AreaSurface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...
:
- Total |
Ranked
{{about|the Medway towns in England|others|Medway (disambiguation)}}
| Medway (Unitary Authority) |
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| Geography |
| Status: |
Unitary, Borough |
RegionIn England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies...
: |
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
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Ceremonial CountyThe ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
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KentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
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AreaSurface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...
:
- Total |
Ranked
{{about|the Medway towns in England|others|Medway (disambiguation)}}
| Medway (Unitary Authority) |
|
| Geography |
| Status: |
Unitary, Borough |
RegionIn England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies...
: |
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
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Ceremonial CountyThe ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
: |
KentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
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AreaSurface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...
:
- Total |
Ranked {{English district area rank
192.03 km² (74.5 mi²) |
Admin. HQHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
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Gun Warf, Chatham, Kent |
| ONS code In the United Kingdom, the Office for National Statistics maintains a series of codes to represent a wide range of geographical areas of the UK, for use in tabulating census and other statistical data...
: |
00LC |
| Demographics |
Population:
- Total ({{EnglishStatisticsYear}})
- DensityThe mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...
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Ranked {{EnglishDistrictRank
{{EnglishDistrictPopulation|ONS=00LC}}
{{EnglishDistrictDensity|ONS=00LC}} / km² |
| Ethnicity: |
92.6% White
3.5% S.Asian
1.4% Black
1.4% Mixed
1.0% Chinese or other |
| Politics |
Medway Council
http://www.medway.gov.uk/ |
| Leadership: |
Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: |
{{EnglishDistrictControl|ONS=00LC}} |
| MPs: |
Mark Reckless Mark John Reckless is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood, elected at the 2010 general election....
(C)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Tracey CrouchTracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch is a British Conservative Party politician. She is Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford, having won the seat at the 2010 election.-Education:...
(C)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Rehman ChishtiAtta-Ur-Rehman Chishti known as Rehman Chishti is a British Conservative politician who was elected MP for Gillingham and Rainham in the 2010 general election....
(C)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
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Medway is a conurbationA conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
and unitary authorityA unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
in South East EnglandSouth East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County CouncilKent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...
, though still within the ceremonial countyThe ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
of KentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
It was colloquially known as The Medway Towns, however the city, villages and towns at the mouth of the River MedwayThe River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
have gradually merged. Over half of the unitary authority area is parished and rural in nature. Because of its strategic location by the major crossing of the River Medway, it has made a wide and historically significant contribution to Kent, and to England, dating back thousands of years, as evident in the siting of Watling StreetWatling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
by the RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and by the NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
Rochester CastleRochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
, Rochester CathedralRochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...
(the second oldest in Britain), and the Chatham naval dockyardChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
and its associated defences.
The main towns involved in the conurbation are (from west to east in terms of geographical position): StroodStrood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
, Rochester, Chatham, GillinghamGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
, and Rainham. Many smaller towns and villages such as FrindsburyFrindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor....
, BromptonBrompton is an ancient village near Chatham, in Medway, England. Its name means 'a farmstead where broom grows´. Today Brompton is a small residential area between Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham....
, WaldersladeWalderslade is a large suburb to the south of Chatham, Kent, England, encompassing almost all the ME5 postcode district ....
, Luton, WigmoreWigmore is a suburb/village in the Unitary Authority of Medway, in Kent, England.The placename is attested in 1275 as Wydemere, from an Old English *wīd-mere "broad pool"....
etc., lie within the conurbation. Outside the urban area the villages retain parish councils. CuxtonCuxton is a village in the unitary authority of Medway. It lies on left bank of the River Medway in the North Downs. It is served by the A228, and Cuxton railway station on the Medway Valley Line between Strood and Maidstone...
, HallingHalling is a village on the North Downs in the northern part of Kent, England, covering 7.1 square kilometres of land. Consisting of Lower Halling, Upper Halling and North Halling, it is scattered over some along the River Medway parallel to the Pilgrims' Way running over Kent.The origin of the...
and WouldhamWouldham is a small village on the bank of the River Medway in Kent, Great Britain. As of 2006 its population is approximately 1000 people, with the 11th century church, one school, one village shop, and three public houses....
lie in the Medway GapThe Medway Gap is a topographic feature in the English county of Kent near Rochester.It was created when the prehistoric River Medway cut through line of chalk hills now known as the North Downs; other rivers such as the Darent and the Stour have similar features.Its past significance as a means of...
region to the south of Rochester and StroodStrood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
. Hoo St WerburghHoo St Werburgh is one of several villages on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England, to bear the name Hoo. It constitutes a civil parish in the borough of Medway, with a population of 7,356 at the 2001 census.- History :...
which hosts the Kingsnorth power stationKingsnorth is a dual-fired coal and oil power station on the Hoo Peninsula at Medway in Kent, South East England. The four-unit station is owned and operated by energy firm E.ON UK, and has a generating capacity of 1,940 megawatts. It is capable of operating on either coal or oil though in practice...
, Cliffe, High HalstowHigh Halstow is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in the borough of Medway in northern Kent, England. The parish had a population of 1,781 according to the 2001 census....
