Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
unitary authority in the ceremonial county of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham,
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
,
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowes ...
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...
and several Army barracks, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. The
Corps of Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
is still based in Chatham at
Brompton Barracks
The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) Group provides a wide range of training for the British Army and Defence. This includes; Combat Engineers, Carpenters, Chartered Engineers, Musicians, Band Masters, Sniffer Dogs, Veterinary Techni ...
.
The Dockyard closed in 1984, but the remaining major naval buildings are an attraction for a flourishing tourist industry. Following closure, part of the site was developed as a commercial port, other parts were redeveloped for business and residential use, and part was used as the
Chatham Historic Dockyard
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England.
Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km²) and was one of the Royal Navy's main faciliti ...
museum. Its attractions include the submarine .
The town has important road links and the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
and bus stations are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre.
History
The name ''Chatham'' was first recorded as ''Cetham'' in 880. The
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
records the place as ''Ceteham''.
Most books explain this name as a British root ''ceto'' (like Welsh ''coed''), plus Old English ''ham'', meaning a forest settlement.A. D. Mills, ''A Dictionary of British Place-Names'', 2003, Oxford University Press. Judith Glover, ''The Place Names of Kent'', 1976, Batsford.
The river-valley site of Chatham is, however, more consistent with ''cet'' being an Old English survival of the element ''catu'', that was common in Roman-era names and meant 'basin' or 'valley'.
The A2 road passes by Chatham along the line of the ancient
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
route. It was paved by the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, and named
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
by the Anglo-Saxons. Among archaeological finds here have been the remains of a Roman-era cemetery.
Chatham was long a small village on the banks of the river. By the 16th century, warships were being moored at Jillingham water ( Gillingham), because of its strategic sheltered location between London and the Continent. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
in 1568, and most of the dockyard lies within Gillingham. Initially a refitting base, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then until the late 19th century, further expansion of the yard took place. In its time, many thousands of men were employed at the dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, including ''
HMS Victory
HMS ''Victory'' is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
She ...
,'' which was built there in the 1760s. After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, many
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s were also built in Chatham Dockyard.
In addition to the dockyard, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack.
Upnor Castle
Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located on the west bank of the River Medway in Kent. It is in the village of Upnor, opposite and a short distance downriver from the Chatham Dockyard, at one time a key naval facility. The fort was ...
had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutch
raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the ...
in 1667 showed that more defences were required. The fortifications, which became more elaborate as the threat of invasion grew, were begun in 1756 as a complex across the neck of the peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway, and included
Fort Amherst
Fort Amherst, in Medway, South East 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. Fort Amherst ...
. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of more forts.
The second phase of fort-building (1806–1819) included Fort Pitt (later used as a hospital and the site of the first Army Medical School). The 1859
Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom
The Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom was a committee formed in 1859 to enquire into the ability of the United Kingdom to defend itself against an attempted invasion by a foreign power, and to advise the British Government on ...
ordered, ''inter alia'', a third outer ring of forts: these included
Fort Luton
Fort Luton was built between 1876 and 1892 south of Chatham, Medway, South East England.
It is one of the five late Victorian land front forts built to defend the overland approaches to Chatham. It is the smallest of the Chatham forts and was buil ...
,
Fort Bridgewood
The site of Fort Bridgewoods is on the outskirts of Rochester, Medway in the United Kingdom, next to the Rochester-Maidstone road (B2097). The site was acquired by the War Office in about 1860 to form part of a ring of forts protecting the Royal ...
, and
Fort Borstal
Fort Borstal was built as an afterthought from the 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, by convict labour. Construction started in 1875 but was suspended in 1885. The fort was completed around 1895. it was one of a series ...
.
These fortifications all required military personnel to man them and Army barracks to house those men. These included Kitchener Barracks (c 1750–1780), the Royal Marine Barracks (c 1780), Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806) and Melville Barracks (opened 1820 as a Naval hospital, RM barracks from 1905). H.M.S. Collingwood and H.M.S. Pembroke were both naval barracks.
