Bartholomew's Gazetteer (1954) demonstrates that Darent means "clear water", a result of it springing from and running through chalk.

Fed by springs from the greensand hills south of Westerham in Kent[3] and below Limpsfield Chart in Surrey, the Darent flows 21 miles (34 km) east then north by Otford and Shoreham, past the castle and the ruined Roman villa at Lullingstone, then by Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby, South Darenth, Sutton-at-Hone, Darenth, and eventually to Dartford, whence it proceeds a final two miles as a tidal estuary until it drops into the Thames at Long Reach.

[citation needed] This lack of attention is being addressed in the tidal section by a group of concerned locals, the "Friends of Dartford and Crayford Creeks".

[10] As of mid-2016[update], a trust was being formed to promote regeneration and give formal recognition to the protection of this valuable public amenity.

the tidal section is being furbished[clarification needed] and improved by volunteers of "Friends of Dartford and Crayford Creek"[10] to permit marine traffic, such as narrowboats and leisure cruisers to sail up to Steam Crane Wharf and beyond, to overnight or stay awhile.

The tops of some mudbanks are now some two metres high; while others would need only minimal adjustment to accommodate the movement and docking of largish craft with no impact on the nature of the river.

Work parties surveyed, cleared and removed hazardous debris from the river bed to permit safe passage of all types of craft during low water.

[citation needed] Pentargon (SSR160910) returned in June 2015, familiarising more canalboat skippers, and stayed until October.

To facilitate her tying up on first arrival volunteers dug away forty years of neglect and inertia to provide a clean quayside and temporary mooring in the lock.

In February 2016, Network Rail engineers removed trees at the top of Crayford Creek, re-establishing access to the "End of Navigation".

Crayford Creek is considered capable of development for masted craft unable to proceed to Dartford because of Bob Dunn Bridge.

Dartford library and museum provides a wealth of evidence that both creeks have been used for trade since pre-Roman times.

Navigational factors meant that single cargoes were limited to 50 long tons (51 t) even on spring tides.

In 1839 a new proposal achieved an Act of Parliament allowing development to proceed and tolls were levied from completion in 1844.

A ferry controlled by a hermit was established c.1235 and survived until 1518, long after the first bridge was constructed during the reign of Henry IV (1399–1413).

The "proto-Darent" was much larger than today's trickle but the River Medway, through erosion of the soft chalk and clays of the North Downs/Western Weald, has captured much of the headwaters which once supplied the Darent.

Increasing quantities of water were being diverted by the then Rivers Authority to supply the growing greeds of adjacent towns and even London Boroughs.

Since 1989, much work has been [claimed to have been] carried out to rectify this situation, including the shutting down of a number of boreholes by the Environment Agency.

A 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter cast iron spur geared pitwheel drove two ram pumps.

In March 1832, Henry Sparks, papermaker of Sundridge was claiming relief for himself, wife Susanna and five children.

The waterwheel had been replaced by a turbine which drove the millstones via a great spur wheel that was only 3 feet 3 inches (990 mm) diameter.

The upper storeys of the mill were demolished in February 1936, leaving the brick base, waterwheel and some machinery.

A site mentioned in Domesday, the mills here were held by the manor of Bignoures and belonged to the Knights of St. John in the Middle Ages, being let at a peppercorn rent to the Prioress of Dartford Nunnery.

In 1217 King John granted a mill worth 100/- a year, situated in Dartford to Michael de Wallensi and in 1221 William, Prior of Rochester, granted to Alan Martel, Prior of the Knights Templar, half an acre of land by the mill.

It was said that the waterwheel had been "recently removed" in 1986 as part of a clearance programme for the section of river that the works stood on.

[22] The mill was in ruins by the 1920s[53] A tributary rising near St. Cleres is reputed to have driven a watermill, possibly the one at Ightham recorded in 1322 as the property of William Inge.

The building is of weatherboard on a steel frame on a brick base, replacing an earlier mill that burnt down[25][57][58][59] after the First World War.

This mill was built in 1761 by Peter Nouaille, who came into the possession of the manorial watermill on marrying Elizabeth de la Mare of Greatness.

On 24 October 1545 Bradbourne Mill was granted by Henry VIII to William Darkenolde for 21 years at £6.13s.4d per annum.

Millwright John Hall built a cast iron waterwheel to replace a windmill that powered some of the machinery at his workshops in Hythe Street, Dartford.