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,
Town Pier, Gravesend bar to the pier. When reopened, the Gravesend Town Pier was initially successful, but it later became a fiscal failure. Gravesend town pier is the oldest surviving cast iron pier in the world and is a Grade II* listed building. Since 2012 the Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry has run from the Town Pier. Town Pier, Gravesend The Gravesend Town Pier is located in Gravesend, Kent. It was designed by William Tierney Clark and built in 1834 on the site of the earlier Town Quay. Over 3 million passengers were served between 1835 and 1842, but around 1900, this pier fell into disuse