In response to the huge manpower needs, the village of Chatham and other nearby villages and towns grew commensurately.
Trams
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
, and later buses, linked those places to bring in the workforce. The area between the High Street and Luton village illustrates part of that growth, with its many streets of Victorian terraces.
The importance of Chatham Dockyard gradually declined as Britain's naval resources were reduced or moved to other locations, and eventually, on the 31st March 1984, it was closed completely. The dockyard buildings were preserved as the historic site
Chatham Historic Dockyard
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England.
Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km²) and was one of the Royal Navy's main faciliti ...
(operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), which was under consideration as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
the site is being used for other purposes. Part of the St Mary's Island section is now used as a marina, and the remainder is being developed for housing, commercial and other uses, branded as "Chatham Maritime".
Governance
Chatham lost its independence as a borough under the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
, by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a
non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...
of the county of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
City of Rochester-upon-Medway
Rochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998. It covered Rochester, Chatham, Luton, Lordswood, Walderslade, Strood and the Hoo Peninsula.
The district was formed as the District of Medway under t ...
. Under the most recent change, in 1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham, the Borough of Medway became a
unitary authority area
A unitary authority is a local government, local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the ...
, administratively separate from Kent.Rochester, The past 2000 years, Published Privately City of Rochester Society 1999. It remains part of the county of Kent for ceremonial purposes.
Medway Council has recently relocated its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the Dockyard, a former
Lloyd's
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
Rochester and Chatham
Rochester and Chatham was a parliamentary constituency in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.
It larg ...
and
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
.
Chatham has proven to be a marginal parliamentary seat. Since 1945, the members of parliament for Chatham have been as follows:
Geography
Chatham is situated where the lower part of the
dip slope
A dip slope is a topographic (geomorphic) surface which slopes in the same direction, and often by the same amount, as the true dip or apparent dip of the underlying strata.Jackson, JA, J Mehl and K Neuendorf (2005) ''Glossary of Geology.'' Ame ...
of the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...
meets the
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
which at this point is flowing in a south–north direction. This gives the right bank, where the town stands, considerable advantages from the point of view of river use. Compared with opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep; the illustration (1), an early print of the settlement, is taken from the point where Fort Pitt now stands. The town lies below at river level, curving round to occupy a south-easterly trending valley (The Brook"), in which lies the High Street. Beyond the
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...
was marshy land, now called St Mary's Island, and has several new developments of housing estates. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration.
Illustration (2) is taken from the opposite side of the valley: the
Pentagon Shopping Centre
The Pentagon Shopping Centre (known locally as 'The Pentagon') is a shopping centre in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in Kent. The centre's name derives from the fact that its main courtyard is five-sided. The shopping centre is located next to the Ch ...
is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and
Frindsbury
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, Kent, Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the ...
is on the rising ground in the right distance.
The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. The ''Darland Banks'', the northern slopes of the Luton Valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. The photograph (3), taken from the Banks and looking south, shows the village in the centre, with the rows of Victorian terraced housing, which unusually follow the contour lines. The opposite slopes are the ‘’Daisy Banks'’ and ‘’Coney Banks'’, along which some of the defensive forts were built (including Fort Luton, in the trees to the left)
Until the start of the 20th century, most of the south part of the borough was entirely rural, with a number of farms and large tracts of woodland. The beginning of what is now
Walderslade
Walderslade is a large suburb in Kent to the south of Chatham split between the unitary authority of Medway and the boroughs of Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling in South East England. It was, until 1998, fully part of Kent and is still ceremo ...
was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village in ''Walderslade Bottoms''.
Demography
Chatham became a market town in its own right in the 19th century, and a
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.
