The Medway Gap is a
topographic
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...
feature 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 ...
, England.
It was created when the
prehistoric River Medway cut roughly south to north through the line of
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
hills now known as 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 a ...
; other rivers such as the
Darent and the
Stour have similar features.
Its past significance as a means of travel is indicated by the prehistoric
Medway megaliths in the area. Today the
Medway Valley railway line and the
A228 road both run through the valley, connecting Tonbridge, West Malling and the Medway Towns. At the north end of the Medway Gap, the river is crossed by 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 ...
and
High Speed 1 viaducts
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide va ...
.
Environment
The Gap is designated as a Biodiversity Opportunity Area by Kent County Council. It also has the effect of creating local
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmos ...
patterns, thereby frequently exhibiting opposite conditions to the surrounding countryside.
Human settlement
In the borough of
Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Tonbridge is the largest settlement but the authority is based in the modern development of Kings Hill.
Geography
Tonbridge and Malling Borough cover ...
, the "Medway Gap" refers to the group of villages in this area i.e.
Aylesford,
East Malling
East Malling is a village in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent, in the part of the civil parish of East Malling and Larkfield lying south of the A20 road. In 2019 the ward had an estimated population of 5478.
History
The earliest rec ...
,
Larkfield and
Leybourne
Leybourne is a small village and civil parish in Kent, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to New Hythe, Larkfield and West Malling. As of 2020 Leybourne Parish had a population of 4,372.
Historically, the ...
. Much of the residential development in this area took place after World War II.
[Kent County Council https://maidstone.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/88984/Kent-and-Medway-Structure-Plan-2006-SPG4-Vehicle-Parking-Standards.pdf] Most of these settlements are in the
Chatham and Aylesford constituency.
References
{{reflist
Medway
Geography of Kent