Isle of Sheppey
Coordinates: 51°23′27″N 0°49′51″E / 51.3907, 0.8308
Population	37,852
OS grid reference	TQ970695
District	Swale
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHEERNESS
Postcode district	ME11/ME12
Dial code	01795
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Sittingbourne and Sheppey
European Parliament	South East England
List of places: UK • England • Kent

View towards Minster from Elmley Marshes

The Isle of Sheppey is a small (36 square miles, 94 km²) island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some 38 miles (62km) to the east of central London. Sheppey is derived from the ancient Saxon "Sceapige", meaning isle of sheep, and even today the extensive marshes which make up a considerable proportion of the island provide grazing for large flocks of them. The island, like much of North Kent, comprises London Clay and is a plentiful source of fossils. Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 11 KB) Summary Description: A blank map of the United Kingdom, with country outline and coastline; contact the author for help with modifications or add-ons Source: Reference map provided by Demis Mapper 6 Date: 2006-21-06 Author: User... Image File history File links Red_pog. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. ... For other meanings of swale see Swale (disambiguation). ... Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are one of the four levels of English administrative division used for the purposes of local government. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... The region, also known as Government Office Region, is currently the highest tier of local government subnational entity of England in the United Kingdom. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... Constituent countries is a phrase used, often by official institutions, in contexts in which a number of countries make up a larger entity or grouping; thus the OECD has used the phrase in reference to the former Yugoslavia[1], the Soviet Union and European institutions such as the Council of... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the  United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... UK postal codes are known as postcodes. ... The ME postcode area, also known as the Rochester postcode area[1], is a group of twenty postal districts around Medway in Kent, England. ... The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Numbering Plan, is regulated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003. ... Kent Police is the police force covering Kent in England, including the unitary authority of Medway. ... A Fire Appliance belonging to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service The fire service in the United Kingdom has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational... Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Kent covering a geographical area south of London, to the coast and including major shipping routes via the Thames and Medway rivers. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... As of 1st July the NHS Ambulance Services Trusts of Kent, Surrey and Sussex are being joined together to form a new South East Coast Ambulance Service . ... The United Kingdom House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). ... Sittingbourne and Sheppey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... This is a list of Members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom in the 2004 to 2009 session, ordered by name. ... South East England is a constituency of the European Parliament. ... List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in England Lists of places within counties List of places in Bedfordshire List of places in Berkshire List of places in Buckinghamshire List of places in Cambridgeshire List of places in Cheshire List of places in Cleveland List of places... This is a list of cities, towns and villages in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ... A square metre (US spelling: square meter) is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 metre long. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the  United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... The Thames Estuary is a large estuary where the River Thames flows into the North Sea. ... The London Clay is a marine deposit which is well known for the fossils it contains. ...

The land mass referred to as Sheppey comprises three main islands: Sheppey, the Isle of Harty and the Isle of Elmley (it was once known as the Isles of Sheppey before the channels separating them silted up), but the marshy nature of the land to the south of the island means that it is so crossed by channels and drains as to consist of a multitude of islands. The ground is mainly low-lying, but at Minster rises to about 165ft.

Some Sheppey inhabitants like to call themselves Swampies, a term that began as, and for some people remains, an insult; for others it has become a term of endearment or a phrase for reinforcing identity.

The Swale

Sheppey is separated from the mainland by a channel called the Swale. In common with the Wantsum Channel separating the Isle of Thanet from the mainland to the east; and Yantlet Creek at the Isle of Grain these were used in ancient times to allow shipping to reach ports such as Chatham and London without encountering the bad weather from the North Sea. The name The Swale refers to the strip of water separating North Kent from the Isle of Sheppey. ... The Wantsum Channel is the name given to a now silted-up watercourse in the English county of Kent. ... The Isle of Thanet is an area of northeast Kent, England. ... Grain church The Isle of Grain, (OE Greon meaning gravel) is in north Kent, England at the eastern end of the Hoo peninsula. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

