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Chatham, Medway
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Chatham ( "chat-um") is a large area within Medway, Kent, in South East England. It developed around a 17th-century naval dockyard on the River Medway, and was once a separate town.
Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped, into a business and residential community, its major buildings remain; so that, in addition to that more modern usage, the historical importance of the dockyard makes an important contribution to the tourist industry.
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Encyclopedia
Chatham ( "chat-um") is a large area within Medway, Kent, in South East England. It developed around a 17th-century naval dockyard on the River Medway, and was once a separate town.
Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped, into a business and residential community, its major buildings remain; so that, in addition to that more modern usage, the historical importance of the dockyard makes an important contribution to the tourist industry. In addition to Chatham being a naval town it also has military connections: several Army barracks were located here, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard.
The town has important road links and the railway and bus stations are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre.
History
There are several theories as to the origin of the name Chatham. It was first recorded as Cetham in 880, its name coming from the British root ceto and the Old English ham thus meaning a forest settlement.. The origin of the word 'Chatham' may have come from the same root as Catti or 'Chatti' named after people who immigrated to Britain.. An alternative explanation is that it comes from two Saxon words cyte, a cottage, and ham, a village: a village of cottages . The Domesday Book records the place as Ceteham.
Chatham stands on the A2 road along the line of the ancient Celtic route, which was paved by the Romans, and named Watling Street by the Anglo-Saxons. Among finds have been the remains of a Roman cemetery. After the Norman invasion the manor of Chatham, originally Saxon, was given by William the Conqueror to Earl Godwinson.
It remained a small village on the banks of the river until, by the 16th century it was being used to harbour warships, because of its strategic location facing the Continent. It was officially established as a Royal Dockyard by Elizabeth I in 1568. Initially a refitting base, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then, until the late nineteenth century, further expansion of the yard took place. In its time, many thousands of men were employed at the dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, including HMS Victory which was built there in the 1760s. After World War I many submarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard.
In addition to the dockyard itself, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack. Upnor Castle had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual. The Dutch Raid on the Medway in 1667, showed that more was required. The fortifications, which became more elaborate as the threat of invasion grew, were begun in 1756 as a complex across the neck of the peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway, and included Fort Amherst. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of even more forts.
The second phase of fort-building (1806-1819) included Fort Pitt (later used as a hospital and the site of the first Army Medical School). The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom ordered, inter alia, a third outer ring of forts: these included Fort Luton , Fort Bridgewood, and Fort Borstal. These fortifications all required military personnel to man them and Army barracks to house those men. These included Kitchener Barracks (c 1750-1780), the Royal Marine Barracks (c 1780). Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806) and Melville Barracks. H.M.S. Collingwood and H.M.S. Pembroke were both naval barracks.
As a result of the huge manpower required the small village of Chatham grew to accommodate it, as did many of the other nearby villages and towns. Trams, and later buses, linked those places to bring in the workforce .The area between the High Street and Luton village illustrates part of that growth, with its many streets of Victorian terraces.
The importance of Chatham dockyard gradually reduced as Britain's naval resources were reduced or move to other locations, and eventually, in 1984, it closed completely. The dockyard buildings remained, to become a historic site (operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), and now being considered as a World Heritage Site the site is being used for other purposes. Part of the St Mary's Island section is now used as a marina, and the remainder is being developed for housing, commercial and other uses..
Governance
Chatham lost its independence as a borough under the Local Government Act 1972, by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a non-metropolitan district of the county of Kent; under subsequent renaming the Borough became the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway (1979); and, from 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway. Under the most recent change, in 1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham, the Borough of Medway became a unitary authority area, administratively separate from Kent. It remains part of the county of Kent for ceremonial purposes.
Medway Council has recently relocated its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the Dockyard.
Geography
Chatham is situated where the lower part of the dip slope of the North Downs meets the River Medway which at this point is flowing in a south-north direction. This gives the right bank, where the town stands, considerable advantages from the point of view of river use. Compared with opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep; the illustration (1), an early print of the settlement, is taken from the point where Fort Pitt now stands. The town lies below at river level, curving round to occupy a south-easterly trending valley (The Brook”), in which lies the High Street. Beyond the dockyard is marshy land, now called St Mary’s Island. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration.
