A Customs and pilot station
for the Port of London, Gravesend is a busy
industrial town with one of Europe’s biggest
shopping centres. It holds the distinction of
being the landing place of the first German flying
bomb to strike Britain in World War II. The town’s
pier is the oldest cast-iron pier in the world and
is linked to the local heritage centre by a pretty
Thames-side walk. The Church of St George is the
last resting place of the Native American princess
Pocahontas (1595-1617), whose statue stands in the
grounds. She came to Britain with her husband, the
Virginian colonist John Rolfe.