Ferries

Three ferries have operated between the mainland and the isle: one to the west, called the King's Ferry; one at Elmley; and another, giving access from Faversham, the Harty Ferry. All had long histories: particularly the latter (see external link below). None operates today: the Harty Ferry ceased operation at the start of the First World War. But the slipways at Harty and Elmley can still be seen today. That at Harty is below the Ferry House Inn (the landlord owns the ferry rights), while seeing the one at Elmley requires a walk of about a mile and a half from the RSPB car park. Additionally the South Eastern Railway operated a connecting passenger ferry to Sheerness from Port Victoria railway terminus on the Grain peninsula for some years. Several ferry services to Southend have also been tried but proved short-lived. A number of continental ferry services have operated from the Isle of Sheppey. Faversham is a town in Kent, England, in the district of Swale, roughly halfway between Sittingbourne and Canterbury. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is Europes largest wildlife conservation charity. ... The London and Greenwich Railway (LGR) and the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (CWR) in East Kent were the earliest railways to serve the then county of Kent: eventually both became parts of the South Eastern Railway (SER). ... Map sources for Sheerness at grid reference TQ919749 Sheerness is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ...

A large ferry terminal was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway at Queenborough Pier in 1876 and operated a nightly service to Flushing (Vlissingen) in Holland, as well as a German mail service. These services ceased during the First World War but it was then used for military traffic. The port there was closed and dismantled in the 1930s. A passenger, car and lorry ferry operated to Vlissingen from Sheerness through the 1980s and 1990s, but there has been no ferry service of any kind in recent years. Crest of the LCDR on the first Blackfriars Railway Bridge The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) was a railway company that operated in south-eastern England between 1859 and 1923 before grouping with three other companies to form the Southern Railway. ... Look up flushing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Flushing (Dutch Vlissingen) is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. ... Motto (French) Ik zal handhaven(Dutch) I shall stand fast1 Anthem Het Wilhelmus Netherlands() – on the European continent() – in the European Union() [] Capital (and largest city) Amsterdam2 Official languages Dutch3 Recognised regional languages Low Saxon, Limburgish Ethnic groups  80. ...

Bridges

During the reign of Edward I, according to the historian Charles Igglesden, a bridge connected Sheppey to the mainland at Elmley. It was called the Tremsethg Bridge but was lost in a tidal wave and never replaced. Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), popularly known as Longshanks[1], also as Edward the Lawgiver because of his legal reforms, and as Hammer of the Scots,[2] achieved fame as the monarch who conquered Wales and who tried to do the same to Scotland. ...

In much more modern times, the Kingsferry Bridge (replacing the ferry) has been built. There have been four bridges, each having to be built to allow passage along the navigable waterway to The Swale:

• July 19, 1860: The London, Chatham and Dover Railway built the first bridge to an Admiralty design. It had a central span raised between two towers. Trains and road traffic were able to use it, as with the next two bridges.
• November 6, 1906: The South Eastern and Chatham Railway replaced the first bridge with one having a "rolling lift" design. It was originally worked by hand, but later by electricity.
• October 1959: Kingsferry Bridge, a lifting bridge was installed, able to lift both the road and the railway line to allow ships to pass beneath. (Information on the bridge from Railways of the Southern Region Geoffrey Body (PSL Field Guide 1884)
• May 2006:The Sheppey crossing was completed and opened on 3 July. This four-lane road bridge rises to a height of 20m above The Swale, and carries the A249 trunk road. Pedestrian, animal and bicycle traffic, as well as the railway, are still obliged to use the lifting bridge, which still provides the most direct link between the island and the Iwade/Lower Halstow area.

is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... Flag of the Lord High Admiral The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Coat of Arms. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A log bridge in the French Alps near Vallorcine. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The Sheppey Crossing is a four-lane road bridge which crosses The Swale at a height of 35m, linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland. ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Iwade is a small village next to the town of Sittingbourne in Kent, England. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Tunnel

A foot-tunnel, now placed out of use, exists between Sheerness Docks and the Isle of Grain.^{[verification needed]}

Sheppey history

Shurland Hall

Shurland Hall, near Eastchurch, is named after its first owners, the De Shurland family. In 1188 Adam de Shurland possessed a mill with more than a 1,000 acres (4 km²) of mixed land, mostly marsh with a small meadow: he also let a number of cottages thereabouts. Eastchurch is a village on the Isle of Sheppey, a mile east of Minster, England. ... Saladin unsuccessfully besieges the Hospitaller fortress of Krak des Chevaliers in modern Syria. ...

