| Chatham | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Chatham High Street .jpg) Dockside Outlet Centre  St. John's Church  Chatham railway station  Capstone Farm Country Park | |
 Coat of arms of Chatham | |
  Chatham Location withinKent | |
| Population | 80,596 (2020 ONS)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ765659 |
| • London | 33 mi (53 km)WNW |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHATHAM |
| Postcode district | ME4, ME5 |
| Dialling code | 01634 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°22′N0°31′E / 51.37°N 0.52°E /51.37; 0.52 | |
Chatham (/ˈtʃætəm/CHAT-əm) is a town within theMedway unitary authority in the ceremonial county ofKent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring townsGillingham,Rochester,Strood andRainham. In2020 it had a population of 80,596.
The town developed aroundChatham Dockyard and severalbarracks for theBritish Army and theRoyal Navy, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for Chatham Dockyard. TheCorps of Royal Engineers is still based in Chatham atBrompton Barracks.
Chatham Dockyard closed on 31 March1984, but the remaining 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 theChatham Historic Dockyard museum. Its attractions include the submarineHMS Ocelot.
The town benefits from key transport connections, withChatham Waterfront bus station andChatham railway station serving as the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters ofMedway Council. which is a Unitary Authority, as well as its principal retail and shopping location.
The nameChatham is first attested in acharter of 880 (surviving in a twelfth-century manuscript); it appears again in acharter of 975 asCætham, and in theDomesday Book of 1086 asCeteham. The first element of the name comes from theCommon Brittonic word that survives in modern Welsh ascoed ("woodland"). The second element is theOld English wordhām ("settlement"). At the point when the current name was coined, then, it meant "settlement at Chat". The Old English term for the settlement's inhabitants is also reconstructable from a twelfth-century copy of a charter of 995, as *Cēthǣmas.[2][3][4][5]: 316
TheA2 road passes by Chatham along the line of the ancientCeltic route which theDruids used for ceremonial purposes. It was paved by theRomans, and namedWatling Street by theAnglo-Saxons. Among certainarchaeological finds here have been the remains of aRoman-era cemetery.
Chatham was a long,[citation needed] small village on the banks of theRiver Medway. By the 16th century, warships were being moored at Jillingham Water (Gillingham), because of its strategic sheltered location betweenLondon and theEuropean continent. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by QueenElizabeth I in1568, and most of Chatham 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 personnel in theRoyal Navy were employed at Chatham Dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, includingHMS Victory, which was constructed from 23 July 1759 to 30 April 1762. AfterWorld War I ended on 11 November 1918 numeroussubmarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard.
In addition to Chatham Dockyard, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack.Upnor Castle had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutchraid on the Medway from 19 June 1667 to 24 June 1667, during theSecond Anglo-Dutch War, showed that more defences were required along the banks of the River Medway. The fortifications, which became more elaborate as the threat of invasion grew, were begun during 18 October 1756 as a complex across the neck of the Medway Peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway, and includedFort Amherst. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of more Napoleonic Forts.
The second phase of fortress-building happened from September 1806 to February 1819, and includedFort Pitt (later used as a hospital and the site of the initial Army Medical School). The 1859Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom ordered, "Inter Alia" ("Among Other Things"), a third outer ring of Napoleonic Forts: these includedFort Luton,[6]Fort Bridgewoods, andFort Borstal.[7]
These fortifications required military personnel to man them and Army Barracks to house those men. These included Kitchener Barracks (c 1750-80), theRoyal Marine Barracks (c 1780),Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806)[8] and Melville Barracks (opened 1820 as a Naval Hospital, RM Barracks from 1905).[9] HMS Collingwood and HMS 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.[10] 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 the resources of theRoyal Navy in theUnited Kingdom were reduced or moved to other locations, and eventually, on 31 March 1984, it shut. The buildings of Chatham Dockyard were preserved as the historic siteChatham Historic Dockyard (operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust[11]), which was under consideration as aWorld Heritage Site[12][13] the site is being used for other purposes. Part of theSt 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".[14]
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Chatham lost its independence as a borough under theLocal Government Act 1972, by which, on 1 April1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, anon-metropolitan district of the county ofKent; under subsequent renaming the borough became theBorough of Rochester-upon-Medway (1979); and, from1982, theCity of Rochester-upon-Medway. Under the most recent change, in1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham, the Borough of Medway became aunitary authority area, administratively separate from Kent.[15] It remains part of the county of Kent forceremonial purposes.
Medway Council has recently moved its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the dockyard,[16] a formerLloyd's office building.[17] It was built between 1976 and 1978 and isGrade II listed.[18]
Chatham is part ofthe parliamentary constituency of Chatham and Aylesford. Before 1997, Chatham had been included in the constituencies ofMid Kent,Rochester and Chatham andChatham.
