Chatham, Medway
Encyclopedia
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway
unitary authority, in North Kent
, in South East England
.
Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot
, major naval buildings remain as the focus for a flourishing tourist industry. Chatham also has military connections; several Army barracks were located here, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. Brompton Barracks, located in the town, remains the headquarters of the Corps of Royal Engineers.
The town has important road links and the railway
and bus station
s are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre.
records the place as Ceteham.
Chatham stands on the A2 road
along the line of the ancient Celtic route, which was paved by the Romans
, and named Watling Street
by the Anglo-Saxons. Among finds have been the remains of a Roman cemetery. After the Norman invasion
the manor of Chatham, originally Saxon, was given by William the Conqueror to Earl Godwinson.
It long remained a small village on the banks of the river, but by the 16th century was being used to harbour warships, because of its strategic location facing the Continent
. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I
in 1568. 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
which was built there in the 1760s. After World War I
many submarine
s were also built in Chatham Dockyard.
In addition to the dockyard itself, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack. Upnor Castle
had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutch Raid on the Medway
in 1667 showed that more was 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
. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of even 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
ordered, inter alia, a third outer ring of forts: these included Fort Luton
, Fort Bridgewood, and Fort Borstal
. 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. 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
, 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, in 1984, it was closed completely. The dockyard buildings were preserved as the historic site Chatham Historic Dockyard
(operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), now under consideration as a World Heritage Site
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".
Chatham lost its independence as a borough under the Local Government Act 1972
, by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a non-metropolitan district
of the county of Kent
; under subsequent renaming the Borough became the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway
(1979); and, from 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway
. 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, administratively separate from Kent. 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 Lloyds Office Building.
Chatham is currently part of the parliamentary constituency of Chatham and Aylesford. Prior to 1997, Chatham had been included in the constituencies of Mid Kent, Rochester and Chatham
& Chatham
.
Like several other Kent constituencies, Chatham has proven to be a marginal seat, swinging backwards and forwards on the political tide and almost always following the national trend. Since 1945, the Members of Parliament
for Chatham have been as follows:
Chatham is situated where the lower part of the dip slope
of the North Downs
meets the River Medway
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 dockyard 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 Centre is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and Frindsbury
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 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
was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village in Walderslade Bottoms.
in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.
The Chatham Naval Memorial
commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy
who were lost or buried at sea in the two World Wars. It stands on the Great Lines between Chatham and Gillingham. Chatham Town Hall was built in 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With the town being part of Medway conurbation, it took on a new role as an arts centre. In 1996, it became the Brook Theatre. The Pentagon Centre which incorporates Chatham Bus Station, stands in the town centre.
. Stone, timber and iron from the Weald
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
. Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.
Chatham's position on the road network began with the building of the Roman road (Watling Street
, which passed through the town. Turnpike trust
s were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to Canterbury
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, 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 to alleviate the congestion. The High Street itself is traffic-free, so all traffic 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. In the 1980s the Chatham town centre was remodelled and an inner ring road – a one-way system – was constructed. This was completed with the construction of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover opened in 1989 carrying the south to north traffic 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 is to be replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station.
Chatham railway station
, opened in 1858, serves both the North Kent
and the Chatham Main Line
s, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are four trains an hour to London Victoria, and two trains an hour to London Charing Cross. The former services run to Dover
and Ramsgate
; the latter terminate at Gillingham.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a Waterloo church built in 1821 by Robert Smirke
, and restructured in 1869 by GM 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
chapel in north Kent, the Zion
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
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.
Secondary Education, outside the Catholic Sector, is selective. Many pupils attend schools in neighbouring towns.
Universities:
Chatham is also the home of Universities at Medway
, a tri-partite collaboration on a single campus between:
, plays in the Isthmian League Division One South. Lordswood F.C.
play in the Kent League
. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football in Southern England
. Football league side Gillingham F.C.
are seen to represent Medway
as a whole.
Kite Flying, especially power kiting has seen a resurgence in recent months, with the Great Lines becoming a popular area.
Skiing is possible near Capstone Farm Country Park
.
The term 'chav
', research suggests, derives from the romany
word for 'youngster'. However, one of many popularly suggested 'origins' for the word 'Chav
' is an abbreviation of 'Chatham Average', alluding to a public perception of a segment of Chatham residents as tracksuit-wearing, gold hoop-earringed common people with a penchant for hard drinking, recreational drug use, and aggressive and anti-social behaviour.
