plaque № 53783

St Edmund's Pleasance. This pleasence occupies the site of a former Saxon Chapel dedicated to St Edmund, King and Martyr. The Chapel ruins were infilled in the early 18th century. The site has been used as a burial ground by the Parish authorities since the 16th century, hence the saying: "Dirty Dartford, peculiar people, Bury their dead above the steeple". The imposing monument known locally as the 'Martys' Memorial (unveiled in October 1888) commemorates three of Kent's Protestant martyrs burned at the stake in 1555. One of the martyrs, a local linen weaver named Christopher Wild, was publickly burned at Dartford Brent on 17th July 1555. This is the second Martyrs' Memorial to occupy the site. The first was erected in the 1850s but suffered extensive erosion after only 40 years. Richard Trevithick, inventor of the steam locomotive, died at Dartford on 22 April 1833, and is buried here in an unmarked grave. Other notable residents buried here are: Jihn Hall (millwright and engineer); John Dunkin (antiquary and Dartford historian); James Gibson, who died in 1810 aged 106.

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