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This article is about the Medway towns in England. For others, see Medway (disambiguation)

Borough of Medway

Geography
Status:	Unitary, Borough
Region:	South East England
Ceremonial County:	Kent
Area: - Total	Ranked 192nd 192.03 km²
Admin. HQ:	Strood
ONS code:	00LC
Demographics
Population: - Total (2022) - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	94.6% White 2.9% S.Asian
Politics
Medway Council http://www.medway.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Paul Clark, Robert Marshall-Andrews, Jonathan Shaw

Medway is the name given to a conurbation in the north of Kent, England. It was previously known as "The Medway Towns" as the region consists of five towns on the River Medway that have gradually merged together. Because of its strategic location by the major crossing of the River Medway by Watling Street it has made a wide and historically significant contribution to Kent, and to the United Kingdom.

The five main towns involved in the conurbation are (from west to east in terms of geographical position): Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, and Rainham. Many smaller towns and villages such as Frindsbury, Brompton, Walderslade, Luton, Wigmore etc, lie within the conurbation with a few villages outside the main urban area such as Hoo St Werburgh, Cliffe and Grain around the area of the Hoo Peninsula to the north of the main towns and villages such as Cuxton, Halling and Wouldham in the Medway Gap area to the south of Rochester. The towns now form a single borough of Medway, a unitary authority governed by Medway Council in Strood. This administrative area covers several neighbouring towns, some now absorbed into the conurbation, and rural villages (see lists below). It also includes parts of the North Kent Marshes, an environmentally significant wetlands region with several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Other similar areas of conservation include Ranscombe Farm between Strood and Cuxton with environmentally important rare woodland flowers and orchids.

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 Gilllingham.

Rochester was established by the Romans, who called it Durobrivae (meaning "stronghold by the bridge"), on an Iron Age site to control the point where Watling Street (now the A2) crossed the River Medway. The first cathedral was buillt by Bishop Justus in 604 and was rebuilt under the Normans by Bishop Gundulf, who also built the castle which stands opposite the cathedral. Rochester was also an important point for people travelling the Pilgrims' Way. Pilgrims' Way stretches from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Pilgrims' Way crossed the Medway near Cuxton. 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 monuments, 832 Listed buildings and 22 conservation areas. Parts of the Roman city wall are still in evidence.

William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan, was born in Gillingham.

One of the most famous people with a Medway connection is Charles Dickens, whose museum was in Eastgate House in Rochester until its closure in 2004. A new museum dedicated to him is being built at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

Louis Brennan the inventor of a dirigible torpedo, and who worked on early the early monorail train and helicopter, lived in Gillingham.

Military History

The Royal Navy opened a dockyard during the reign of Henry VIII; it shut in 1984. It was protected by a series of forts including the Great Lines of Defence, Fort Amherst, Fort Pitt and Fort Borstal. The majority of surviving buildings in the Historic Dockyard are Georgian. It was here that Britain's most famous wooden warship HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, was built and launched in 1765. 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 Castle which, in 1667 in varying accounts says it was partly successful in thwarting the Dutch raid on the dockyard, or the commanding officer fled without firing on the Dutch.

Another warship built at Chatham that still exists is HMS Unicorn (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 Dundee, Scotland.

There has also been other naval disasters in Medway other than the Raid on the Medway.

On the 26th November 1914 the battleship HMS Bulwark (see HMS Bulwark for other ships of this name) was moored at buoy number 17 at Kethole Reach on the River Medway. She was taking on coal from the airship base at Kingsnorth, on the Isle of Grain when an internal explosion (most likely the cause of Cordite 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 Gillingham for the Bulwark's dead, who were mostly drawn from the Portsmouth area. The explosion could be heard from up to 20 miles at Southend and Whitstable. 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 minelayer. After several trips she was back in the Medway for a refit when on the morning of 27th 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. There was a great mushroom cloud from which the ship disintergrated. 278 died, including 78 workers from nearby towns and villages. In one Sheerness street there were ten who died. Once again sabotage was suspected, but it would seem that the mine charges were unstable and awaiting replacement.

For a complete history of the dockyard, including its closure in 1984, see Chatham Dockyard

The British Army also established barracks here; and the Royal Engineers headquarters is in Gillingham.

The Royal Marines also have a long association with Chatham. The Chatham Division was based in Chatham until the closure of the Dockyard. A small museum dedicated to the Royal Marines can be found at the dockyard.

Future development

Medway Waterfront

The Medway Waterfront Renaissance Strategy is a 20-year plan for the redevelopment of up to seven miles (11km) 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:

Rochester Riverside

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 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.

Chatham centre and waterfront

Chatham town centre is the main centre of Medway but has notorius traffic problems and much of the transport system will be redeveloped. The waterfront has changed in recent years with the opening of Chatham Dockside Outlet Centre and the Medway Tunnel.

Gillingham town centre

The town centre in Gillingham will get 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 Great Lines and Black Lion open spaces, plus improved pedestrian facilities.

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 station. Another 500 to 600 homes wil be built, and the waterfront will be developed with new recreational and leisure facilities, 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 — 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.

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 the M2 junction 2. 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.

Medway unitary authority

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 date saw the creation of the Borough of Gillingham, to which, in 1928, the adjoining parish of Rainham was added. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the City of Rochester,, the Borough of Chatham and part of Strood Rural District were amalgamated to form the Borough of Medway, with Gillingham remaining separate. In 1982 the district was renamed the Rochester-upon-Medway, and Rochester's city status transferred to the district. In 1998, Gillingham and Rochester-upon-Medway were merged under the local government review, to form the Borough of Medway Towns (soon renamed the Borough of Medway), which became a unitary authority, administratively independent from Kent. Medway applied for city status in the 2000 and 2002 competitions, but was unsuccessful.