Economy
The closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard on the 31st March 1984 had the effect of changing the employment statistics of the town. About 7,000 people lost their jobs. The unemployment rate went up to 23.5%. From early April 1984 to December 1985, and onwards, the Medway Towns began to have an increase in alcohol and drug related, anti-social behaviour, which many residents then realized had largely been caused by the closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard in 1984, and the resulting mass redundancies which occurred. There has been a concerted effort to revitalise the
Thames Gateway
Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...
area and one of the largest employers in Chatham is now
Vanquis Bank
Vanquis Bank is a subsidiary of the Provident Financial Group. Established in 2007, it offers credit building credit cards under the Visa brand for UK residents with a limited or uneven credit history. It also offers a fixed rate bond service, lau ...
Ltd, a subsidiary of
Provident Financial
Provident Financial plc is specialist bank for UK adults who are not served by mainstream lenders. Based in Bradford, England, it specialises in credit cards, online loans and consumer vehicle finance. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. ...
.
Landmarks
The
Chatham Naval Memorial
Chatham Naval Memorial is a large obelisk situated in the town of Chatham, Kent, which is in the Medway Towns.
The memorial is a feature of the Great Lines Heritage Park. The huge expanse of the Great Lines was in its own right a layer of defenc ...
commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
who were lost or buried at sea in
World War One
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War Two
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The Chatham Naval Memorial was originally constructed from March 1924 to October 1924. The addition of the
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
and
Portland Stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...
plaque walls and surroundings were constructed between June 1952 to October 1952. It stands on the Great Lines, the escarpment ridge between Chatham and Gillingham. The
Grade II
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
Chatham Town Hall
Chatham Town Hall is a municipal building in Dock Road in Chatham, Kent, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Chatham Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
Following the incorporation of Chatham as a municipa ...
was built in January 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With Chatham being part of the Medway Towns, it took on a new role as the Medway Arts Centre in April 1987, with the promotional motto "''Putting The Arts Back Into The Medway''". There were many events held within the Medway Arts Centre, including many stage plays, themed nights and snooker tournaments. Likewise during May 1990, the Medway Arts Centre organized a large parade, composed of dancers, musicians, artists and sculptors, who stood upon theatrical lorry floats. The vehicles were initially parked up next to the entrance into the Theatre Royal Cafe, that was a popular restaurant in the Chatham Town Hall, on Whiffens Avenue, and then started to travel into Chatham,
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
,
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowes ...
and
Frindsbury
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, Kent, Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the ...
, where sweets, chocolate, posters, badges, leaflets, stickers and t-shirts were handed out to the crowds, to promote the Medway Arts Centre. Then in April 1997, the Medway Arts Centre became the ''Brook Theatre''. The
Pentagon Shopping Centre
The Pentagon Shopping Centre (known locally as 'The Pentagon') is a shopping centre in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in Kent. The centre's name derives from the fact that its main courtyard is five-sided. The shopping centre is located next to the Ch ...
stands in the town centre and serviced the old Pentagon Bus Station that was closed in September 2011.
Chatham Waterfront bus station
Chatham Waterfront bus station serves the area of Medway, South East England. The bus station opened in October 2011, replacing the town's previous Pentagon bus station which was built in the 1970s and was considered an unwelcoming environment ...
opened in October 2011, replacing the town's previous Pentagon Bus Station which was opened in 1970, before the Pentagon Shopping Centre was opened in 1975, and was considered an unwelcoming environment for passengers. This was because of the diesel fumes from the buses, coaches and minibuses, and because the waiting areas would sometimes become very crowded, whenever large groups of customers from the Pentagon Shopping Centre used the stairs and escalators, to get on board the green buses, coaches and minibuses that were managed by
The Medway, apart from Chatham Dockyard, has always had an important role in communication: historically it provided a means for the transport of goods to and from the interior of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. Stone, timber and iron from the
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
for shipbuilding and agricultural produce were among the cargoes. Sun Pier in Chatham was one of many such along the river. By 1740, barges of forty tons could navigate as far upstream as
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...
. Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.
The position of the road network in Chatham began with the building of the Roman road (
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
, which passed through the town.
