Queenborough
Queenborough is a small town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England.Queenborough is two miles (3.2Â km) south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to The Swale where it joins the River Medway. It is in the Sittingbourne and Sheppey parliamentary constituency.Queenborough Harbour offers moorings between the Thames and Medway. It is possible to land at Queenborough on any tide and there are boat builders and chandlers in the marina. Admiral Lord Nelson, is reputed to have learnt much of his seafaring skills in these waters, and also shared a house near the small harbour with his mistress, the Lady Hamilton.Queenborough today still reflects something of its original 18th century seafaring history, from which period most of its more prominent buildings survive. The church is the sole surviving feature from the medieval period. The town was first represented by two Members of Parliament in 1572.HistorySaxonIn Saxon times, the settlement on the site was known as Cyningburh, "King's Borough".MedievalA fortress, called Sheppey or Queenborough Castle, was built to guard the passage of ships along the Swale upon the command of King Edward III between 1361-1377, during the Hundred Years' War with France. It was built on the site of a much earlier, but smaller castle. This later fortress was a round symmetrical one with 70 rooms, modelled on French-style chateaux of the period; it regained importance in the 16th century under Thomas Cheney, when it is thought to have influenced the construction of nearby Deal Castle and Walmer Castle.