On a cultural level, Chatham also 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
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, The Prisoners
(see also James Taylor Quartet
), The Daggermen, The Dentists
, Christopher Broderick and The Singing Loins. In the mid to late 1980s a scene of more contemporary indie bands emerged, centred around Churchill's pub, and organising themselves within the Medway Bands Co-operative.
There was a resurgence in the live music scene in the early 2000s, with an initial focus on the Tap 'n' Tin venue in Chatham. The spirit of the original Medway Delta was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by Dave Wise's Urban Fox organisation, 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. Medway Eyes has promoted several arts exhibitions and gigs at The Barge in Gillingham
and The Nags Head in Rochester.
The Medway Poets
were formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at major literary festivals and on TV and Radio. They became a major influence to writers in the Medway Towns. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movements of Stuckism
and Remodernism
came into being.
Recent Medway artists of note include Kid Harpoon
, Red Light, Underground Heroes.Pete Molinari, Lupen Crook
, Stuart Turner
and Theatre Royal.
and Medway Standard, both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group
. The town also has free newspapers in the Medway Extra (KM Group) and yourmedway (KOS Media
).
, owned by the KM Group. The area can also receive the county wide stations BBC Radio Kent
, Heart and Gold, as well as many radio stations in Essex
and Greater London
.
Charles Dickens
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
features in his novels.
Others who were born or who lived or live in Chatham:
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
unitary authority, in North Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
.
Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot
HMS Ocelot (S17)
HMS Ocelot was an Oberon-class diesel-electric submarine laid down by HM Dockyard at Chatham in Kent on 17 November 1960, launched on 5 May 1962 and commissioned on 31 January 1964. She joined the 3rd Flotilla based at HMNB Clyde, in Faslane...
, major naval buildings remain as the focus for a flourishing tourist industry. Chatham also has military connections; several Army barracks were located here, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. Brompton Barracks, located in the town, remains the headquarters of the Corps of Royal Engineers.
The town has important road links and the railway
Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station is situated in Chatham, one of the Medway Towns in Kent, England. It is on the Chatham Main Line between Rochester and Gillingham, and is 34.3 miles from London Victoria...
and bus station
Bus station
A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...
s 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, its name coming from the British root ceto and the Old English ham thus meaning a forest settlement. The Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
records the place as Ceteham.
Chatham stands on the A2 road
A2 road (Great Britain)
The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
along the line of the ancient Celtic route, which was paved by the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, and named Watling Street
Watling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
by the Anglo-Saxons. Among finds have been the remains of a Roman cemetery. After the Norman invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
the manor of Chatham, originally Saxon, was given by William the Conqueror to Earl Godwinson.
It long remained a small village on the banks of the river, but by the 16th century was being used to harbour warships, because of its strategic location facing the Continent
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1568. 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
HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is most famous as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....
which was built there in the 1760s. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
many submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s were also built in Chatham Dockyard.
Upnor Castle
Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located in the village of Upnor, Kent, England. Its purpose was to defend ships moored "in ordinary" on the River Medway outside Chatham dockyards....
had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutch Raid on the Medway
Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
in 1667 showed that more was 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
Fort Amherst, in Kent, England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Part of it is now open to the public....
. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of even more forts.
The second phase of fort-building (1806–1819) included Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt, Kent
Fort Pitt was a fort built between 1805 and 1819 on the high ground of the boundary between Chatham and Rochester, Kent. It did not last long, becoming a hospital for invalid soldiers in 1828, with an asylum added in 1849...
(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
Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom
In 1859 Lord Palmerston instigated the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom because of serious concerns that France might attempt to invade the UK...
ordered, inter alia, a third outer ring of forts: these included Fort Luton
Fort Luton
Fort Luton was built between 1876 and 1892 south of Chatham, Kent, England. It has a polygonal trace. It was never armed, but took part in the war games held by the Army in the 1900s, including a trial siege in 1907...
, Fort Bridgewood, and Fort Borstal
Fort Borstal
Fort Borstal was built as an afterthought from the 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, by convict labour between 1875 and 1885, to hold the high ground southwest of Rochester, Kent. It is of polygonal design and was never originally armed...
. 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. 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
Chatham and District Light Railways Company
The Chatham and District Light Railways Company was the originator and first operator of the electric tramway system that served Chatham and Gillingham, and was later extended into Rochester, Strood and Rainham...