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th b ...
s were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
was turnpiked in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the A230) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by the ''New Road'' (see illustration (1)) leading from the top of Star Hill Rochester, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches. This also became inadequate for the London cross-channel traffic and the ''Medway Towns Bypass'', the
M2 motorway This is a list of roads designated M2:
Europe
* M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England
* M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary
* N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland
* M-2 highway (Monteneg ...
, was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns.
Chatham is the hub of the Medway Towns. This fact means that the existing road system has always proved inadequate for the amount of traffic it has to handle, and various schemes have been tried by Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council, to alleviate the congestion. The High Street itself is traffic free, so all traffic on Best Street and Railway Street has to skirt around it. The basic west–east routes are The Brook to the north and New Road to the south, but the additional problems caused by the situation of the Pentagon Bus Station meant that conflicting traffic flows were the result, from 1975 and onward. From April 1986 and onward until October 1987, the town centre remodelling of Chatham began, and Railway Street was realigned into becoming part of an inner ring road, that became a one-way system. This redevelopment included the demolition of the House Of Holland department store in January 1987, and the construction of the ''Sir John Hawkins Flyover'' in Chatham, that was opened in February 1989, so the traffic could be carried from south to north over the High Street.
In September 2006, the one-way system was abandoned and two-way traffic reintroduced on most of the ring-road system. Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and as of early 2010, the demolition of the ''Sir John Hawkins Flyover'' has been completed. It was replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station. The new Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011.
Chatham railway station, opened in 1858, serves both the North Kent and the
Chatham Main Line
The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London VictoriaQuail Map 5 – England South ages 2–13Sept 2002 (Retrieved 14 December 2011) and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is ...
s, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are three trains an hour to
London Victoria
Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
(via
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
Luton Airport Parkway
Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...
) and two services an hour to St Pancras via
High Speed 1
High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...
. The former services run to
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
and
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
; the Charing Cross services terminate at Gillingham and the High Speed services terminate at
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...
.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
Buses are operated by
and Nu-Venture to various destinations. They serve other towns in
Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
including Gillingham, Grain,
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowes ...
and
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
and also to other towns in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
including
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
,
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
,
Blue Bell Hill
Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include the Walderslade suburb of Chatham and the villages of B ...
and
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...
. There is also an express bus via Strood and Rochester and A2 to Bluewater in
Greenhithe
Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend.
Area
In the past, Greenhithe's waterfront on the estuary of the riv ...
.
Religion
In the 19th century the
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...
of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–72)
Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a
Waterloo church
A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...
built in 1821 by Robert Smirke, and restructured in 1869 by Gordon Macdonald Hills; it ceased being an active church in 1964, and is currently used as an art project. St Paul's New Road was built in 1854; declared redundant in 1974, it has been demolished. St Peter's Troy Town was built in 1860. Christchurch Luton was built in 1843, replaced in 1884. The Royal Dockyard church (1806) was declared redundant in 1981.
St Michael's is a Roman Catholic church, that was built in 1863. There is a Unitarian Chapel built in 1861.
Chatham is reputed to be the home of the first
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
chapel in north Kent, the
Zion
Zion ( he, צִיּוֹן ''Ṣīyyōn'', LXX , also variously transliterated ''Sion'', ''Tzion'', ''Tsion'', ''Tsiyyon'') is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole (see Names ...
Baptist Chapel in Clover Street. The first known pastor was Edward Morecock who settled there in the 1660s. During Cromwell's time Morecock had been a sea-captain and had been injured in battle. His knowledge of the
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
is reputed to have preserved him from persecution in the reign of King Charles II.
There was a second Baptist chapel founded about 1700. The Ebenezer Chapel dates back to 1662. Chatham Memorial Synagogue was built by Simon Magnus in 1867 on the Chatham end of Rochester High Street in Rochester.Rochester, ''The past 2000 years'', (City of Rochester Society) 1999.