, AllhallowsAllhallows is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England. Situated in the northernmost part of Kent, and covering an area of 23.99 km², the parish is bounded on the north side by the River Thames, and in the east by the course of Yantlet creek, now silted up...
, StokeStoke is a civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England, to the south of Allhallows, on the north of the Medway Estuary. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,063....
and Grain lie on the Hoo PeninsulaThe Hoo Peninsula is a peninsula in England separating the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway. It is dominated by a line of sand and clay hills, surrounded by an extensive area of marshland composed of alluvial silt. The name Hoo is the Old English word for spur of land.-History:The Romans...
to the north. Frindsbury ExtraFrindsbury Extra is a civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England. It is conjoined to Strood to the south west, is bounded by Cliffe and Cliffe Woods to the north, Hoo to the east, and the River Medway to the south....
including UpnorLower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway...
borders Strood.
Medway includes parts of the North Kent MarshesThe North Kent Marshes, located in the north of the county of Kent on the Thames Estuary in south-east England, is one of 22 Environmentally Sensitive Areas recognised by the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
, an environmentally significant wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s region with several Sites of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSIs). Other similar areas of conservation include Ranscombe FarmRanscombe Farm, in Cuxton in North Kent, is a Plantlife Nature Reserve, country park and working farm. Part of the site is included in the Cobham Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole farm is within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Ranscombe Farm Reserve works in...
on chalk grassland and woodland between Strood and Cuxton, with rare woodland flowers and orchids.
Medway is one of the boroughs included in the Thames GatewayThe Thames Gateway is an area of land stretching east from inner east London on both sides of the River Thames and the Thames Estuary. The area, which includes much brownfield land, has been designated a national priority for urban regeneration, taking advantage of the development opportunities...
development scheme. It is also the home of Universities at MedwayThe Universities at Medway is a tri-partite collaboration of the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University on a single campus in Chatham, Medway, Kent, England.-Site:...
, a tri-partite collaboration of the University of GreenwichThe University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...
, the University of KentThe University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
and Canterbury Christ Church UniversityCanterbury Christ Church University is a university in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teaching training it has grown to full university status and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2012. The focus of its work is in the education of people going into...
on a single campus in Chatham.
History
The Medway area has a long and varied history dominated originally by the city of Rochester and later by the naval and military establishments principally in Chatham and GillinghamGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
.
Rochester was established by the RomansRoman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, who called it Durobrivae (meaning "stronghold by the bridge"), on an Iron AgeThe Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
site to control the point where Watling StreetWatling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
(now the A2) crossed the River MedwayThe River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
. The first cathedral was buillt by Bishop JustusJustus was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism, probably arriving with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601...
in 604 and was rebuilt under the NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
by Bishop Gundulf, who also built the castleRochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
which stands opposite the cathedral. Rochester was also an important point for people travelling the Pilgrims' WayThe Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...
. Pilgrims' Way stretches from WinchesterWinchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
to the shrine of Thomas BecketThomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
at CanterburyCanterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. Pilgrims' Way crossed the Medway near CuxtonCuxton is a village in the unitary authority of Medway. It lies on left bank of the River Medway in the North Downs. It is served by the A228, and Cuxton railway station on the Medway Valley Line between Strood and Maidstone...
. Rochester became a walled town and under later Saxon influence a mint was established here.
Rochester has many fine buildings such as the Guildhall (today a museum) built in 1687, among the finest 17th-century civic buildings in Kent; the Corn Exchange, built in 1698, originally the Butcher's Market; the small Tudor house of Watts Charity endowed by Sir Richard Watts to house "six poor travelers" for one night each; Satis House and Old Hall, both visited by Queen Elizabeth I, built in 1573. In Medway there are 82 scheduled ancient monumentIn the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...
s, 832 Listed buildings and 22 conservation areaA conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
s. Parts of the RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
city wall are still in evidence.
Naval and military history
The Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
opened a dockyardShipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
during the reign of Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
; it shut in 1984. It was protected by a series of forts including Fort AmherstFort Amherst, in Kent, England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Part of it is now open to the public....
and the Chatham Lines, Fort PittFort Pitt was a fort built between 1805 and 1819 on the high ground of the boundary between Chatham and Rochester, Kent. It did not last long, becoming a hospital for invalid soldiers in 1828, with an asylum added in 1849...
and Fort BorstalFort Borstal was built as an afterthought from the 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, by convict labour between 1875 and 1885, to hold the high ground southwest of Rochester, Kent. It is of polygonal design and was never originally armed...
. The majority of surviving buildings in the Historic DockyardChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
are Georgian. It was here that Britain's most famous wooden warship {{HMS|Victory}}, Admiral Nelson's flagship at TrafalgarThe Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
, was built and launched in 1765 {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}. Sir Francis Drake learned his seamanship on the Medway; Sir John Hawkins founded a hospital in Chatham for seamen, and Nelson began his Navy service at Chatham at the age of 12. The river was further protected by such fortifications as Upnor CastleUpnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located in the village of Upnor, Kent, England. Its purpose was to defend ships moored "in ordinary" on the River Medway outside Chatham dockyards....
which, in 1667 in varying accounts says it was partly successful in thwarting the Dutch raid on the dockyardThe Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
, or the commanding officer fled without firing on the Dutch.