, 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, in 1984, it was closed completely. The dockyard buildings were preserved as the historic site Chatham Historic Dockyard
Chatham Historic Dockyard
Chatham Historic Dockyard is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, England.Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was...
(operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), now under consideration as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
the site is being used for other purposes. Part of the St Mary's Island
St Mary's Island, Kent
St Mary's Island, is part of the Chatham Maritime development area in Medway, South East England. It is located at the northern end of Chatham, adjacent to Brompton and Gillingham...
section is now used as a marina, and the remainder is being developed for housing, commercial and other uses, branded as "Chatham Maritime".
Governance
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a non-metropolitan district
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 in a so-called "two-tier" arrangement...
of the county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
; under subsequent renaming the Borough became the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway
City of Rochester-upon-Medway
Rochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998.The district was formed as the District of Medway under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the municipal borough and city of Rochester, the borough of Chatham and most of Strood...
(1979); and, from 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway
City of Rochester-upon-Medway
Rochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998.The district was formed as the District of Medway under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the municipal borough and city of Rochester, the borough of Chatham and most of Strood...
. Under the most recent change, in 1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham
Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
, the Borough of Medway became a unitary authority area, administratively separate from Kent. It remains part of the county of Kent for ceremonial purposes
Ceremonial counties of England
The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
.
Medway Council has recently relocated its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the Dockyard. A former Lloyds Office Building.
Chatham is currently part of the parliamentary constituency of Chatham and Aylesford. Prior to 1997, Chatham had been included in the constituencies of Mid Kent, Rochester and Chatham
Rochester and Chatham (UK Parliament constituency)
Rochester and Chatham was a parliamentary constituency in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election....
& Chatham
Chatham (UK Parliament constituency)
Chatham was a parliamentary constituency in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
.
Like several other Kent constituencies, Chatham has proven to be a marginal seat, swinging backwards and forwards on the political tide and almost always following the national trend. Since 1945, the Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Chatham have been as follows:
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to... |
Arthur Bottomley Arthur Bottomley Arthur George Bottomley, Baron Bottomley, OBE, PC was a British Labour politician, Member of Parliament and minister.... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959 This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan... |
Julian Critchley Julian Critchley Sir Julian Michael Gordon Critchley was a British Conservative Party politician.Born in Islington, the son of a distinguished neurosurgeon, as a boy Critchley was brought up in Swiss Cottage, north London, and Shropshire, where he attended preparatory school, and later Shrewsbury School... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1964 United Kingdom general election, 1964 The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power... |
Anne Kerr | Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1970 United Kingdom general election, 1970 The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their... |
Peggy Fenner Peggy Fenner Dame Peggy Edith Fenner, DBE is a British Conservative Party politician.Fenner was elected MP for Rochester and Chatham at the 1970 general election... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| Oct 1974 United Kingdom general election, October 1974 The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, winning by a tiny majority of 3 seats.The election of... |
Robert Bean | Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
|
| 1979 United Kingdom general election, 1979 The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats... |
Peggy Fenner Peggy Fenner Dame Peggy Edith Fenner, DBE is a British Conservative Party politician.Fenner was elected MP for Rochester and Chatham at the 1970 general election... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945... |
Andrew Rowe Andrew Rowe Andrew John Bernard Rowe was a politician in the United Kingdom. He was born in London. He served as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Mid Kent from 1983 to 1997 and its successor constituency Faversham and Mid Kent from 1997 until he stepped down in 2001 - being replaced by Hugh... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
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| 1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general... |
Jonathan Shaw Jonathan Shaw Jonathan Rowland Shaw is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford from 1997 to 2010... |
Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
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| 2010 | Tracey Crouch Tracey Crouch Tracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch is a British Conservative Party politician. She is Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford, having won the seat at the 2010 election.-Education:... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
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Geography
Dip slope
A dip slope is a geological formation often created by erosion of tilted strata. Dip slopes are found on homoclinal ridges with one side that is steep and irregular and another side, the dip slope, that is generally planar with a dip parallel to the bedding...
of the North Downs
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. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
meets the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
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 dockyard 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 Centre is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and Frindsbury
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, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor....
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 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
Walderslade is a large suburb to the south of Chatham, Kent, England, encompassing almost all the ME5 postcode district ....
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 boroughMunicipal 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...
in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.