Chatham has proven to be a marginal parliamentary seat. Since 1945, the members of parliament for Chatham have been as follows:
Chatham is situated where the lower part of thedip slope of theNorth Downs meets theRiver 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 the opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep. 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 theChatham Dockyard was marshy land, now calledSt Mary's Island, and has several new developments of housing estates. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration.
The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. TheDarland Banks, the northern slopes of the Luton Valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. 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 nowWalderslade was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village inWalderslade Bottoms.[20]
Chatham became a market town in its own right in the 19th century, and amunicipal borough in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.[21]
The closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard on 31 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%.[22] From early April 1984 to December 1985, and onwards, the Medway Towns began to have an increase in alcohol and drug-related, antisocial behaviour, which many residents then realized had largely been caused by the closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard on 31 March 1984, and the resulting mass redundancies. There has been a concerted effort to revitalise theThames Gateway area and one of the largest employers in Chatham is nowVanquis Bank Ltd, a subsidiary ofVanquis Banking Group.[23]
TheChatham Naval Memorial commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of theRoyal Navy who were lost or buried at sea inWorld War I andWorld War II. The Chatham Naval Memorial was constructed from March 1924 to October 1924. The addition of theobelisk andPortland stone plaque walls and surroundings were constructed between June 1952 to October 1952. It stands on the Great Lines, the escarpment ridge between Chatham andGillingham.
TheGrade IIlisted buildingChatham Town Hall was built in January1900;[24] it stands inThe Brook opposite a formerpublic house calledChurchills, 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 on 20 April 1987, with the promotional motto "Putting The Arts Back into The Medway". There were many events held within the Medway Arts Centre, includingstage plays,craft fairs,snooker tournaments and party nights. Likewise during 12 May 1990, the Medway Arts Centre organised a large parade, composed ofdancers,musicians,artists andsculptors, who stood upon theatrical lorry floats. The vehicles were initially parked up next to the entrance into the Theatre Royal Cafe, a popular restaurant in the Chatham Town Hall, on Whiffens Avenue, and then started to travel along Military Road in Chatham, and onward toRochester,Strood andFrindsbury, where sweets, chocolate, posters, badges, plastic hats, leaflets, stickers and T-shirts were handed out to the crowds, to promote the Medway Arts Centre. On 28 April 1997, the Medway Arts Centre becameThe Brook Theatre.[25]
ThePentagon Shopping Centre stands in Chatham Town Centre and serviced thePentagon Bus Station that was closed on 30 September 2011.[26]Chatham Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011. It replaced the previous Pentagon Bus Station in Chatham, which was opened during 16 October 1970, before the Pentagon Shopping Centre was opened on 30 June 1975, which by that time was considered an unwelcoming environment forpassengers.
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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 ofKent. Stone, timber and iron from theWeald 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 asTonbridge.[21] 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, which passed through the town.Turnpike trusts were established locally, so that the length from Chatham toCanterbury wasturnpiked in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone Road (now theA230) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by theNew 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 theMedway Towns Bypass, theM2 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 roadway 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 theSir 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.[27] Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and as of early 2010, the demolition of theSir 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.[28]
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Chatham railway station, opened in 1858, serves both theNorth Kent and theChatham Main Lines, 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 toLondon Victoria, two trains an hour toLondon Charing Cross, two trains an hour toLuton (viaLondon Bridge,St Pancras andLuton Airport Parkway) and two services an hour to St Pancras viaHigh Speed 1. The former services run toDover andRamsgate; the Charing Cross services terminate atGillingham and the High Speed services terminate atFaversham.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society for the Dockyard Trustees.[29]
Buses are operated byArriva Southern Counties and Nu-Venture to various destinations. They serve other towns inMedway including Gillingham, Grain,Strood andRochester and also to other towns inKent includingMaidstone,Gravesend,Blue Bell Hill andSittingbourne. There is also an express bus via Strood and Rochester andA2 toBluewater inGreenhithe.
In the 19th century theecclesiastical parish of Chatham included Luton andBrompton and alsoChatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).[30] Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was aWaterloo church built in 1821 byRobert Smirke, and restructured in 1869 by Gordon Macdonald Hills;[31] it ceased being an active church in 1964, and is currently used as an art project.[32] 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 aUnitarian Chapel built in 1861.
Chatham is reputed to be the home of the firstBaptist Chapel in North Kent, theZion Baptist Chapel in Clover Street. The first known pastor was Edward Morecock who settled there in 1663. During the time ofOliver Cromwell Edward Morecock had been a sea-captain and had been injured in battle. His knowledge of theRiver Medway is reputed to have preserved him from persecution in the reign ofKing Charles II. A second Baptist chapel was founded about 1702. The Ebenezer Chapel dates from 1662.
Chatham Memorial Synagogue was built bySimon Magnus in 1867 on the Chatham end of Rochester High Street in Rochester.[33]
For a full list of schools serving Chatham visitList of schools in Medway.