Another warship built at Chatham that still exists is {{HMS|Unicorn|1824|6}} (a 46-gun "Leda" class frigate) laid down in February 1822, and launched 30 March 1824. She never saw active service and has been restored and is (as of 2005) preserved afloat in DundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Scotland.
There have also been other naval disasters in Medway other than the Raid on the MedwayThe Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
.
On 25 November 1914 the battleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
{{HMS|Bulwark|1899|6}} was moored at buoy number 17 at Kethole Reach on the River Medway. She was taking on coal from the airship base at KingsnorthKingsnorth is a place in Kent, England, on the south side of the Hoo Peninsula. It is distinct from the village of Kingsnorth, also in Kent, near Ashford. The nearest village is Hoo St Werburgh and the nearest town Rochester, Kent....
, on the Isle of GrainThe Isle of Grain, in the north of Kent, England, is the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula. No longer an island, the Isle is almost all marshland and the Grain Marshes are an important habitat for birdlife...
when an internal explosion (most likely the result of corditeCordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...
charges stored alongside a boiler room bulkhead and failure to follow guidelines on the storage of shells) ripped the ship apart. In all, the explosion killed 745 men and 51 officers. Five of the 14 men who survived died later of their wounds, and almost all of the others were seriously wounded. There are mass and individual graves in Woodlands Cemetery in GillinghamGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
for the Bulwark's dead, who were mostly drawn from the PortsmouthPortsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
area. The explosion could be heard from up to 20 miles at Southend and WhitstableWhitstable is a seaside town in Northeast Kent, Southeast England. It is approximately north of the city of Canterbury and approximately west of the seaside town of Herne Bay. It is part of the City of Canterbury district and has a population of about 30,000.Whitstable is famous for its oysters,...
. In terms of loss of life it remains the second worst explosion in British history.
Less than six months later there was a second explosion. This time it was the Princess Irene. She was a 1,500-passenger liner built at Dumbarton in 1914 for Canadian Pacific. Before she could leave Britain she was commandeered for war service and became {{HMS|Princess Irene}}, and was used as a minelayerMinelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
. After several trips she was back in the Medway for a refit when on the morning of 27 May 1915 another huge internal explosion tore through the vessel, shaking the ground for miles around and showering the surrounding villages with remains of bodies and debris. 278 died, including 78 workers from nearby towns and villages. In one SheernessSheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
street there were ten who died. Once again sabotage was suspected, but it would seem that the mineA naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
charges were unstable and awaiting replacement.
For a complete history of the dockyard, including its closure in 1984, see Chatham DockyardChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
The British ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
also established barracks here; and the Royal EngineersThe Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
headquarters is in GillinghamGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
.
The Royal MarinesThe Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
also have a long association with ChathamChatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
. The Chatham Division was based in Chatham until the closure of the DockyardChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
. A small museum dedicated to the Royal Marines can be found at the dockyard.
Future development
Medway is expected to grow to have a population of 278,000 by 2020. Central government has worked with Medway Council and private enterprise to regenerate Medway with a total investment of over £1 billion over a 20 year period. Some of the projects include:
Medway Waterfront
The Medway Waterfront Renaissance Strategy is a 20-year plan for the redevelopment of up to seven miles (11 km) of waterfront along the River Medway. This project will create 6,000 to 8,000 homes and 8,500 jobs. There are five main areas designated for development:
Gillingham centre
Gillingham has got another 150 parking spaces, as well as a new town square within a new shopping area, a new cultural and leisure venue, improved connections and use of the Great Lines and Medway Park open spaces, plus improved pedestrian facilities.
Rochester riverside
In Rochester, a 74-acre (30-hectare) brownfield site between the river and the railway line is being developed with high-quality high-density housing. Up to 50 homes per hectare will be built. The site will also include a Primary School, two hotels, business centre, health centre, cafes, restaurants and bars and various commerical units.
The site has accommodated a wide variety of industrial, commercial and maritime activities since the beginning of the 19th century but has become largely disused in recent years.
Acorn Shipyard will be incorporated into the scheme.
Chatham centre and waterfront
Chatham town centre is the main commercial centre of Medway but has notorious traffic problems and much of the transport system will be redeveloped. In the early autumn of 2006 the "one way" system was turned into a two way system. In early 2009 the Sir John Hawkins flyover was demolished. The council believes that this will open up Chatham Waterfront an area long marked for redevelopment though there is debate as to the new road system actually harming some businesses in Chatham. Chatham Waterfront is the area between Rochester railway station and Chatham Dockyard — numerous residential and commercial developments are planned in this area including two 20 story residential towers designed by architect Ken YeangDr. Ken Yeang [Chinese]: 杨经文/楊經文; [pinyin]: Yáng Jīngwén; born 1948) is a prolific Malaysian architect and writer best known for advancing green design and planning, differentiated from other green architects by his comprehensive ecological approach....
.
Strood riverside
Redevelopment including new homes and a landscaped play area were completed in the 1990s but now there are plans to extend this further along the river past Strood railway stationStrood Railway Station serves the town of Strood in Medway. It is on the North Kent Line and is a terminus for the Medway Valley Line. Train services are operated by Southeastern.-History:...
