Southfleet

Southfleet is a small compact village three miles SW of Gravesend in Kent; it is a civil parish within the borough of Dartford, and includes within its boundaries the hamlets of Betsham and Westwood, and the even smaller settlement of Northfleet Green. The main village is grouped around a crossroads and many of its buildings, including the Ship Inn, are extremely old. The parish church of St Nicholas has 14th century origins, although pre-Roman Christian remains have been found in the area.

Southfleet had a railway station on the Gravesend West Line, which operated from 1886 to 1953. The section of the trackbed south of the A2 road of that closed line was used by Eurostar services to London Waterloo.

Southfleet takes its name from the River Fleet (a minor tributary of the River Thames). The water that supplied the river came from a place called Springhead, where there were watercress and oyster beds; the river then ran on through Southfeet, Ebbsfleet and Northfleet.

Governance
Southfleet fell within the Hundred of Axstane. The Local Government Act 1972 made the parish part of the borough of Dartford of Kent in 1974. The settlement of New Barn in the south of the parish was transferred to Longfield and New Barn parish in 1987.