Gravesend was granted, allowing the men of the town to operate boats between London and the town; these became known as the "Long Ferry". It became the preferred form of passage, because of the perils of road travel (see below). On Gravesend's river front are the remains of a Tudor fort built by command of King Henry VIII in 1543. On 21 March 1617, John Rolfe and Rebecca (aka Princess Pocahontas) with their two-year-old son, Thomas, boarded a ship in London bound for the Commonwealth of Virginia; the ship had only sailed as far as Gravesend before Rebecca fell fatally ill,
Clapton Crabb Rolfe Clapton Crabb Rolfe Clapton Crabb Rolfe (5 March 1845 – 18 December 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect whose practice was based in Oxford. Rolfe was the second of nine children. His father was Rev. George Crabb Rolfe (1811–93) who was perpetual curate of Hailey, Oxfordshire from 1838 until his death. His mother Ellen was a sister of the architect William Wilkinson. Rolfe's elder brother George Wilkinson Rolfe (1843–1912) followed their father into the clergy and a younger brother, William Andrew Rolfe (born 1850), also became an architect. In 1873 Rolfe married Annie de Pré. They had one son,