Economy
The closure of the Dockyard has had the effect of changing the employment statistics of the town .Landmarks
Chatham Naval Memorial
Chatham Naval Memorial is a large obelisk situated in the town of Chatham, Kent, which is in the Medway Towns.Chatham was a principal manning port of the Royal Navy during the First World War and thus was dedicated as the site of one of three memorials to sailors of the Royal Navy killed during the...
commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
who were lost or buried at sea in the two World Wars. It stands on the Great Lines between Chatham and Gillingham. Chatham Town Hall was built in 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With the town being part of Medway conurbation, it took on a new role as an arts centre. In 1996, it became the Brook Theatre. The Pentagon Centre which incorporates Chatham Bus Station, stands in the town centre.
Transport
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 KentKent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Stone, timber and iron from the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
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
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
. Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.
Watling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
, which passed through the town. Turnpike trust
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
s were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
was turnpiked
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the A230
A230 road
The A230 is a short road running north-south in the Medway town of Chatham in Kent. The whole length of the road is within Medway Unitary Authority and is a non-primary route.- Present route :...
) 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, was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns.
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 is to be replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station.
Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station is situated in Chatham, one of the Medway Towns in Kent, England. It is on the Chatham Main Line between Rochester and Gillingham, and is 34.3 miles from London Victoria...
, opened in 1858, serves both the North Kent
North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which connects central and south east London with Dartford and Medway.-Construction:The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway were able to connect its system to London at London Bridge...
and the Chatham Main Line
Chatham Main Line
The Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...
s, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are four trains an hour to London Victoria, and two trains an hour to London Charing Cross. The former services run to Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
and Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
; the latter terminate at Gillingham.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
Religion
In the 19th century the ecclesiastical parish of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a Waterloo church built in 1821 by Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (architect)
Sir Robert Smirke was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture his best known building in that style is the British Museum, though he also designed using other architectural styles...
, and restructured in 1869 by GM 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
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
Chapel built in 1861.
Chatham is reputed to be the home of the first Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
chapel in north Kent, the Zion
Zion
Zion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE...
Baptist Chapel in Clover Street. The first known pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
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
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
is reputed to have preserved him from persecution in the reign of King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
.
There was a second Baptist chapel founded about 1700. The Ebenezer
Ebenezer
Ebenezer may refer to:* Ebenezer , a male given name ** Ebenezer Scrooge, a character in Charles Dickens' A Christmas CarolIn geography:...
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.
Education
Chatham is served by the following Primary Schools:- All Saints CE Primary
- Balfour Junior
- Delce Infant
- Delce Junior
- Glencoe Junior
- Greenvale Infant
- Horsted Infant
- Horsted Junior
- Kingfisher Primary
- Lordswood Infant
- Lordswood Junior
- Luton Infant
- Luton Junior
- Maundene
- New Road Primary School & Nursery Unit
- Oaklands Infant
- Oaklands Junior
- Ridge Meadow Primary
- Silverbank Park
- Spinnens Acre Junior
- St Benedict's Catholic Primary
- St John's CE (VC) Infant
- St Mary's Island C of E (Aided) Primary
- St Michael's Catholic Primary
- St Thomas More Catholic Primary
- Swingate Infant
- Walderslade Primary
- Wayfield Community Primary & Nursery Unit
Secondary Education, outside the Catholic Sector, is selective. Many pupils attend schools in neighbouring towns.
- Bishop of Rochester Academy (formed by a merger between Chatham South School and Medway Community College )
- Bradfields School
- Chatham Grammar School for BoysChatham Grammar School for BoysChatham Grammar School for Boys is a grammar school in Chatham, Kent, England. As with most schools in the town, it is a selective school; however, the sixth form is comprehensive.- History :...
- Chatham Grammar School for GirlsChatham Grammar School for GirlsChatham Grammar School for Girls is an all-girls grammar school in Medway in southeast England.-Admissions:There are currently around 1000 pupils on roll, including 240 in the mixed sixth form, and 64 teaching staff, however, the number of pupils has dropped over the last three years so the school...
- Fort Pitt Grammar SchoolFort Pitt Grammar SchoolFort Pitt Grammar School is a selective girls' grammar school in Chatham, Kent, England, built on the site of Fort Pitt, a Palmerston Fort. The school holds specialist Science College status...