Illustration (2) is taken from the opposite side of the valley: the Pentagon Centre is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt. Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and Frindsbury is on the rising ground in the right distance.
The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. The Darland Banks, the northern slopes of the valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. The photograph (3), taken from the Banks and looking south, shows the village in the centre, with the rows of Victorian terraced housing, which unusually follow the contour lines. The opposite slopes are the ‘’Daisy Banks’’ and ‘’Coney Banks’’, along which some of the defensive forts were built (including Fort Luton, in the trees to the left)
Until the start of the 20th century, most of the south part of the borough was entirely rural, with a number of farms and large tracts of woodland. The beginning of what is now ‘’Walderslade’’ was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village in Walderslade Bottoms. .
Demography
Chatham became a market town in its own right in the 19th century, and a municipal borough in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.
Economy
The close of the Dockyard has had the effect of changing the employment statistics of the town .
Landmarks
The Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy who were lost or buried at sea in the two World Wars. It stands on the Great Lines between Chatham and Gillingham. Chatham Town Hall was built in 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With the town being part of Medway conurbation, it took on a new role as an arts centre. In 1996, it became the Brook Theatre. The Pentagon Centre which incorporates Chatham Bus Station, stands in the town centre
Transport
The Medway, apart from Chatham Dockyard, has always had an important role in communication: historically it provided a means for the transport of goods to and from the interior of Kent. Stone, timber and iron from the Weald for shipbuilding and agricultural produce were among the cargoes. Sun Pier in Chatham was one of many such along the river. By 1740, barges of forty tons could navigate as far upstream as Tonbridge. Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.
Chatham's position on the road network began with the building of the Roman road (Watling Street, which passed through the town. Turnpike trusts were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to Canterbury was turnpiked in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the A230) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by the New Road (see illustration (1)) leading from the top of Star Hill Rochester, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches. This also became inadequate for the London cross-channel traffic and the Medway Towns Bypass, the M2 motorway, was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns.
Chatham is the hub of the Medway Towns. This fact means that the existing road system has always proved inadequate for the amount of traffic it has to handle, and various schemes have been tried to alleviate the congestion. The High Street itself is traffic-free, so all traffic has to skirt around it. The basic west-east routes are The Brook to the north and New Road to the south, but the additional problems caused by the situation of the Pentagon Bus Station meant that conflicting traffic flows were the result. In the 1980s the Chatham town centre was remodelled and an inner ring road - a one-way system - was constructed. This was completed with the construction of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover opened in 1989 carrying the south to north traffic over the High Street.
In September 2006, the one-way system was abandoned and two-way traffic reintroduced on most of the ring-road system. Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and this will include demolition of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover to be replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station.
Chatham railway station, opened in 1858, serves both the North Kent and the Chatham Main Lines, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are four trains an hour to London Victoria, and two trains an hour to London Charing Cross. The former services run to Dover and Ramsgate; the latter terminate at Gillingham.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
Religion
In the 19th century the ecclesiastical parish of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).
Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a Waterloo church built in 1821 by Robert Smirke, and restructured in 1869 by GM Hills; it ceased being an active church in 1964, and is currently used as an art project. St Paul's New Road was built in 1854; declared redundant in 1974, it has been demolished. St Peter's Troy Town was built in 1860. Christchurch Luton was built in 1843, replaced in 1884. The Royal Dockyard church (1806) was declared redundant in 1981.
St Michael's is a Roman Catholic Church, that was built in 1863. There is a Unitarian Chapel built in 1861.
Chatham is reputed to be the home of the first Baptist chapel in north Kent, the Zion Baptist Chapel in Clover Street. The first known pastor was Edward Morecock who settled there in the 1660s. During Cromwell's time Morecock had been a sea-captain and had been injured in battle. His knowledge of the River Medway is reputed to have preserved him from persecution in the reign of King Charles II.
There was a second Baptist chapel founded about 1700. The Ebenezer Chapel dates back to 1662.
was built by Simon Magnus in 1867 on the Chatham end of Rochester High Street in Rochester.
Education
Chatham is served by the following Primary Schools.