Education
For a full list of schools serving Chatham visit
List of schools in Medway
This is a list of schools in Medway, in the English county of Kent.
State-funded schools Primary schools
*All Faiths' Children's Academy, Strood
*All Saints CE Primary School, Chatham
*Balfour Infant School, Rochester
*Balfour Junior Scho ...
Sports
The town's Association Football club,
Chatham Town F.C.
Chatham Town Football Club is an English association football club based in Chatham, Kent. It currently plays in the and is nicknamed "The Chats”.
Former Premier League club Portsmouth and current Premier League club West Ham United play ...
, plays in the
Southern Counties East Football League
The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Until 2013, it was known as the Kent League. There was a previous Kent League, that existed from ...
, as do Lordswood F.C. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football in
Southern England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...
.
Football league side
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent, England. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, the "Gills" play their home matches at Priestfield Stadium. The team compe ...
are seen to represent
Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
as a whole.
Holcombe
Hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
Club is one of the largest in the country, and are based in Chatham. The men's 1st XI are part of the England Hockey League.
Kite Flying is possible, especially power kiting on the
Great Lines Heritage Park
The Great Lines Heritage Park is a complex network of open spaces in the Medway Towns, connecting Chatham, Gillingham, Brompton and the Historic Dockyard. The long military history of the towns has dominated the history of the site and the par ...
(between Gillingham and Chatham) and at
Capstone Farm Country Park
Capstone Farm Country Park is in Chatham, Kent, Medway, in Kent, England. A former farm converted into a landscaped park and open-space area.
This park is set on 114 hectares () of converted farm land, on the North Downs, near Walderslade. It i ...
.
Skiing is also possible near Capstone Farm Country Park at Capstone Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre.
Popular culture
On a cultural level, Chatham gave birth to several movements in literature, art and music. In the period from 1977 until 1982 the Medway Delta Sound emerged. The term was coined as a joke by Chatham born writer painter and musician
Billy Childish
Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...
after Russ Wilkins' Medway based record label, Empire Records, used the phrase "From The Medway Delta". Several Medway Delta bands gained international recognition, including
The Milkshakes
Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...
James Taylor Quartet
The James Taylor Quartet (or JTQ) are a British four-piece jazz funk band formed in 1985 by Hammond organ player James Taylor following the break-up of his former band The Prisoners (band), The Prisoners, and in the wake of Stiff Records' ba ...
) and
The Dentists
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
.
Out of the
Kent Institute of Art & Design
The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...
(KIAD), now the
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Inst ...
(UCA) came the band known as Wang Chung. The vocalist and guitarist with Wang Chung, Jeremy Ryder, who is better known as
Jack Hues
Jeremy Allan Ryder, better known as Jack Hues, (born 10 December 1954) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, who is best known for forming and fronting the 1980s English new wave band, Wang Chung. Hues was also a member of the one-o ...
attended KIAD. Alongside such individuals was Alan Denman, who became a well established lecturer at KIAD, and who founded The Flying Circuits in 1984, which became an urban theatre movement in the
Medway Towns
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
. Many students from KIAD played various acting roles within The Flying Circuits, in Chatham, Gillingham and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The scenes that were performed by The Flying Circuits, were entirely based upon excerpts from the screenplay by Alan Denman, called the Electronic Town, that he wrote between January 1984 to October 1984, and which concerned a futuristic
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
. Alan Denman also helped to form
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, Kent, in 1979. They were an England, English Punk ideology, punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckism, Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy C ...
with
Billy Childish
Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...
, Robert Earl,
Bill Lewis
William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist on ...
,
Sexton Ming
Sexton Ming (born 1961) is a British artist, poet and musician who was a founding member of The Medway Poets (1979) and Stuckism art movement (1999).
Life and career
Ming was born in Gravesend, Kent, England. In 1979 he was one of the founder me ...
and
Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...