A curious tale surrounds a 14th-century member of the family, Sir Robert de Shurland. According to legend, Sir Robert killed a monk and resolved to ask the King for a pardon. In 1327 he rode to where the King's ship was anchored, off the Isle of Sheppey, and gained forgiveness. Returning, he met a witch who said that de Shurland's horse, Grey Dolphin, which had borne him so bravely to the ship, would be the death of him. Sir Robert immediately killed the horse and cut off its head. A year later Sir Robert was walking along the shore when a shard of the horse's bone pierced his foot. Blood poisoning set in and Sir Robert died. Events January 25 - Edward III becomes King of England. ...

Henry VIII visited the hall; about this time it became the family home of William Cheney (1453-87), whose son Thomas was a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 - 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland, from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Sir Thomas Cheney (c 1485 - December 15, 1558) was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1536 until his death. ... Flag of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. ...

In the First World War troops were billeted at the great hall, and it suffered considerable damage as a result. There has been no record of anyone living in the hall since. It is a Grade II listed building and awaits reconstruction by English Heritage. Planning applications have been made to use part of the site for housing. Buckingham Palace, a Grade I listed building. ... English Heritage is a United Kingdom government body with a broad remit of managing the historic environment of England. ...

A grant of £300,000 was made by English Heritage in 2006 to restore the hall's facade.

Capture of James II

Three miles across The Swale lies Whitstable. The Swale channel was the point of departure selected by James II, when departing in some haste "from the Protestant deliverance of the nation" by William of Orange in December, 1688. Whitstable is a town in Kent, England with a population of 30,000. ... James II of England (also known as James VII of Scotland; 14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685, and Duke of Normandy on 31 December 1660. ... William III of England (The Hague, 14 November 1650 – Kensington Palace, 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic from 28...

A hoy having been chartered, the fugitive king landed at Elmley, only to be mobbed by local fishermen. They thought such a noble on such a humble vessel was the locally hated Jesuit Edward Petre and so took his money, watch and coronation ring. At length he was recognised by one of the assailants and the group took him in custody to Faversham, where he was detained. Elmley is a village in the Borough of Swale in Kent, England. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Sir Edward Petre (1631 - May 15, 1699), was a Jesuit priest, the confessor of King James II of England. ... Faversham is a town in Kent, England, in the district of Swale, roughly halfway between Sittingbourne and Canterbury. ...

Maritime history

Sheerness is a commercial port and main town of the Isle of Sheppey and owes much to its origins as a Royal Naval dockyard town. Samuel Pepys established the Royal Navy Dockyard in the 17th century. Henry VIII, requiring the River Medway as an anchorage for his navy, ordered that the mouth of the river should be protected by a small fort. Garrison Fort was built in 1545. Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 - 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland, from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Medway is the name given to a conurbation in the north of Kent, England. ... Events February 27 - Battle of Ancrum Moor - Scots victory over superior English forces December 13 - Official opening of the Council of Trent (closed 1563) Battle of Kawagoe - between two branches of Uesugi families and the late Hojo clan in Japan. ...

Sheerness was the focus of an attack by the Dutch navy in June 1667, when 72 hostile ships compelled the little "sandspit fort" there to surrender and landed a force which for a short while occupied the town. Samuel Pepys at Gravesend remarked in his diary "we do plainly at this time hear the guns play" and in fear departed to Brampton in Huntingdonshire. // Events January 20 - Poland cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo that put a final end to the Deluge, and Poland lost its status as a Central European power. ... Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. ... Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. ... Brampton – in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), England – is a village near Godmanchester south west of Huntingdon. ... Huntingdonshire (abbreviated Hunts) is a part of England around Huntingdon, which is currently administered as a local government district of Cambridgeshire. ...

The dockyard served the Royal Navy until 1960 and has since developed into one of the largest and fastest expanding ports in the UK. The Port of Sheerness contains at least one Grade II listed building, the Old Boat House. Built in 1866, it is the first multi-storey iron framed industrial building recorded in the UK. Decorated with ornate ironwork, it features operating rails extending the length of the building, for the movement of stores, much like a modern crane. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

The dockyard and fort at Sheerness today are a significant feature of the Isle of Sheppey's economy, which includes the extensive export-import of motor vehicles, and a large steel works, with extensive railway fixtures. The island is, however, suffering from an economic recession and these industries are not as extensive as they once were.