(girls) - Greenacre School
- St John Fisher RC Comprehensive SchoolSt John Fisher RC Comprehensive SchoolSt John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive is a Roman Catholic school of the Diocese of Southwark in Chatham. St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive is one of two genuine comprehensive schools in Medway, an authority that retains selections...
- Walderslade Girls' School
Universities:
Chatham is also the home of Universities at Medway
Universities at Medway
The Universities at Medway is a tri-partite collaboration of the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University on a single campus in Chatham, Medway, Kent, England.-Site:...
, a tri-partite collaboration on a single campus between:
- University of GreenwichUniversity of GreenwichThe University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...
- University of KentUniversity of KentThe University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
- Canterbury Christchurch University
Sports
The town's Association Football club, Chatham Town F.C.Chatham Town F.C.
Chatham Town are an English Association Football club based in Chatham, Kent. They currently play in Division One North of the Isthmian League and are nicknamed "The Chats"....
, plays in the Isthmian League Division One South. Lordswood F.C.
Lordswood F.C.
Lordswood F.C. is a football club based in Lordswood, which is a suburb of Chatham, England. They joined the Kent League in 1996 and are members of the Kent League Premier Division for the 2011-12 season.-History:...
play in the Kent League
Kent League
The Kent League is an English football league for teams based in Kent and south east London, which was established in 1966. It was also the name of a similar league which existed from 1894 until 1959.-History:...
. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football in Southern England
Southern England
Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
. Football league side Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...
are seen to represent Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
as a whole.
Kite Flying, especially power kiting has seen a resurgence in recent months, with the Great Lines becoming a popular area.
Skiing is possible near Capstone Farm Country Park
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...
.
Popular culture
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
', research suggests, derives from the romany
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
word for 'youngster'. However, one of many popularly suggested 'origins' for the word 'Chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
' is an abbreviation of 'Chatham Average', alluding to a public perception of a segment of Chatham residents as tracksuit-wearing, gold hoop-earringed common people with a penchant for hard drinking, recreational drug use, and aggressive and anti-social behaviour.
On a cultural level, Chatham also 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
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
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, The Prisoners
The Prisoners
The Prisoners were a band who formed in 1980 in Rochester, Kent, England. Their 1960s garage sound made them a regular live fixture in London's underground "psychedelic revival" and "mod revival" scene of the early 1980s. They often toured with The Milkshakes, who included Billy Childish on guitar...
(see also James Taylor Quartet
James Taylor Quartet
The James Taylor Quartet are a British four-piece jazz funk band who have become renowned for their live performances. They were formed by Hammond organ player James Taylor following the break-up of his former band The Prisoners in the wake of Stiff Records' bankruptcy...
), The Daggermen, The Dentists
The Dentists
The Dentists were an indie/pop band from the Medway towns in England who were active from 1984 to 1995. The band's permanent members were Mick Murphy , Bob Collins and Mark Matthews . The band also had three different drummers: Ian Smith , Alun Jones and Rob Grigg...
, Christopher Broderick and The Singing Loins. In the mid to late 1980s a scene of more contemporary indie bands emerged, centred around Churchill's pub, and organising themselves within the Medway Bands Co-operative.
There was a resurgence in the live music scene in the early 2000s, with an initial focus on the Tap 'n' Tin venue in Chatham. The spirit of the original Medway Delta was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by Dave Wise's Urban Fox organisation, 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. Medway Eyes has promoted several arts exhibitions and gigs at The Barge in Gillingham
Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
and The Nags Head in Rochester.
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, North Kent in 1979. They were an English punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy Childish, Rob Earl, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson...
were formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at major literary festivals and on TV and Radio. They became a major influence to writers in the Medway Towns. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movements of Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
and Remodernism
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....
came into being.
Recent Medway artists of note include Kid Harpoon
Kid Harpoon
Kid Harpoon is an English singer-songwriter and musician.- Career :Originally hailing from Chatham, Kid Harpoon began to play live locally at venues such as The Tap & Tin and Command House...
, Red Light, Underground Heroes.Pete Molinari, Lupen Crook
Lupen Crook
Lupen Crook is an English musician and songwriter who records either solo or with his backing band The Murderbirds.-Style:...
, Stuart Turner
Stuart Turner (musician)
Stuart Turner is an English alternative blues singer. He now lives in Medway, Kent. Having formed a band and signed with the independent record label, Brigadier Records, Stuart Turner & The Flat Earth Society released the album Gin & Bitters in July 2010.-Sun Pier and early performances:Though...
and Theatre Royal.