- All Saints CE Primary
- Balfour Junior
- Bradfields
- Glencoe Junior
- Greenvale Infant
- Horsted Infant
- Horsted Junior
- Kingfisher Primary
- Lordswood Infant
- Lordswood Junior
- Luton Infant
- Luton Junior
- Maundene
- New Road Primary School & Nursery Unit
- Oaklands Infant
- Oaklands Junior
- Ridge Meadow Primary
- Silverbank Park
- Spinnens Acre Junior
- St Benedict's Catholic Primary
- St John's CE (VC) Infant
- St Mary's Island C of E (Aided) Primary
- St Michael's Catholic Primary
- St Thomas More Catholic Primary
- Swingate Infant
- Walderslade Primary
- Wayfield Community Primary & Nursery Unit
Secondary Education, outside the Catholic Sector, is selective. Many pupils attend schools in neighbouring towns.
- Chatham Grammar School for Boys
- Chatham Grammar School for Girls
- Chatham South School
- Fort Pitt Grammar School (girls)
- Greenacre School
- Medway Community College
- St John Fisher RC Comprehensive School
- Walderslade Girls' School
Tertiary
- Mid-Kent College is a Further Education College based at Horsted, but is also in partnership with Canterbury Christchurch University at Medway
Universities
- University of Greenwich at Medway
- University of Kent at Medway
- Canterbury Christchurch University
Sports
The town's Association Football club, Chatham Town F.C., plays in the Isthmian League Division One South. Lordswood F.C. play in the Kent League. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football in Southern England. Football league side Gillingham F.C. are seen to represent Medway as a whole.
Kite Flying, especially power kiting has seen a resurgence in recent months, with the Great Lines becoming a popular area.
Skiing is possible near Capstone Farm Country Park?.
Popular Culture
One of many suggested origins for the word 'Chav' is that it is an abbreviation of 'Chatham Average', alluding to a public perception of a segment of Chatham residents as tracksuit-wearing, gold hoop-earringed common people with a penchant for hard drinking, recreational drug use, and aggressive and anti-social behaviour. The word 'chav' was retroactively deemed an acronym for 'Council House And Violent'. "Chav Culture" was first evident from a website about "Chatham Girls" (immortalized in a song by Mark Taylor), which received a huge amount of media interest. The website was so popular it was pulled by Geocities for exceeding its bandwidth.
On a cultural level Chatham also gave birth to several movements in literature, art and music. In the period from 1977 until 1982 the Medway Delta Sound emerged. A term coined as a joke by Chatham born writer. painter and musician Billy Childish after Russ Wilkins Medway based record label, Empire Records used the term "from the Medway Delta". Several of these bands gained international recognition e.g. The Milkshakes, The Prisoners (see also James Taylor Quartet), The Dagger Men, The Dentists, Christopher Broderick and The Singing Loins. In recent years other artists have appeared such as Pete Molinari. The Medway Poets were formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at major literary festivals and on TV and Radio. They became a major influence to writers in the Medway Towns. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movements of Stuckism and Remodernism came into being.
Recent Medway artists of note include Kid Harpoon and Underground Heroes.
Notable people
Charles Dickens lived in the town as a boy, both in 'The Brook, Chatham' and in Ordnance Terrace before Chatham railway station was built just opposite. He subsequently described it as the happiest period of his childhood, and eventually returned to the area in adulthood when he bought a house in nearby Gad's Hill. Medway features in his novels.
Twice BDO World Championship Darts Finalist Dave Whitcombe was born in Chatham and continues to live in Sittingbourne.
The composer Percy Whitlock (1903-1946); the painter and killer Richard Dadd (1819-1887); and, in more modern times, the artist/poet/musician Billy Childish and poet/painter/storyteller and mythographer Bill Lewis lived in Chatham. The poet/screenwriter/film maker and writer Alan Denman , was a lecturer at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) at Fort Pitt in Rochester. The Brit artist Tracey Emin and designer Zandra Rhodes were KIAD students. KIAD is now part of the University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA). Emin also lived at Castle Road, Rochester and in Chatham. The author and screenwriter Stel Pavlou also attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys, as did boyband-singer Lee Ryan.
Former captain of League of Ireland team Bohemian FC Kevin Hunt was also born in Chatham. In his time at Bohemians he won two league titles, including a FAI Cup double in the 2000/01 season and collecting the League's Player of the Year Award in 2003.
Twin Towns
Bibliography
- David Hughes, Chatham Naval Dockyard and Barracks, The History Press Ltd (2004), ISBN 0752432486
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