Swanscombe
Swanscombe is a town in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located east of Dartford as well as north-west of Gravesend, in the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. At the 2001 UK census, the Swanscombe electoral ward had a population of 6,418. Swanscombe was important in the early history of concrete. The first cement manufacturing functions near Swanscombe were opened at Northfleet by James Parker, around 1792, making "Roman cement" from concrete rock brought from the Isle of Sheppey. James Frost opened up a works at Swanscombe in 1825, using chalk from Galley Hill, having patented a brand-new concrete called British Cement. The Swanscombe plant was consequently gotten by John Bazley White & Co, which came to be the largest element of Blue Circle Industries when it created in 1900. It lastly closed down in 1990. In between 1840 and 1930 it was the largest cement plant in Britain. By 1882 several cement producers were running throughout the north Kent area, but the resulting dust air pollution drove the people of Swanscombe to take legal action against the local concrete jobs. Despite numerous technical advancements, the trouble lingered right into the 1950s, with telegraph lines over an inch thick in white dirt. Modern cement kilns in Kent making use of chimneys 170 m (550 feet) in height are now stated to be the cleanest worldwide. Nevertheless, the neighbouring Medway communities are reported to be the most polluted populated area in the UK, and the concrete sector adds to acid rain in Scandinavia.