Central Park

It is well documented that Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were brought up in Dartford; they went to the same infants school, but different secondary schools, before being reunited on platform 2 of Dartford Railway Station - Mick was carrying blues records and they got chatting.  The rest is history!

As a young child, Mick lived in Denver Road, attending Wentworth Primary School before moving on to Wilmington, near Dartford, where he was brought up as a teenager; the current owners of thease two properties apparently do not want signs there.  As a young child, Keith lived round the corner to Mick along Chastilian Road in a flat above what was a greengrocer's and went to Wentworth Primary School as well, before moving to Spielman Road on Temple Hill; these two properties have a blue plaque and a sign, respectively, to celebrate Keith's residency in them.

Whereas Keith went to Dartford Tech, Mick went to Dartford Grammar School; the Mick Jagger Centre is a performing arts venue on the grounds of the school and was opened in March 2000.  Mick is also present in the town as a life-size sculpture by a commemorative bench in Dartford Central Park; he is joined there by sculptures of two other memorable sound makers from Dartford - a Vox amplifier, invented in the town in the 1950s, and a Dartford warbler, first spotted on nearby Dartford Heath.  The first Vox amplifier was made along Dartford Road, which is en route to Crayford, and there is a plaque outside the building to commemorate this; Vox amplifiers were used a lot by top British bands in the 1960s including the Shadows, the Beatles and the Yardbirds.Read more