. The Medway Poets used to meet regularly at the York Tavern & Railway Inn, in Ordnance Street, within Chatham, from 1974 to 1985, near to the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) at Fort Pitt in Rochester, and Chatham railway station. Chatham has always had a strong musical and creative arts heritage that has remained centred on local groups, many of whom were also part of the KIAD. Charles Thomson and Billy Childish went on to create the artistic movement known as
Stuckism
Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.
There was a resurgence in the live music scene in early 2001, with an initial focus on the Tap 'n' Tin venue in Chatham. The essence of the original greatness of the Medway Delta Sound was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by David Wise's Urban Fox Press, which also published several books by Medway poets and artists. In 2008. the independent arts organisation Medway Eyes was founded, specialising in music and photography. It had promoted several arts exhibitions and gigs at The Barge, that was located at 63 Layfield Road, in Gillingham (now closed) and The Nags Head at 292 High Street, in
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, but then in 2013 it disbanded.
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, Kent, in 1979. They were an England, English Punk ideology, punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckism, Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy C ...
were formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at the Kent Literature Festival and many others in
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...
and on TV and Radio. They became a major influence to writers in the
Medway Towns
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movement of
Remodernism Remodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus.
In 2000, Billy Childish and Charle ...
came into being.
Recent Medway artists of note include
Kid Harpoon
Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Career
Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerge ...
, Crybaby Special and The Monsters, Red Light, Underground Heroes, Tyrannosaurus Alan, Pete Molinari,
Lupen Crook
Lupen Crook is an English musician and songwriter.
Style
Initially making his name as an acoustic singer-songwriter, Lupen Crook (real name Matthew Pritchard) has gone on to create an eclectic music style incorporating garage rock, "broken fol ...
Chav
"Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear.
*
*
*
* "Chavette" is a related te ...
', research suggests, does not derive from Chatham's name ("Chatham Average"), but is derived from the Romany word for 'youngster'. Before the
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...
was closed down on the 31st March 1984, the cultural idea of the Chav did not actually exist in the Medway Towns.
Local media
Newspapers
Local newspapers for Chatham include ''
Medway News
The ''Medway News'' was a weekly newspaper covering the Medway Towns in Kent, England. Established in 1855 as the ''Military Chronicle'' and ''Naval Spectator'', it relaunched as the ''Chatham News and Rochester, Strood, Brompton & Gillingham Adv ...
'' and ''Medway Standard'', both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and the ''Medway Messenger'', published by the
KM Group
KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...
. The town also has free newspapers in the ''Medway Extra'' (KM Group) and ''yourmedway'' (
KOS Media
KOS Media was a multimedia company based in the county of Kent in South East England. The company operated local newspapers and internet sites throughout the county.
History
KOS Media's first newspaper, the '' Kent on Sunday'' was launched as a ...
).
Radio
The local commercial radio station for Chatham is
KMFM Medway
KMFM Medway is an Independent Local Radio serving the Medway Towns and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Medway region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements and sponsorshi ...
, owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station
Radio Sunlight
Radio Sunlight was a community radio station serving the Medway towns in Kent, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea l ...
based in Richmond road between the high street and the River Medway. The area can also receive the county wide stations
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Tunbridge Wells.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...
,
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
and
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
, as well as many radio stations in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
and
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
.
Notable people
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
lived in the town as a boy, both in 'The Brook, Chatham' and in Ordnance Terrace before Chatham railway station was built just opposite. He subsequently described it as the happiest period of his childhood, and eventually returned to the area in adulthood when he bought a house in nearby Gad's Hill.
Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
features in his novels. He then moved to Rochester, a nearby town, also part of the Medway Towns.
Others who were born or who lived or live in Chatham:
*Sir
Jacob Ackworth
Sir Jacob Ackworth or Acworth (1668–1748) was an English shipbuilder and ship designer employed by the Royal Navy. As a designer he adopted Newtonian theories to create lighter and faster ships but this approach marginalised him with the ver ...
