Hersden


Hersden is a village and civil parish east of Canterbury in Kent, South East England. It is established as a planned coalmining village dating from the 1920s, on the A28 road between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. Work in Kent Coalfield was the main source of employment for the male residents of the village until the closure of the Kent colliery in the 1980s. The parish was formed on 1 April 2019 from Sturry, Chislet and Westbere.

History

A 5th-6th century cemetery of Frisians and Jutes was discovered nearby in 1931.
Exploratory works for a Channel Tunnel at Shakespeare Cliff near Dover led to the identification of the Kent Coalfield in 1890. Its northern extension came after coal was discovered at Chislet in 1918. Initially the miners lived in Ramsgate but in 1924 the Chislet Colliery Housing Society was formed to build a mining village of 300 houses, which became Hersden. The mine closed in 1969 but the Chislet Colliery Welfare Club remains.

Amenities

Now, there is a Chinese restaurant, the village hall which houses a social club and recently a large and impressive B.M.X track was built. There are two churches in Hersden; Hersden Church and St Dunstan, the Roman Catholic Parish church which opened in 1935.