. Another 500 to 600 homes will be built, and the waterfront will be developed with new recreational and leisure facilities (although there has been little to no provision for the subsequent increase in demand for medical, police, or educational services), improved open public space, better access to the railway station, the town centre and the Medway City Estate industrial area.
Temple Waterfront
This 70-hectare area (formerly a Templar farm) — between the river and Morgan's Timber yard in Strood — is commonly known as "Morgans" or "Morgan's field" and is often used illegally by off-road motorcyclists. Under the plans, 600 homes will be built along with 15,000 square metres of commercial space and a new two-hectare site for Morgan's Timber, however there has been little to no provision for the subsequent increase in demand for local public services.
Medway Gate
This is not under the Medway waterfront scheme, but it is a major development under way in Strood between Medway Valley Park and junction 2 of the M2 motorway. Much of the development is inside a large unused chalk pit and requires massive landscaping efforts to make building possible. A small field which was hidden from the main road has also been landscaped. Many problems such as new schools and amenities to accommodate the new homes seem to be still unresolved.
Formation
Throughout the 19th century there had been proposals to join the Medway towns under a single authority. By 1903 moves began to take place: that year saw the creation of the Borough of Gillingham, to which, in 1928, the adjoining parish of Rainham was added.
In 1944 a Medway Towns Joint Amalgamation Committee was formed by the borough corporations of Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester, to discuss the possibility of the towns forming a single county boroughCounty borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
. In 1948 the Local Government Boundary Commission recommended that the area become a "most purposes" county borough, but the recommendation was not carried out. In 1956 the Joint Amalgamation Committee decided in favour of the amalgamation and invited representatives from Strood Rural DistrictStrood Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England.It was subject to boundary reforms in 1934 and 1935.It consisted of the following civil parishes:*Allhallows...
Council to join the Committee. In 1960 a proposal was made by Rochester Council that the merger be effected by the city absorbing the two other towns, in order to safeguard its ancient charters and city status. This led to Gillingham Council voting to leave the committee, as it believed the three towns should go forward as equal partners. On March 9 the committee held its last meeting, with the Chatham representatives voting to dissolve the body and those from Rochester voting against. The motion to disband was passed on the casting vote of the chairman, Alderman Semple from Chatham.
Under the Local Government Act 1972The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, on 1 April 1974 the City of Rochester, the Borough of Chatham and part of Strood Rural DistrictStrood Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England.It was subject to boundary reforms in 1934 and 1935.It consisted of the following civil parishes:*Allhallows...
were amalgamated to form the Borough of MedwayRochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998.The district was formed as the District of Medway under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the municipal borough and city of Rochester, the borough of Chatham and most of Strood...
, a local government district in the county of Kent. Gillingham chose to remain separate. Under letters patentLetters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
the former city council area was to continue to be styled the "City of Rochester" to "perpetuate the ancient name" and to recall "the long history and proud heritage of the said city". The city was unique, as it had no council or charter trustees and no mayor or civic head. In 1979, the Borough of Medway was renamed as Rochester-upon-Medway, and in 1982 further letters patent transferred the city status to the entire borough.
On 1 April 1998, the existing local government districts of Rochester-upon-Medway and GillinghamGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
were abolished under the local government reviewThe structure of local government in the United Kingdom underwent large changes in the 1990s. The system of two-tier local government introduced in the 1970s by the Local Government Act 1972 and the Local Government Act 1973 was abolished in Scotland and Wales on April 1, 1996, and replaced with...
and merged to become the new unitary authorityA unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Medway, administratively independent from Kent. Since it was the local government district of Rochester-upon-Medway that officially held city status under the 1982 letters patent, when it was abolished, it also ceased to be a city. The other local government districts with city status that were abolished around this time (Bath and HerefordHereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
) appointed charter trusteesIn England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established...
to maintain the existence of the city and the mayoralty. However, Rochester-upon-Medway City Council had decided not to and as a result their city status was rescinded. Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when they discovered that Rochester was not on the Lord Chancellor's Office's list of cities. Medway applied for city statusCity status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
in the 2000 and 2002 competitions, but was unsuccessful. In 2010, it started to refer to the "City of Medway" in promotional material, but it was rebuked and instructed not to do so in future by the Advertising Standards AuthorityAdvertising Standards Authority may refer to:*Advertising Standards Bureau *Advertising Standards Authority *Advertising Standards Authority *Advertising Standards Authority...
. Medway Council intends to bid for city status again in 2012.
Current makeup
The council currently comprises 55 councillors representing different wards.
The current political make-up of the Council (after the 2011 local elections) is;
- Conservative - 35
- Labour - 15
- Liberal Democrat - 3
- Independent - 2
Parts of the unitary authority are parished, chiefly the rural areas. There are currently 11 parishes;
- Allhallows
Allhallows is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England. Situated in the northernmost part of Kent, and covering an area of 23.99 km², the parish is bounded on the north side by the River Thames, and in the east by the course of Yantlet creek, now silted up...
- Cliffe and Cliffe Woods
- Cooling
Cooling is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula, overlooking the North Kent Marshes. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 209....
- Cuxton
Cuxton is a village in the unitary authority of Medway. It lies on left bank of the River Medway in the North Downs. It is served by the A228, and Cuxton railway station on the Medway Valley Line between Strood and Maidstone...
