No exact date can be found for the inception of the Gravesend Club. The earliest mention of the Club is found in 1885 when the Paris Football Club toured England returning home with a record of played four, lost four. The teams played were Gravesend, Old Millhillians, Civil Service and Hornsey Rovers.
It is significant that in 1877 records show a meeting was held after a trial game to elect a captain and a sub-captain. Matches were played that year and a full fixture list arranged for the following year but no records can be found for the 1879/90 season.
The absence of games may have been due to some difference with the Bat & Ball PH where home games had been played, for when the club reappeared in February 1881, it was as the Tam O'Shanters. After a good season as the Tams, the old name was taken up again and the Club recorded 19 wins from 28 matches in the 1882/83 season.
In 1931, Gravesend merged with Darenth RFC, playing one season on the Shrimps Brand sports ground before moving in 1933 to Macleans Meadow in Chalk. On fixture cards for 1933, the name Darenth (Gravesend) was appearing. In 1936, the Gravesend Town Clerk, aggrieved to see the team playing home games outside the Borough, arranged for the town boundaries to be extended and allowed the club to use part of the towns coat of arms on the Clubs crest. At that time, as today the Club badge shows a large D over the town crest. On 4th July 1939, the Club changed its name from Darenth (Gravesend) to Gravesend (Darenth).
The first game after the war was played against Old Dartfordians with Gravesend winning 9-8 in a boisterous affair. In 1946/7 the Club moved ground to Central Avenue, Gravesend, using the Central Hotel as its clubhouse, before erecting a Nissen Hut next to Darnley Athletic Clubhouse (where the lower sides bathed). Next we constructing a new clubhouse which was opened when COP Le Mans visited. In 1975 due to lease problems, the Club moved to Northfleet for 7 years before moving to the current ground in Milton Road, Gravesend.
The start of the league system in 1987/88 saw a 10 year period of success for Gravesend in London 2 and winners of the Kent Cup in 1990. Sadly, the Clubs failure to win Two South in the following season signalled the start of a decline to London 3 South, in which the Club resided until winning the league 3 crown in 2007/08. Results in London 2 South have been encouraging (4th) under 2008/09 club captain, Martin Wilkinson, and coaches, Simon Jervis and Bob Hussey. The club were also runners up to Blackheath in the Kent Cup.