Because of the abolition of Rochester-upon-Medway in 1998, and the decision not to appoint Charter Trustees, it therefore was removed from the list of official cities.

The authority

The council comprises 55 councillors representing different wards; there are also 11 parish representatives from the more rural parts of the Council area:

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.

Settlements

Apart from the parishes above, the following settlements are within the borough. Around the perimeter (especially to the south) there are also many large estates built mainly after the Second World War.

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 AddedTemplate:Fn	AgricultureTemplate:Fn	IndustryTemplate:Fn	ServicesTemplate:Fn
1995	1,823	21	560	1,243
2000	2,348	8	745	1,595
2003	2,671	10	802	1,859

Template:Fnb includes hunting and forestry

Template:Fnb includes energy and construction

Template:Fnb includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Template:Fnb Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Transport

Road

The A2 crossing the Medway at Rochester on the site of the Roman crossings, the medieval crossing was to the south

4 of Medway's five towns are located upon Watling Street (the A2), the Roman road between the Channel port (eg Dover) and London. This route became particularly congested and lead 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 centaury. 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 Steet.

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 Decent the road to Gravesend, the A226 joins. In Strood 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 Bridge). 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 the original LCDR main line railway bridge (the Chatham Main Line uses the SER's) branch line's bridge). In Rochester the High street is bypassed to the north by the duelled 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 Bowwaters roundabout where the A278 Hoath Way lead to the M2 to the South, this is so named and distinctive because of the former paper mill(?) at this location that left a giant water tower. A large Tescos currently inhabits the site. As the road progresses into Rainham it becomes single carriageway again.

Connecting Medway with neighbouring Gravesend is the A226. The leaves the A2 on the hill above Strood. It is a single carriageway A road.

The A228 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 Grain. Through out it passage through Strood it is single carriageway, but the stretches to the North are duelled partially toward Grain. The road to Grain was an accident black spot, this and increased traffic from the major port of Thamesport which is located to the north-west along the Medway Estuary prompted the construciton of a new dual-carriageway. 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 (610mm) in diameter and the largest gas main 36 inches (914mm). The road cost £19 million and is approximately 2.5 miles (4km) long.

The A229 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 Airport / Mid Kent Collage it meets the branch from Chatham (the A230 which starts at Chatham Station / New Cut). From here in continues south, becoming dual carriageway and meeting the M2 at its third junction, which also provides access with Walderslade. This road then proceeds down Blue Bell Hill (from the summit of the North Downs) to the county town of Maidstone and the M20.

The A278 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 The Wainscott Northern Bypass). It then joins the A228 (as the 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 (Hemstead, 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 Hemstead 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 Chatham Bus Station located within the Pentagon shopping centre. The majority of bus routes are run by Arriva Southern Counties, which took over the local bus company, Maidstone and District in the 1990s. Other companies have run a few services but appear to have encountered difficulties, these include ASD, Amberlee and Mercury. A park and ride service is run from a car park constructed on Rochester Airport to the Pentagon - this is run by Nu Venture for the council. Bus links to London and other parts of the south east can be achieved via Bluewater shopping centre, near Greenhithe, which has extensive bus routes to London.

Commuter coaches runs from various parts of Medway to a selection of London destinations utilising the M2/A2. Operating companies include Kings Ferry and Chalkwell.

Rail

Water

The river Medway is not used for local transport purposes (it is extensively used for leisure) however ships still sail to the cement works to the South at Halling/Cuxton. Part of the closed Royal Navy base is now used as a freight port, but this only occupies one of the three main basins.

Air

Their is one small airport, Rochester Airport, but this is a "grass strip" and used for leisure purposes. For air travel, Medway residents must use Kent's main airports Kent International (Manston) or Lydd but these lack extensive passenger facilities or routes, thus the London Airports are used the vast majority of the time (mainly Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stanstead)

External links

v t e Towns and villages in the Unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England
Allhallows Borstal Brompton Chatham Chattenden Cliffe Cliffe Woods Cooling Cuxton Frindsbury Frindsbury Extra Gillingham Halling Hempstead High Halstow Hoo St Werburgh Isle of Grain Lordswood Park Wood Rochester Rainham St Mary Hoo St Mary's Island Stoke Strood Twydall Upnor Wainscott Walderslade Wigmore
List of places in Kent

v t e Districts of South East England
Berkshire	Bracknell Forest Reading Slough West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham
Buckinghamshire	Buckinghamshire Milton Keynes
East Sussex	Brighton and Hove Eastbourne Hastings Lewes Rother Wealden
Hampshire	Basingstoke and Deane East Hampshire Eastleigh Fareham Gosport Hart Havant New Forest Portsmouth Rushmoor Southampton Test Valley Winchester
Isle of Wight	Isle of Wight
Kent	Ashford Canterbury Dartford Dover Folkestone and Hythe Gravesham Maidstone Medway Sevenoaks Swale Thanet Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells
Oxfordshire	Cherwell Oxford South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire
Surrey	Elmbridge Epsom and Ewell Guildford Mole Valley Reigate and Banstead Runnymede Spelthorne Surrey Heath Tandridge Waverley Woking
West Sussex	Adur Arun Chichester Crawley Horsham Mid Sussex Worthing

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