- Frindsbury Extra
Frindsbury Extra is a civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England. It is conjoined to Strood to the south west, is bounded by Cliffe and Cliffe Woods to the north, Hoo to the east, and the River Medway to the south....
- Halling
Halling is a village on the North Downs in the northern part of Kent, England, covering 7.1 square kilometres of land. Consisting of Lower Halling, Upper Halling and North Halling, it is scattered over some along the River Medway parallel to the Pilgrims' Way running over Kent.The origin of the...
- High Halstow
High Halstow is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in the borough of Medway in northern Kent, England. The parish had a population of 1,781 according to the 2001 census....
- Hoo St Werburgh
Hoo St Werburgh is one of several villages on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England, to bear the name Hoo. It constitutes a civil parish in the borough of Medway, with a population of 7,356 at the 2001 census.- History :...
- St James Isle of Grain
The Isle of Grain, in the north of Kent, England, is the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula. No longer an island, the Isle is almost all marshland and the Grain Marshes are an important habitat for birdlife...
- St Mary Hoo
St Mary Hoo is a village and civil parish in Kent, England. It is on the Hoo Peninsula in the borough of Medway. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 244.The first appearance of the name is in 1240...
- Stoke
Stoke is a civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England, to the south of Allhallows, on the north of the Medway Estuary. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,063....
Demographics
- Population: the population of Medway as measured in the 2001 Census was 249,488, of which 49% are male and 51% female. Most of the population live in the Chatham and Gillingham areas: 70,540 in Chatham and 99,773 in Gillingham.
- Unemployment: The closure of Chatham Dockyard cost some 20,000 jobs. In June 2005 local unemployment stood at 2.3% of the workforce, a total of 3,678 people. Many of the employed population of 160,000 people now work outside the district — especially in London, which has many transport links from Medway.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Medway at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of pounds Sterling.
| Year |
Regional Gross Value Added[Includes hunting and forestry] |
Agriculture[Includes energy and construction] |
Industry[Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured] |
Services[Components may not sum to totals due to rounding] |
| 1995 |
1,823 |
21 |
560 |
1,243 |
| 2000 |
2,348 |
8 |
745 |
1,595 |
| 2003 |
2,671 |
10 |
802 |
1,859 |
{{reflist|group=note}}
Roadways
Watling Street (the A2The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
), the Roman road between the Channel port of Dover and London, runs through Medway. This route became particularly congested and led to the building of the M2 to bypass the Medway Towns to the south in the 1960s and was subsequently widened extensively at the turn of the 21st century. The A2 through the Medway Towns varies from single carriageway to dual carriageway to "one way" systems. In places it deviates from the original route of Watling Street.
The A2 leaves the main route (which bypasses Medway by either the Northern Relief Road — The A289 or the M2) at the Three Crutches junction. The road descends through Strood towards the river. During the descent, the road to Gravesend, the A226 joins. In StroodStrood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
the High Street is bypassed by the one-way system to the north and south encircling the High Street. The A2 crosses the Medway via two bridges in a dual carriageway (see Rochester BridgeRochester Bridge was for centuries the lowest fixed crossing of the River Medway in Kent, southern England. There have been several generations of bridge at this spot, and the current "bridge" is in fact four separate bridges: two carrying the A2 road, one carrying the railway and one carrying all...
). One bridge is Victorian and in the position of the original Roman bridge. The second bridge is more recent and build upon the piers of the original LCDRThe London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
main line railway bridge (the Chatham Main LineThe Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...
uses the SERThe South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
's branch line's bridge). In Rochester the High street is bypassed to the north by the dualled Corporation Street. The A2 then crosses the high street, climbs Star Hill and follows New road by Fort Pitt / Jackson's Field to bypass Chatham to the south (by the Station, via a flyover known as New Cut). As it approaches Luton it is a dual carriageway for a short stretch, where a major junction lies with the railway (Chatham Main line) passes overhead — this is known as Luton Arches. It then climbs Chatham Hill (to Gillingham) now has a separate bus lane. The A2 / Watling street traditionally bypasses central Gillingham which lies to the North. From the main road to Gillingham (Canterbury Street), the A2 is dual carriageway. Here the Northern Relief Road (A289) rejoins at the Will Adams roundabout. This is swiftly followed by the Bowater roundabout where the A278 Hoath Way leads to the M2 to the South, this is so named and distinctive because of the former paper mill Bowaters at this location that left a giant water tower. A large TescoTesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
supermarket currently inhabits the site. As the road progresses into Rainham it becomes single carriageway again.
Connecting Medway with neighbouring GravesendGravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
is the A226The A226 road travels in a west-east direction, from Crayford in the London Borough of Bexley, along north Kent through Gravesend to the Medway Towns. It is about 11 miles in length. Before road numbering began in the United Kingdom, the road was part of the major route between London and Dover,...
. The leaves the A2 on the hill above Strood. It is a single carriageway A road.
The A228The A228 road is an important transport artery in Kent, England. It begins at the Isle of Grain and runs in a south-westerly direction to connect eventually with the A21 trunk road at Pembury. It serves existing communities and new and proposed housing developments and commercial enterprises...
runs along the west bank of the Medway, through Strood. Intersecting the M2 at its second junction, crossing the A2 through the centre of Strood and meeting (and encompassing for a short stretch) the Northern Relief Road (A289). The road then carries on to the Isle of GrainThe Isle of Grain, in the north of Kent, England, is the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula. No longer an island, the Isle is almost all marshland and the Grain Marshes are an important habitat for birdlife...
