Wigmore is a suburb in the southeast of

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is bordered by Hempstead to the west, Parkwood to the east, Bredhurst to the southwest, the M2 junction four to the south, and Rainham to the north east.

History

The placename is attested in 1275 as ''Wydemere'', from an

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''*wīd-mere'' "broad pool". A sparsely-populated hamlet and farming area until the 20th century, Wigmore was briefly the site of a smallpox isolation hospital (Alexandra Hospital) from 1902, and began to be developed as a suburb from 1906 when the 365-acre Wigmore agricultural estate was partitioned and sold as plots, initially as smallholdings (hence the local “Smallholders Club”) and rural shanties for Medway families.

Amenities

St Matthew's Church was founded in 1925 and was replaced in the 1960s by architects Brett, Boyd and Bosanquet. A prefab Evangelical church was opened later. Now fully suburbanised within the East of the

Medway Towns Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

, the area has a community primary school, medical centre. There is also a local football club called Wigmore Youth F.C, which runs teams for both boys and girls which range from under-7s up to under-18s.

Transport

Arriva bus 132 runs between Wigmore, Rainham and Chatham.

References in popular culture

Rock bands associated with the locality-championing Medway scene have referenced Wigmore; The Buff Medways in the song "Medway Wheelers" (2005) and the Len Price 3 with "Wigmore Swingers" (2014).

References

Medway {{Kent-geo-stub