Abbreviations in Alphabetical Order
Abbreviations, arranged top to bottom, left to right.
Link to Large Print map of Kent
This page has a link to a map of Kent in PDF format. It can be printed from the web page, then raised to give a tactile map, for example by printing on swell paper. The map has labels in braille. Positions on the map are shown by letters A to H top to bottom down the left hand side, numbers one to twelve along the top. Braille digits on the map use a # symbol followed by letters, #a for one to #ab for twelve. The map is based on the Ordnance Survey Route Planner map of 1946.
The purpose of this map is to show the position of towns, chosen to give a spread of towns across the county. The idea is that the position of other places can be given as a distance and direction from these key towns. The Kent county boundary and Kent sea coast are shown as a dotted line. Other county boundaries and coasts are shown as dashed lines. Roads are solid lines. Enough roads are shown to link the key towns.
Two letter abbreviations are towns. On map, town abbreviations are preceded by semi-colon. Each line has abbreviation then name then map square.
AS Ashford E8
BR Bromley C2
CA Canterbury D10
CR Cranbrooke F6
DA Dartford B3
DO Dover E11
ESS Essex A5
FO Folkestone F9
LO London A1
MG Margate B12
MS Maidstone D6
RO Rochester C5
SE Sevenoaks D3
SEA English Channel G11
SH Sheerness B7
SI Sittingbourne C7
SRY Surrey D1
SSX Sussex H7
THAMES Thames Estuary A9
TU Tunbridge Wells F4
A1 LO London
A5 ESS Essex - top of map A2 to A7
A9 THAMES Thames Estuary - top right area of map
B3 DA Dartford
B7 SH Sheerness
B12 MG Margate
C2 BR Bromley
C5 RO Rochester
C7 SI Sittingbourne
D1 SRY Surrey - left of map B1 down to E1. Boundary to London top of B1 not shown.
D3 SE Sevenoaks
D6 MS Maidstone
D10 CA Canterbury
E8 AS Ashford
E11 DO Dover
F4 TU Tunbridge Wells
F6 CR Cranbrook
F9 FO Folkestone
G1 from here to G4 are 10 kilometer squares, about 6 mile squares.
G11 SEA English Channel - bottom right area of map
G7 SSX Sussex - bottom left area of map
The structure of the map is explained in the introduction.
Kent is the Eastern part of Southern England. It is bounded on the North by the River Thames and the Thames Estuary; on the East by the English Channel, on the West by Surrey and Sussex. The North-West corner of Kent runs into London.
What follows describes what you will find on the map if you follow the dotted line which is the Kent coast and county boundary, and the solid lines which are roads.
Start at the top right corner of the map, out in the Thames Estuary, go down the right hand edge of the map. You come to the dotted line for the Kent coast; Margate is on the coast just to the West. Follow down the coast. You come to Dover then Folkestone, the nearest towns to France. Follow on down; just before the bottom of the map the coast turns sharp West, this is Dungeness (name not marked).
On West a short distance, then the dotted line turns to go North-West as the border between Kent and Sussex. After Tunbridge Wells the dotted line turns North, and is now the border with Surrey. Continue North, then the dotted line turns North-East and crosses three solid lines on the map which are roads. The area to the left here was historically in Kent, but became part of London. After crossing the three roads, the dotted line turns sharply East. The boundary is now the River Thames, and to the North of it is Essex.
Continue East; the Thames widens ino its estuary, the Northern bank which is the Essex coast goes North-east, but follow the dotted Kent coast to the East. The next section may be hard to follow; there is a big inlet South which is the Medway, then jutting out North again is the Isle of Sheppey with the town of Sheerness, then another inlet which goes back to the West, finally the coast turns sharp back to the East and continues slightly North of East to Margate - and back to the right hand edge of the map.
From London in the top left of the map at square A1 there are three roads shown, going East to Dover, South-East to Folkestone, South to Tunbridge Wells.
From London follow the top road East, through Dartford, Rochester, Sittingbourne, Canterbury, forking South-East to Dover or North-East to Margate.
From London follow the middle road South-East to Maidstone and on to Ashford and Folkestone.
From London follow the lowest road, shown initially South then turning South-East to Bromley, then Sevenoaks, almost South to Tunbridge Wells. This is just within Kent, almost on the Sussex border. From here follow the road East to Cranbrook and Ashford.
From Rochester (on the London-Dover road) there is a road shown going South to Maidstone and Cranbrook.
From Sittingbourne (also on the London-Dover road) there is a road shown going North to Sheerness - which is on the Isle of Sheppey.
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The purpose is to provide maps in Portable Document Format (pdf) which can be printed using the free Acrobat Reader. The maps are labelled in Braille - the Braille font is embedded in the document, so it is not necessary to download a Braille font seperately. The printed maps can be turned into tactile maps. In the United Kingdom, the RNIB provide a service to produce tactile diagrams from printed diagrams - currently the charge is about £1 per sheet.
Page by David Hawgood, email david @ hawgood.com, amended 20 April 2004 and checked by W3C Validation
This page is www.hawgood.co.uk/b/kent/