. Throughout its passage through Strood it is single carriageway, but the stretches to the North are dualled partially toward Grain. The road to Grain was an accident black spot, this and increased traffic from the major port of ThamesportLondon Thamesport is a container seaport on the River Medway, serving the North Sea. It is on the Isle of Grain, in the Medway unitary authority, Kent, England in the United Kingdom. It is sited on the former Port Victoria.-History:...
which is located to the north-west along the Medway Estuary prompted the construction of a new dual carriagewayA dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
. The A228 Main Road to Ropers Lane project was provisionally approved by the government in December 2001. Design work started in March 2000 and in February 2004, contractors got under way with moving services such as water, gas and fuel pipes. This work was vital, as the pipes actually supply the Hoo Peninsula and the power station at Grain. The largest water main that was moved was 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter and the largest gas main 36 inches (914 mm). The road cost £19 million and is approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) long.
The A229The A229 is a major road running north-south through Kent.The road begins in the Medway town of Rochester at the foot of Star Hill forming a junction with the A2 road. It then climbs up through the built-up area of Chatham, passing Troy Town and Rochester Airport before descending the slope of the...
starts from the A2 at the junction at the top of Star Hill alongside Jackson's Field / Fort Pitt, it follows City Way to the South where at Fort Horstead / Rochester AirportRochester Airport is a small airfield located south of Rochester, Kent, England, with the River Medway from the end of runway 34, from Chatham and its Historic Dockyard and the Medway area....
/ Mid Kent College it meets the branch from Chatham (the A230The A230 is a short road running north-south in the Medway town of Chatham in Kent. The whole length of the road is within Medway Unitary Authority and is a non-primary route.- Present route :...
which starts at Chatham Station / New Cut). From here it continues south, becoming dual carriageway and meeting the M2 at its third junction, which also provides access with WaldersladeWalderslade is a large suburb to the south of Chatham, Kent, England, encompassing almost all the ME5 postcode district ....
. This road then proceeds down Blue Bell Hill (from the summit of the North Downs) to the county town of Maidstone and the M20The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...
.
The A278The A278 is a road running north-south in north Kent, England. The whole length of the road is dual carriageway, within Medway Council but is a non-primary route.- History :...
Hoath Way links the A2 at Gillingham to its southern suburbs (Hempstead, Wigmore and Parkwood) to the M2's fourth junction. It is dual carriageway throughout.
The A289 was built in the 1990s as the Medway Towns Northern Relief Road. Constructed in three stages, firstly it bypasses Strood with a dual carriageway from Three Crutches (M2 J1) to the A226 and the A228 (The Wainscott Northern Bypass). It then joins the A228 (as The Wainscott Eastern Bypass) — these two part are dualled. A dualled link road leads to the Medway Tunnel to the Chatham Dockyard. Here it meets Dock Road (A231) that leads to Chatham. The A289 continues between northern Gillingham and the river, and then turns southwards through Gillingham Golf Course to rejoin the A2 at the Will Adams roundabout.
The A2045 is the A289's counterpart, however it is largely unbuilt. The Medway Towns Southern Relief Road was proposed to link the (then) new developments to the south of Chatham (Walderslade) and Gillingham (Hempstead, Wigmore and Parkwood) with M2's J3 and the A229 to the east and the M2's J4 and A278 in the west. A single carriageway road was built south of Walderslade to access the Walderslade Woods and Lordswood developments. At the other end a small section was built to access the Hempstead development and its shopping centre. However, the key middle stretch was left unbuilt, a link road to central Chatham via Luton, the B2156 North Dane Way was also left incomplete with no road to link to. The removal of Medway from Kent (which the incomplete section would lay in) and the recent widening of M2 leaves the proposed project with little chance of completion in the foreseeable future.
Bus
The vast majority of local bus routes throughout Medway are centred upon the Pentagon bus stationPentagon bus station is the main bus interchange in Chatham, Kent, England. It is an integral part of the Pentagon Shopping Centre. As a result, 80% of local services start, terminate or pass through the Centre....
in Chatham, located at the Pentagon Shopping CentreThe Pentagon Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Chatham in Kent. The shopping centre is located next to the Pentagon bus station, which 80% of services use. The shopping centre features over 70 shops, many high street names in fashion, homeware and food stores...
. Most bus routes are run by Arriva Southern CountiesArriva Southern Counties is a bus operator in London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Essex in England. It is a regional division of Arriva.- History :...
, which took over the locally-owned Maidstone and District bus company in the 1990s. Other local bus companies including Nu-Venture provide certain services, some under contract to the local authority. A Saturdays 'park & ride' service is run from a car park constructed on Rochester Airport to Chatham/Rochester on behalf of Medway Council.
Bus links to London and other parts of the south east can be achieved via Bluewater shopping centre, near GreenhitheGreenhithe is a town in Dartford District of Kent, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.Greenhithe, as it is spelled today, is located where it was possible to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and...