(1668-1748) shipbuilder
*
Asquith Xavier
Asquith Camile Xavier (18 July 1920 – 18 June 1980) was a West Indian-born Briton who ended a Racial segregation in the United Kingdom, colour bar at British Railways in London by fighting to become the first non-white train guard at Euston rail ...
, ended a
colour bar
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...
at
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
by fighting to become the first non-white
train guard
A conductor (North American English) or guard (Commonwealth English) is a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive. The ''conductor'' title is most common in Nor ...
at
Euston railway station
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
.
*
Percy Whitlock
Percy William Whitlock (1 June 1903 in Chatham, Medway, Chatham, Kent – 1 May 1946 in Bournemouth), was an English organist and Post-romanticism, post-romantic composer.
Percy Whitlock studied at London's Royal College of Music with Charles ...
,
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
and
post-romantic
Post-romanticism or Postromanticism refers to a range of cultural endeavors and attitudes emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after the period of Romanticism.
Post-romanticism in literature
The period of post-romantici ...
composer
*
Kid Harpoon
Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Career
Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerge ...
, singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and lived in Chatham. Working with award-winning artists including
Jessie Ware
Jessica Lois Ware (born 15 October 1984) is an English singer, songwriter and broadcaster. Ware came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album, ''Devotion'' (2012), which peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, produce ...
,
Shawn Mendes
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...
,
Harry Styles
Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...
Haim
The name ''Haim'' can be a first name or surname originating in the Hebrew language, or deriving from the Old German name ''Haimo''.
Hebrew etymology
Chayyim ( he, חַיִּים ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim ...
Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscul ...
,
Victorian-era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...
painter and
patricide
Patricide is (i) the act of killing one's own father, or (ii) a person who kills their own father or stepfather. The word ''patricide'' derives from the Greek word ''pater'' (father) and the Latin suffix ''-cida'' (cutter or killer). Patricide ...
*
William Coles Finch
William Coles Finch (1864–1944) was a British historian and author of a number of books on Kent-related topics. He is best known for writing ''Watermills and Windmills'', published in 1933 and reprinted in 1976, which is considered a standa ...
, author and historian, lived at Luton, Chatham.
*
Elizabeth Benger
Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger (baptised on 15 June 1775 at West Camel, Somerset, died on 9 January 1827 in London) was an English biographer, novelist and poet. Some of her poetry had a strong social message.
Early life and education
Elizabeth was th ...
, biographer, novelist and poet, was brought up here between 1782 and 1797.
*
Billy Childish
Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...
, artist, poet, and musician
*
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...
, artist and member of the
Young British Artists
The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...
*
Zandra Rhodes
Dame Zandra Lindsey Rhodes, (born 19 September 1940), is an English fashion and textile designer. Her early education in fashion set the foundation for a career in the industry creating textile prints. Rhodes has designed garments for Diana, ...
,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
Bill Lewis
William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist on ...
, poet, painter, storyteller and
mythographer
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
*
William Ridsdel
Commissioner William Ridsdel (20 September 1844 – 8 February 1931 in Clapton) was a Commissioner in The Salvation Army, the second highest rank attainable by Officers in the organisation, and the highest 'appointed' rank. An early Salvatio ...
,
Salvation Army
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
Commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
, lived in the town from 1877 to 1878.
*
William Cuffay
William Cuffay (1788 – July 1870) was a Chartist leader in early Victorian London.
Chatham Cuffay
William was mixed-race, the son of an English woman from Gillingham, Kent, Juliana Fox, and a man of African heritage, Chatham Cuffay, who wa ...
, Chartist leader and tailor, born in Chatham in 1788
*
Gemma Lavender
Gemma Lavender (born 13 September 1986) is a British astronomer, author and journalist. She currently serves as the editor of All About Space (magazine), ''All About Space'', a monthly scientific magazine owned by British publisher Future plc. L ...
, astronomer, journalist and author, born in Chatham in 1986
*
Thomas Hodgskin
Thomas Hodgskin (12 December 1787 – 21 August 1869) was an English socialist writer on political economy, critic of capitalism and defender of free trade and early trade unions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the term ''socialist ...
