression on these two soil types, probably under restricted moisture conditions. Festuca and bracken come in at an early stale, with Calluna where the slope is at all steep. Birch seedlings follow, and presumably oak would grow ultimately. Birch-Calluna-bracken is the present stage. Typical mosses are Hypnum cupressiforme, L., var. ericetorum B.S. et G., Pseudoscleropodium purum, (L.) Fleisch., Oxyrrhynchium praelongum, (Hedw.), Warnst. and Dicranum scoparium (L.), Hedw. with Ceratodon purpureus, (L.), Brid. and Polytrichum juniperinum, Willd. in more open places. Brachythecium albicans, (Neck.), B.S. et G. and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, (L.). Warnst. grow in short, rabbit-grazed turf where the ground is fairly compact.

Arable land between orchards is intensively farmed. Many of the orchards are grass, and cultivated orchards are usually very well-kept. Fallow land mosses are rare, but occasionally a field is left alone long enough for them to grow, and then they are abundant. Pottia truncatula, (L.), Lindb., Bryum erythrocarpum, Schwaegr. and Phascum acaulon, L. are all common, and Barbula unguiculata, (Huds.), Hedw. sometimes equally so. Other species are rare.

The floors of old brick diggings are usually cultivated and planted, but the steep, almost vertical, sides remain. The dry conditions seem to depress moss growth, and I have not found interesting habitats here. The usual species are Ceratodon purpureus, (L.), Brid., (abundant), Bryum argenteum, L., B. erythrocarpum, Schwaegr., B. bicolor, Dicks. and Barbula convoluta, Hedw.

Small, dry chalk pits are found, but these are similar to those in other parts of the North Kent Eocene belt.

The coastal area stretches from Gillingham to Seasalter. Orchards and arable land often extend right up to the sea-wall and extensive marsh is less common than elsewhere along the tidal Thames. Small wharves and quays are common - Sharpe's Green, Bloors, Otterham, Shoregate, Twinney, Lower Halstow, Ridham, Sittingbourne, Conyer, Oare and Faversham. I have looked for exotic species on imported timber and on waste ground around the wharves, but have not found any. Sea wall mosses are common. Brachythecium albicans, (Neck.) B.S et G. is abundant; others are Pottia truncatula, (L.), Lindb., Oxyrrhynchium praelongum, (Hedw.), Warnst., Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, (Bland.), B.S.et G., Ceratodon purpureus, (L.), Brid. and Bryum argenteum, L. Tortula muralis, (L.), Hedw. is common on masonry and stones of all types.

Coastal marsh pastures are found along the whole length, but particularly at Chetney, Kemsley, Luddenham, Oare and Seasalter. Brachythecium albicans, (Neck.), B.S. et G. and B. rutabulum, (L,) B.S. et G. are frequent in them, with Oxyrrhynchium praelongum, (Hedw.), Warnst. in some places. Marsh ditches have Cratoneurum filicinum, (L.), Roth and Brachythecium rutabulum, (L.), B.S. et G., although many are devoid of bryophytic vegetation.

Derelict, overgrown cement works and diggings are extensive to the north of Otterham Quay, but although mosses are abundant here, only common species were found.

A dry climate, intensive cultivation, low altitude, lack of rivers and lakes, and the very small area of woodland, with the rather poor coastline, all combine to make this district poor for mosses.

Page maintained by Susan Laflin in memory of her father Thomas Laflin
Last updated January 2005.