, which has extensive bus routes to London. Commuter coaches runs from various parts of Medway to a selection of London destinations using the M2/A2. Operating companies include The Kings Ferry and Chalkwell.
Railways
- Strood Station
Strood Railway Station serves the town of Strood in Medway. It is on the North Kent Line and is a terminus for the Medway Valley Line. Train services are operated by Southeastern.-History:...
- Rochester Station
Rochester railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in Medway, north Kent, England. The majority of train services are provided by Southeastern, with a handful of services to and from Bedford operated by First Capital Connect....
- Chatham Station
Chatham railway station is situated in Chatham, one of the Medway Towns in Kent, England. It is on the Chatham Main Line between Rochester and Gillingham, and is 34.3 miles from London Victoria...
- Gillingham Station
Gillingham railway station in the town of Gillingham , north Kent, is on the Chatham Main Line between and Rainham stations. Train services are provided by Southeastern....
- Rainham Station
Rainham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, between Gillingham and Newington. Train services are provided by Southeastern.Rainham station is 38 miles and 1694 yards from London Victoria, according to the mileage sign on the footbridge....
- Cuxton Station
Cuxton railway station is a railway station in the United Kingdom. It is located on the Medway Valley Line in the local government area of Medway, and it lies well to the east of the village of Cuxton.Train services are provided by Southeastern...
- Halling Station
Halling railway station is a railway station in the United Kingdom. It is located on the Medway Valley Line in the local government area of Medway, and it lies a little to the north of the village of Halling.Train services are provided by Southeastern....
The Medway Council area has seven rail stations. It is served by the Medway Valley LineThe Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking and the Medway Towns with and onward to , and London St Pancras International...
, the North Kent LineThe North Kent Line is a railway line which connects central and south east London with Dartford and Medway.-Construction:The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway were able to connect its system to London at London Bridge...
and the Chatham Main LineThe Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...
.
The owners of the Thames and Medway CanalThe Thames and Medway Canal is a disused canal in Kent, south east England, also known as the Gravesend and Rochester Canal. It was originally some long and cut across the neck of the Hoo peninsula, linking the River Thames at Gravesend with the River Medway at Strood...
tunnel that linked Medway (specifically Strood) with Gravesend turned half their canal into a railway bringing the first rails to Medway. They were soon absorbed by the South Eastern RailwayThe South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
whose North Kent LineThe North Kent Line is a railway line which connects central and south east London with Dartford and Medway.-Construction:The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway were able to connect its system to London at London Bridge...
linked Strood with Gravesend, Dartford, and then London (London BridgeLondon Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the...
). Subsequently SER extended their branch from their main line to Maidstone to Strood — the Medway Valley LineThe Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking and the Medway Towns with and onward to , and London St Pancras International...
. Stations were built on the Medway Valley line for the villages of Cuxton and Halling.
A rival company, the London, Chatham and Dover RailwayThe London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
, built a railway between Chatham and East Kent. Unable to secure a connection and running rights over the SER's North Kent line they built their own main line to Bromley where they connected with the West End of London & Crystal Palace RailwayThe West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was an early railway company in south London between Crystal Palace station and Wandsworth, which was opened in 1856. The line was extended in 1858 to a station at Battersea Wharf which was misleadingly named Pimlico...
to gain access to London VictoriaVictoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It is named after nearby Victoria Street and not Queen Victoria. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London after Waterloo, and includes an air terminal for passengers...
. This railway became known as the Chatham Main LineThe Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...
. It had stations at Rochester Bridge which was actually in Strood, Chatham and New Brompton which was renamed Gillingham. The line was extended through Rainham to the Kent Coast (Thanet and Dover).
In reaction to this strong rival the SER built a small branch alongside the LCDR over the Medway on a parallel bridge to Rochester and built a terminus called Chatham although it failed to reach Chatham.
The strenuous competition between the two companies resulted in their merger into the South Eastern and Chatham RailwayThe South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...
in 1899. Subsequent rationalisation saw the closure of the LCDR's station in Strood and the SER's branch to Rochester and Chatham (although the bridge was retained and is used to this day).
Post World War I saw the big four grouping and the SECR was merged into SouthernThe Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
in 1923. This led to electrificationRailway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
of suburban services (750v DC third rail) which by World War II had seen electric traction reach Gillingham on the Chatham Main Line and Maidstone West (via Strood and the North Kent Line) on the Medway Valley Line.
Post war (1948) saw nationalisation into British RailBritish Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
, which under its 1955 modernisation part saw the completion of Southern's electrification efforts in Kent as a key target. Thus Rainham was reached as part of this programme. It also saw the extension of platforms on the Chatham Main Line to 12 cars, leading to the closure of two of Chatham's four platforms. Rochester retained four platforms, while Strood and Gillingham kept three. Rainham has only had two platforms.
Extensive goods yards existed at Strood, Rochester and Gillingham. Strood had engine sheds, while Gillingham still has carriage depots. A freight branch to Chatham Dockyard also exists. The network within the dockyard has been extensively curtailed since the dockyards closure.
Rail services generally consist of North Kent Line services (to London Bridge and beyond — Charing Cross and Cannon Street) starting from Gillingham. The Medway Valley line receives a shuttle service up and down terminating at Strood for transfers to the North Kent Line, although some services run through to Tonbridge and even Gatwick. The main services are on the Chatham Main line, with stopper services from Faversham (i.e. they stop at local stations, running fast from Bromley) and fast services from Kent Coast (i.e. they run fast from Medway to London). Services are currently operated by SoutheasternLondon & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...