The area immediately outside the dockyard was occupied by dockyard workers, who built wooden houses and decorated them with Admiralty blue paint illegally acquired from the dockyard. This area was, and still is, known as Blue Town, though it is now mostly occupied by the Sheerness Steel complex.

Beyond Blue Town, an outlying residential area overlooking the sea was chiefly designed for various government officials. This area became known as Mile Town because it is one mile from Sheerness.

About 200 shipwrecks are recorded around the coast of Sheppey, the most famous being the SS Richard Montgomery, a liberty ship loaded with bombs and exposives that grounded on sandbanks during the Second World War. As of 2004 plans were discussed with a view to removing the threat from the Montgomery. These include encasing the ship in concrete or removing the bombs; no firm decision has been made. The SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 used to carry cargo during the war. ... The Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. They were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. ...

New research commisisoned by the government in 2005-06 has suggested that the threat has passed and that constant surveillance should ensure the safety of the immediate community.

Local government

From 1894 to 1968, Sheppey contained the Queenborough Municipal Borough, Sheerness Urban District and Sheppey Rural District (consisting of the civil parishes of Eastchurch, Elmley, Harty, Leysdown-on-Sea, Minster-in-Sheppey and Warden). 1968 saw all these merged to form a single Queenborough-in-Sheppey Municipal Borough covering the entire island. [1] In 1974 the area was merged with districts on the mainland to form the Swale District. 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... Map sources for Queenborough at grid reference TQ908724 Queenborough is a small town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. ... A borough is a political division originally used in England. ... Map sources for Sheerness at grid reference TQ919749 Sheerness is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ... In the British Isles an urban district was a type of local government district which covered an urbanised area. ... A civil parish (usually just parish) in England is a subnational entity forming the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties. ... Eastchurch is a village on the Isle of Sheppey, a mile east of Minster, England. ... Elmley is a village in the Borough of Swale in Kent, England. ... Harty Church on the bank of the Swale Harty is a small hamlet on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent consisting of a few cottages, a church and a public house. ... Leysdown-on-Sea is a village on the east coast of Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ... Map sources for Minster-in-Sheppey at grid reference TQ952729 Minster is a small town on the north coast of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England, east of Sheerness. ... Warden is a small holiday village located on the north east coast of the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, United Kingdom (51° 24 24 N, 0° 54 31 E). ... Queenborough-in-Sheppey was a municipal borough in Kent, England from 1968, to 1974. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... For other meanings of swale see Swale (disambiguation). ...

Early aviation

The isle has a long history of aviation development in England. It was home to Lord Brabazon's Royal Aero Club which formed in Leysdown in 1901 to popularise balloon-flying. The club took to the aeroplane with relish, and in July 1909 the Short brothers established Shellbeach Aerodrome on nearby marshland to accommodate six Wright Flyers, moving a few kilometres the next year to Eastchurch where a new aerodrome had been built for the club. John Moore-Brabazon in a Voisin in 1909 John Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara (8 February 1884 - 17 May 1964) was a British aviation pioneer. ... The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Wright Flyer (often retrospectively referred to as Flyer I and occasionally Kitty Hawk) was the first powered aircraft designed and built by the Wright brothers. ... Eastchurch is a village on the Isle of Sheppey, a mile east of Minster, England. ... Aerodrome can mean: An Austrian music festival: Aerodrome A series of aircraft constructed by Samuel Pierpont Langley. ...

The Eastchurch airfield played a significant role in the history of British aviation from 1909 when Frank McClean acquired Stonepits Farm, on the marshes across from Leysdown, converting the land into an airfield for members of the Aero Club of Great Britain. 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The Short brothers, Horace, Eustace and Oswald, built aircraft at Battersea to be tested at the site; later Moore-Brabazon, Professor Huntington, Charles S. Rolls and Cecil Grace all visited and used the flying club's services. Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville came to the Isle of Sheppey to visit the new flying grounds of the Aero Club. In 1909, Moore-Brabazon made the first live cargo flight by fixed-wing aircraft, by tying a waste-paper basket to a wing strut of his Shorts-built Wright aircraft. Then, using it as a "cargo hold", he airlifted one small pig. Battersea is a place in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... The Hon. ... Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912), the elder of the Wright brothers, seen as one of the fathers of heavier-than-air flight. ... Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948), the younger of the Wright brothers, seen as one of the fathers of heavier-than-air flight. ...