The town's Association Football club,Chatham Town F.C., plays in the Premier Division of theIsthmian League having gained two successive promotions in the 21/22[34] and 22/23[35] seasons.Lordswood F.C. plays in theSouthern Counties East Football League. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football inSouthern England.[36]Football league sideGillingham F.C. are seen to representMedway as a whole.[citation needed]HolcombeHockey Club is one of the largest in the country, and are based in Chatham. The men's 1st XI are part of theEngland Hockey League.[37]
Kite Flying is possible, especially power kiting on theGreat Lines Heritage Park (between Gillingham and Chatham) and atCapstone Farm Country Park.[38]
Skiing is also possible near Capstone Farm Country Park at Capstone Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre.[39]
On a cultural level, Chatham gave birth to several creative movements in literature, art and music. In the period from October 1977 until March 1982 the Medway Delta Sound emerged. The term was coined as a joke by the Chatham-born writer, painter and musician Billy Childish after the Medway Towns-based record label of Russell Wilkins, Empire Records, used the phrase "From The Medway Delta". Several bands of the Medway Delta Sound gained international recognition, includingThe Milkshakes,The Prisoners (see alsoJames Taylor Quartet) andThe Dentists.[citation needed]
Out of theKent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD), now theUniversity for the Creative Arts (UCA) came the band known asWang Chung. The vocalist and guitarist with Wang Chung, Jeremy Allan Ryder, who is better known asJack Hues attended KIAD, as he musically helped to evolve Wang Chung withNick Feldman. Alongside such individuals was Alan John Denman, who became a well established lecturer at KIAD, and who founded The Flying Circuits in April 1984, which became an urban theatre movement in Chatham andGillingham in theMedway Towns, and within suburbs likeWoolwich,Plumstead,Bexley andOrpington inGreater London. Many students from KIAD played various acting roles within The Flying Circuits, in the Medway Towns and Greater London. The scenes performed by The Flying Circuits were entirely based upon excerpts from the Electronic Town, a screenplay written by Alan Denman from January 1984 to October 1984, which concerned a futuristicscience fictiondystopia. Alan Denman also helped to formThe Medway Poets withBilly Childish, Robert Earl,Bill Lewis,Sexton Ming andCharles Thomson. The Medway Poets met regularly at the York Tavern & Railway Inn, in Ordnance Street, Chatham, from October 1974 to August 1985, near KIAD atFort Pitt inRochester, andChatham 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 asStuckism in 1999.[40][41]
There was a resurgence in the live music scene in February 2001, with an initial focus on the Tap 'N' Tin venue at 24 Railway Street in Chatham. The essence of the original greatness of the Medway Delta Sound was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by the Urban Fox Press ofDavid Wise, which also published several books by poets and artists in theMedway Towns. In September 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, at 63 Layfield Road, in Gillingham (now closed) and the Nag's Head at 292Rochester High Street, but disbanded in April 2013.[42]
The Medway Poets were formed in August 1975 and disbanded in March 1982 having performed at the Kent Literature Festival and many others inSouth East England and on TV and Radio. They became a significant influence to writers in Chatham and elsewhere in theMedway Towns. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movement ofRemodernism came into being.[43]
Recent Medway artists of note includeKid Harpoon, Crybaby Special and The Monsters, Red Light, Underground Heroes, Tyrannosaurus Alan,[44] Pete Molinari,Lupen Crook,Brigadier Ambrose,Stuart Turner and Theatre Royal.[45]
The termchav is sometimes falsely said to be a local one, meaning "Chatham Average", but the word derives from theRomany word for youngster. Before theChatham Dockyard was closed down on 31 March 1984, the cultural idea of the chav did not exist in the Medway Towns.[46][47]
The Imperial Picture Palace opened on Chatham High Street in 1914. It was taken over byAssociated British Cinemas in 1929, demolished and rebuilt on the same site in 1937, and demolished in 2003 after having been damaged by two fires. The site is now occupied by flats.[48]
Local newspapers for Chatham includeMedway News andMedway Standard, both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and theMedway Messenger, published by theKM Group, whose registered address is inNew Barnet, inHertfordshire. The town also has free newspapers such as theMedway Extra (KM Group) andYour Medway (KOS Media).
The local commercial radio station for Chatham isKMFM Medway, owned by the KM Group. The Medway Towns are also served by a community radio stationRadio Sunlight based in the Sunlight Centre at 105 Richmond Road, inGillingham, near theRiver Medway. The area can also receive the county wide stationsBBC Radio Kent,Heart South andGold, as well as many radio stations inEssex andGreater London.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South East andITV Meridian from theBluebell Hill TV transmitter, supplemented by a low power relay transmitter in Chatham Town Centre that has the National Grid Reference (NGR) of TQ767675.[49]
Charles Dickens lived in the town as a boy, both inThe Brook and in Ordnance Terrace beforeChatham 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 nearbyGad's Hill.Medway 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:
Chatham istwinned withValenciennes, France.
Media related toChatham at Wikimedia Commons
Chatham travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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