.
The High Speed 1 Channel Tunnel Rail Link passes through the Medway Towns area, running parallel to the M2/A2 Trunk road.The completion of High Speed 1 has seen domestic services operating on the rail link , which includes a stopping service starting at FavershamFaversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
running to StroodStrood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
and GravesendGravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
before joining the High Speed line at Ebbsfleet. From there it travels at high speed to Stratford International and St. Pancras International, where connections can now be made with mainline trains to the north of England.
The rail service is extensively used by the residents of Medway to commute into London.
Waterways
The River Medway is not used for local transport purposes (it is extensively used for leisure) however cargo ships still sail to the cement works to the south at Halling/Cuxton, by Union Transport of Bromley. Part of the closed Royal Navy baseChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
is now used as a cargo port, with facilities of Ro/Ro, cargo that comes in ranges from paper pulp to dredged material but this only occupies one of the three main basins. There is also a ship repair located in the basin. ThamesportLondon Thamesport is a container seaport on the River Medway, serving the North Sea. It is on the Isle of Grain, in the Medway unitary authority, Kent, England in the United Kingdom. It is sited on the former Port Victoria.-History:...
handles the shipping of containers and fossil fuels, located on the edge of the Medway Estuary on the Isle of GrainThe Isle of Grain, in the north of Kent, England, is the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula. No longer an island, the Isle is almost all marshland and the Grain Marshes are an important habitat for birdlife...
. Kingsnorth Power StationKingsnorth is a dual-fired coal and oil power station on the Hoo Peninsula at Medway in Kent, South East England. The four-unit station is owned and operated by energy firm E.ON UK, and has a generating capacity of 1,940 megawatts. It is capable of operating on either coal or oil though in practice...
has coal shipped in from Dunkirk, also Scotline who operate a fleet of coasters for the import of wood have a wharf on the River Medway. There is also a wharf on the river called Eurowharf which deals with dredged material. In addition, there is a shipping company based on the river, formerly known as Lapthorn Shipping and now as Coastal Bulk Shipping. Coastal Bulk Shipping ceased trading at the end of 2008.
Air
There are two small airports, Rochester AirportRochester Airport is a small airfield located south of Rochester, Kent, England, with the River Medway from the end of runway 34, from Chatham and its Historic Dockyard and the Medway area....
, but this is a "grass strip" and used for leisure purposes and Stoke Airfield near Grain which is used by microlights and light aircraft. For air travel, Medway residents must use Kent's main airports Kent InternationalManston - Kent's International Airport is an airport located at Manston in the District of Thanet within Kent, England, northeast of Canterbury. It was formerly called RAF Manston , and was also known as London Manston Airport...
(Manston) or Lydd-Accidents and incidents:*On 17 August 1978, Douglas C-47B G-AMSM of Skyways Cargo Airline was damaged beyond economic repair in a take-off accident.-External links:******...
but these lack extensive passenger facilities or routes, thus the London airports are used the vast majority of the time (mainly GatwickGatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
, HeathrowLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, LutonLondon Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway...
and Stansted-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
)
Leisure and recreation
- Medway Park (formerly The Black Lion Leisure Centre) in Gillingham is a sub-regional sports centre with three indoor pools for swimming and SCUBA diving, gym, fitness centre, sports hall and squash courts. It includes the Jumpers Rebound Centre for trampolining. Medway Park has been upgraded for the Medway 2012 programme to secure local benefits from the London Olympics.
- The Strand Leisure Park in Gillingham has an open-air swimming pool on the banks of the River Medway as well as other leisure attractions including tennis courts and a narrow-gauge railway.
- Strood Sports Centre in has an indoor swimming pool, gym, sports hall, squash courts and an astroturf sports pitch.
- Gillingham has an ice rink, The Ice Bowl.
- Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...
is the main football team of the area. They play in Football League TwoFootball League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
.
- John Nike Ski Centre - located in Capstone near Hempstead
- The Splashes Leisure Centre in Rainham, Kent has a swimming pool with indoor slide and a wave machine. It also has a small gym on the second floor.
Famous people
See sections in the constituent towns.
- William Adams
William Adams , also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama and Miura Anjin , was an English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach that country...
, the first Englishman to record reaching Japan, was born in Gillingham. The Japanese Shogun made him a samurai (warrior), he is significant to Medway because this has led to the twinning with Yokosuka and Ito.
- Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
lived in Medway, a museum was in Eastgate House in Rochester until its closure in 2004. A visitor attraction based on his works, is found at Chatham Dockside. One of his many houses still exists in Rochester High Street today.
Twin towns
Medway is twinnedTwin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: — ValenciennesValenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
(France) (existing since 1955 making it the 2nd oldest such twinning in the UK) — Yokosukais a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 419,067 and a population density of 4,160 people per km². It covered an area of 100.62 km²...
and Itōis a city located on the eastern shore of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 71,400 and the density of 578 persons per km². The total area was...
(Japan) — CádizCadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
(Spain)
External links
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{{London commuter belt}}
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