Newspapers
Local newspapers for Chatham include Medway NewsMedway News
The Medway News is 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 Advertiser on Saturday 9 July, 1859...
and Medway Standard, both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group
KM Group
The KM Group, formerly known as the Kent Messenger Group until 2008, is a multimedia company based in the county of Kent in South East England...
. The town also has free newspapers in the Medway Extra (KM Group) and yourmedway (KOS Media
KOS Media
KOS Media is a multimedia company based in the county of Kent in South East England. The company operates local newspapers and internet sites throughout the county.-History:...
).
Radio
The local radio station for Chatham is KMFM MedwayKMFM Medway
KMFM Medway is an Independent Local Radio serving the Medway Towns and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is part of the KMFM group of radio stations in the county, which are part of the KM Group.-History:...
, owned by the KM Group. The area can also receive the county wide stations BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Kent.It broadcasts on FM on 96.7 , 97.6 and 104.2 also 774 and 1602 MW and DAB.- History :The radio station was launched in 1970 under the name of BBC Radio Medway, originally only serving the...
, Heart and Gold, as well as many radio stations in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
and Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
.
Notable people
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
lived in the town as a boy, both in 'The Brook, Chatham' and in Ordnance Terrace before Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station is situated in Chatham, one of the Medway Towns in Kent, England. It is on the Chatham Main Line between Rochester and Gillingham, and is 34.3 miles from London Victoria...
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
Higham, Kent
Higham is a small village bordering the Hoo Peninsula, in Kent, between Gravesend and Rochester. The civil parish of Higham is in Gravesham district and as at the 2001 UK Census, had a population of 3,938.-History:...
. Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
features in his novels.
Others who were born or who lived or live in Chatham:
- OrganistOrganistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and post-romanticPost-romanticismPost-romanticism or Postromanticism refers to a range of cultural products and attitudes emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after the period of Romanticism....
composer Percy WhitlockPercy WhitlockPercy William Whitlock was an English organist and post-romantic composer.A student of Vaughan Williams at London's Royal College of Music, Whitlock quickly arrived at a musical idiom that combined elements of his teacher's output and that of Elgar... - Victorian eraVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
painter and patricidePatricidePatricide is the act of killing one's father, or a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater and the Latin suffix -cida...
Richard DaddRichard DaddRichard Dadd 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 minuscule detail... - Artist, poet, and musician Billy ChildishBilly ChildishBilly Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
- Poet, painter, storyteller and mythographer Bill LewisBill LewisWilliam "Bill" Lewis is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer. He was a founder-member of The Medway Poets and of the Stuckists art group.-Early life:...
- Poet, screenwriter, film maker and writer Alan Denman , was a lecturer at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD)Kent Institute of Art & DesignThe Kent Institute of Art & Design 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 College of Art and Rochester College of Art...
at Fort PittFort Pitt, KentFort Pitt was a fort built between 1805 and 1819 on the high ground of the boundary between Chatham and Rochester, Kent. It did not last long, becoming a hospital for invalid soldiers in 1828, with an asylum added in 1849...
in Rochester. - Artist Tracey EminTracey EminTracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
(one time girl friend of Billy Childish in 1980's) Young British ArtistsYoung British ArtistsYoung British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988... - Designer Zandra RhodesZandra RhodesZandra Rhodes, CBE, RDI, is an English fashion designer.Zandra Rhodes was introduced to the world of fashion by her mother, who was a fitter in a Paris fashion house and a teacher at Medway College of Art, now the University for the Creative Arts. Rhodes studied first at Medway and then at the...
, CBECBECBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, RDIRoyal Designers for IndustryRoyal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for... - Author and screenwriter Stel PavlouStel PavlouStelios Grant Pavlou is a British author and screenwriter.-Biography:Stel Pavlou was born in Gillingham, Kent in England, of Greek Cypriot descent. He grew up in Rochester and Chatham, Medway and attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys. The middle child of three, his younger brother is the...
attended the Chatham Grammar School for BoysChatham Grammar School for BoysChatham Grammar School for Boys is a grammar school in Chatham, Kent, England. As with most schools in the town, it is a selective school; however, the sixth form is comprehensive.- History :... - Boyband-singer Lee RyanLee RyanLee Ryan is an English singer-songwriter, actor and member of the British boy band Blue.-Early life:...
also attended the Chatham Grammar School for Boys - Ben MillsBen MillsBenjamin Collett Mills is a British singer who finished in third place in the third UK series of TV talent show The X Factor in 2006. He signed a five-album record deal with Sony BMG. His album, Picture of You, was released on 12 March 2007, the same date as the debut album from The X Factor...