, an early socialist, was born and raised in Chatham. His work would go on to influence
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
.
;Entertainers
*
Tommy Knight
Thomas Lawrence Knight (born 22 January 1993) is an English actor best known for playing Luke Smith in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' and ''Doctor Who'', Kevin Chalk in '' Waterloo Road'', murder victim Caleb "Cal" Bray in ''Glue'' and Brodie i ...
, actor
*
Stel Pavlou
Stelios Grant Pavlou (born 22 November 1970) is a British screenwriter and speculative fiction novelist. He is known for writing the novel ''Decipher'' and the screenplay for the film ''The 51st State''.
Personal life
Pavlou was born in Kent, En ...
, author and screenwriter, attended the
Chatham Grammar School for Boys
Holcombe Grammar School (formerly Chatham Grammar School for Boys) is a grammar school with academy status in Chatham, Kent, England. It is a selective school. From the 2017-18 academic year, the school planned to become co-educational and remai ...
*
Lee Ryan
Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and actor, best known as a member of the boy band Blue.
Ryan took part in the BBC series '' Strictly Come Dancing''. He was partnered with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was ...
, boy-band singer, also attended the Chatham Grammar School for Boys
* Ben Mills, singer and X-Factor contestant
*
Anne Dudley
Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...
, composer, pop musician and member of
The Art of Noise
Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music ...
*
Kevin Eldon
Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', '' Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ...
, stand-up comedian
*
Glenn Shorrock
Glenn Barrie Shorrock (born 30 June 1944) is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of rock bands the Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and post LRB spin-off trio Birtles Shorrock Goble, as well as being a solo ...
, entertainer, birthplace (Little River Band founder, lead singer)
;Sportsmen
*
Dave Whitcombe
David Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954) is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments and reached two World Championship Finals between 1980 and 1992.
Biography
Whitcombe was twice a winner of the Winmau World M ...
, twice
BDO World Darts Championship
The WDF World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the World Darts Federation. It would previously organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), who held it 43 times from 1978 to 2020.
The champio ...
Bohemians
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
, a
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
cricketer
*
Chris Smalling
Christopher Lloyd Smalling (born 22 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Smalling represented the England national team from 2011 to 2017.
During his youth, Smalling played f ...
,
England international
The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...
footballer, attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys.
* Andrew Crofts, professional footballer, currently playing for Newport County.
*
Neil Shipperley
Neil Jason Shipperley (born 30 October 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a forward.
He notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Sheffi ...
, professional footballer, formerly of
Crystal Palace FC
Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in Selhurst in the Borough of Croydon, South London, England, who compete in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Although formally created as a prof ...
and
Wimbledon FC
Wimbledon Football Club was an English association football, football club formed in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane (1912–98), Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centr ...
.
* George Boyd, professional footballer, currently playing for
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
and was born in Chatham
*
Lee Minshull
Lee Benjamin Minshull (born 11 November 1985) is an English former Professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Career
Born in Chatham, Kent, Minshull played for Charlton Athletic School of Excellence as a youngster. He began his senior ...
, professional footballer,
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...
and was born in Chatham.
* Johnny Armour, professional boxer, British Commonwealth, European and World Boxing Union bantamweight champion was born and resides in Chatham.
* George Thorne, professional footballer, was born in Chatham.
*
Ryan Richards
Ryan Earl Richards (born 24 April 1991) is a British-Jamaican basketball player who plays for the Aomori Wat's of the B.League. He began playing in England and has played for short spells for numerous teams in several countries. He was drafted ...
, professional basketball player, drafted by the
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...
in the
2010 NBA draft
The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...
Twin towns
*
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...
Chatham, Massachusetts
Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Mo ...
, a city often twinned with Chatham
References
Bibliography
*Hughes, David (2004), ''Chatham Naval Dockyard and Barracks'', The History Press