Editing Kent (section)

===Architecture===
[[File:Canterbury Cathedral - Portal Nave Cross-spire.jpeg|thumb|[[Canterbury Cathedral]]]]
Kent's geographical location between the Straits of Dover and London has influenced its architecture, as has its [[Cretaceous]] geology and its good farming land and fine building clays. Kent's countryside pattern was determined by a [[gavelkind]] inheritance system that generated a proliferation of small settlements. There was no open-field system, and the large tracts were owned by the two great abbeys, [[Christ Church, Canterbury]] and [[St Augustine's Abbey]], that did not pass into the hands of the king during the [[Reformation]]. [[Canterbury Cathedral]] is the United Kingdom's [[Suffragan|metropolitan cathedral]]; it was founded in AD 598 and displays architecture from all periods. There are nine Anglo-Saxon churches in Kent. [[Rochester Cathedral]] is England's second-oldest cathedral, the present building built in the Early English Style.<ref name="Pevsner">{{cite book |last=Newman |first=John |title=North East and East Kent|editor=Pevsner |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, England |date=1969 |edition=3 |series=Buildings of England |page=35 |chapter=The Buildings of Kent |isbn=978-0140710397}}</ref> These two dioceses ensured that every village had a parish church.

The sites of [[Richborough Castle]] and [[Dover Castle]], along with two strategic sites along Watling Street, were fortified by the Romans and the Dukes of Kent. Other important sites include [[Canterbury city walls]] and [[Rochester Castle]].<ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite book |last=Newman |first=John |title=North East and East Kent |editor=Pevsner |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, England |date=1969 |edition=3 |series=Buildings of England |pages=36–123 |chapter=The Buildings of Kent |isbn=978-0140710397}}</ref> There remained a need to defend London and thus Kent. [[Deal Castle]], [[Walmer Castle]], [[Sandown Castle, Kent|Sandown Castle]] (whose remains were eroded by the sea in the 1990s) were constructed in late mediaeval times, and [[Chatham Historic Dockyard|HM Dockyard, at Chatham]] and its surrounding castles and forts—[[Upnor Castle]], [[Great Lines Heritage Park|Great Lines]], and [[Fort Amherst]]—more recently.

Kent has three unique vernacular architecture forms: the [[oast house]], the [[Wealden hall house]], and [[peg tile#Peg tile|Kentish peg-tiles]].

Kent has bridge trusts to maintain its bridges, and though the great bridge (1387) at [[Rochester Bridge|Rochester]] was replaced there are medieval structures at [[Aylesford]], [[Yalding]] and [[Teston]].<ref name=autogenerated4>{{cite book |last=Newman |first=John |title=North East and East Kent |editor=Pevsner |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, England |date=1969 |edition=3 |series=Buildings of England |page=58 |chapter=The Buildings of Kent |isbn=978-0140710397}}</ref> With the motorways in the late twentieth century came the [[M2 motorway (Great Britain)|M2 motorway bridge]] spanning the Medway and the Dartford tunnel and the [[Dartford Crossing|Dartford Bridge]] spanning the Thames.