, singer and X Factor contestant - Actor Tommy KnightTommy KnightThomas 'Tommy' Lawrence Knight is an English actor best known for playing Luke Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Personal life:...
- Twice BDO World Darts ChampionshipBDO World Darts ChampionshipThe BDO World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the British Darts Organisation . It began in 1978, and was the only world championship tournament until 1994...
Finalist Dave WhitcombeDave WhitcombeDave Whitcombe is an English professional darts player who won several major tournaments and reached two World Championship Finals. He had a long professional career between 1980 and 1992.-Biography:... - Former captain of League of IrelandLeague of IrelandThe League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
club, BohemiansBohemian F.C.Bohemian F.C. , more commonly referred to as Bohemians, is a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. Bohemians compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are the third most successful club in League of Ireland football history, having won the League of Ireland title 11...
, Kevin Hunt - England international hockey player, Ashley JacksonAshley Jackson (field hockey)Ashley Jackson when he was in year 7 he joined rose hill school in Tunbridge Wells. He is an English field hockey player...
- Composer, pop musician and member of The Art of NoiseThe Art of NoiseArt of Noise was an avant-garde synthpop group formed in 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan, programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn and music journalist Paul Morley. The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collages based on...
, Anne DudleyAnne DudleyAnne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film... - The actor Kevin Eldon, stand up comedian and comedy actor, who starred in Big TrainBig TrainBig Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
, I'm Alan PartridgeI'm Alan PartridgeI'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
and with Stewart LeeStewart LeeStewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
and Richard HerringRichard HerringRichard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
in Fist of FunFist of FunFist of Fun was a popular British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring . A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World.Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches...
and This Morning with Richard Not JudyThis Morning With Richard Not JudyThis Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2... - Professional footballer Chris Smalling, who attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys and is currently playing for Manchester UnitedManchester United F.C.Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
- Professional footballer Andrew CroftsAndrew Crofts (footballer)Andrew Lawrence Crofts is a Wales international footballer who plays for Norwich City as a midfielder.He started his career with Gillingham, for whom he made his Football League debut at the age of 16, and made over 190 appearances for the Kent-based club...
currently playing for Norwich City FC - Professional footballer Neil ShipperleyNeil ShipperleyNeil Jason Shipperley is a retired English professional footballer, who played as a centre-forward. He is the former manager of Walton Casuals of the Isthmian League Division One South....
, formerly of Crystal Palace FC and Wimbledon FC - now manager of non-league Walton Casuals FC - Author and historian William Coles FinchWilliam Coles FinchWilliam Coles Finch M. Inst. C. E. 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 standard work on the topic of Kent windmills.-Personal:William...
lived at Luton, Chatham. - Keith DonohueKeith Donohue (cricketer)Keith Donohue is an English cricketer. Donohue is a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium-fast. He was born in Chatham, Kent....
, DevonDevon County Cricket ClubDevon County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
cricketer - The biographer, novelist and poet Elizabeth BengerElizabeth BengerElizabeth Ogilvy Benger was an English biographer, novelist and poet.-Background:...
was brought up here between 1782 and 1797. - Professional footballer George BoydGeorge Boyd (footballer)George Ian Boyd is a footballer who plays for Peterborough United as a winger.Boyd started his career in the Charlton Athletic youth system, joining Stevenage Borough of the Conference National in 2001 and making his first-team debut in 2002. Boyd spent five seasons at Stevenage, scoring over...
of Peterborough United was born in Chatham and played briefly for Chatham Town FC - Professional footballer Lee MinshullLee MinshullLee Benjamin Minshull is an English footballer, currently playing for League Two side AFC Wimbledon.-Career:Born in Chatham, he played for Charlton Athletic School of Excellence as a youngster. He began his senior career with Ramsgate before moving to Tonbridge Angels in 2009...
of AFC WimbledonAFC WimbledonAFC Wimbledon is a professional English football club that traces its origins to Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. Based at Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, the club are members of Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football....
was born in Chatham. - Businessman Sir John Cohen founder of Supermarket chain Tesco was born in Chatham