The Eastchurch airfield was also the site, in July 1911, of the competition for the Gordon Bennett Cup for powered air racing, attended by flyers from all over the world, and won that year by the American pilot C T Weymann. Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is the worlds oldest and most respected gas balloon race first run on September 30, 1906 in Paris, France. ...

A stained glass window in the south side of All Saints' Church, Eastchurch (built in 1432), was dedicated to Rolls and Grace, who were killed in July and December of 1910 respectively. Events June 1 - Battle of San Romano - Florence defeats Siena foundation of Université de Caen In the end of the Hook and Cod wars, Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and Holland is forced by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to abdicate all her estates in his favour; end of Hainaut... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Sheppey Heritage Group has established a Flying Start Project (2004) to commemorate the centenary of flying in the UK and has won an initial Lottery award to enable it to bid for a further £2-£3 million. shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Sheppey today

The largest town on the island is Sheerness. Other towns include Minster, which has a pebble beach, and Leysdown-on-Sea, which has a coarse sandy one. The whole north coast is dotted with caravan parks and holiday homes; there is also a naturist beach beyond Leysdown, towards Shellness. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds manages a reserve at Elmley Marshes. Map sources for Sheerness at grid reference TQ919749 Sheerness is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ... Minster is one of those villages which are now almost a town. ... Leysdown-on-Sea is a village on the east coast of Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ... Leysdown-on-Sea is a village on the east coast of Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. ... The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is Europes largest wildlife conservation charity. ...

There are three prisons on the island, all located to the south of Eastchurch: HMP Elmley, HMP Standford Hill, and HMP Swaleside. The total inmate population is in the region of 2,200. Eastchurch is a village on the Isle of Sheppey, a mile east of Minster, England. ...

In the 2001 census, it had a resident population of 37,852, many of whom commute via the Sheerness-Sittingbourne rail link. The Sheerness Line connects Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent with Sittingbourne on the mainland, and with the Chatham Main Line for trains to London and elsewhere in Kent. ...

Local radio

Sheppey people have been campaigning for local radio in the area for some time.

• 87.9 SFM

SFM broadcasts on 87.9 FM — its next broadcast is due in early 2007. The group, headed by Programme Director Peter Flynn, is seeking the advertisement of a local commercial radio licence for the whole of the Swale area, and has been campaigning since August 2002. Check out 87.9 SFM for more details.

• BRFM

BRFM, based in Minster, has won the government licence to bring a smaller community radio station to the Isle of Sheppey only. It plans to launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 but is reliant on voluntary contributions: by law, only 50% of its income can come from local advertising. The station will broadcast on 95.6FM and will be known as Bridge 95.6 BRFM. BRFM will broadcast to Sheppey only (under its strict licensing conditions) from studios in Queenborough and Minster on the Isle of Sheppey. BRFM

BRFM is now broadcasting 24/7 as a local community radio station

• Swale Local Radio

This station had several outings in the past but is now backing BRFM

• The Link FM/Kingsferry FM

Previous radio stations aiming to serve Sheppey and Swale. Many of the members have since gone on to join BR-fm.

See also

Sheppey Light Railway A railway on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England which ran from Leysdown to Queenborough, where it connected with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. ...

Sheppey Corner, Stanton, Gloucestershire/ Worcestershire Sheppey Corner is a thatched cottage in the Picturesque cotswold village of Stanton, Gloucestershire/ Worcestershire. ... Stanton is a small village south of Broadway, and north of Cheltenham. ...

External links

• Swale Borough Council's Sheppey Tourism Page
• Unofficial Sheppey Guide 'Sheppey Scum'
• Sheppey Access
• Sheppey Link site
• History of Harty Ferry
• History of Sheerness Dockyard