Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
Chatham (pronounced "chat-um" ) is a large town that has developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway to the southeast of London in Kent, England. Together with Rainham, Gillingham and Rochester it is today part of the Medway Towns conurbation.
[edit] History
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.[1]. The origin of the word 'Chatham' may have come from the same root as Catti or 'Chatti' that migrated into Britain.[2]
Chatham Dockyard was established by Elizabeth I in 1568 and the small village of Chatham grew to service it. At one point 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 One many submarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard. The dockyard was shut as an operational site in 1984 by the Margaret Thatcher, and the Conservative Government; a large part of it became a historic site (operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust) and the rest has been developed for housing, industrial sites and as a commercial marina.
[edit] The Defences
Fortifications to protect the dockyard from invasion, were built around Chatham. The Great Lines, in full the "Great Lines Of Defence", were built across the neck of the peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway. By 1758 this stretched for more than a mile, from Fort Amherst (today a heritage site) to Gillingham Reach.[3]
Forts were built around the town, among them Fort Clarence (1805-1811) (demolished) and Fort Pitt (1805-1819). Fort Pitt was later used as a military hospital and was visited by Queen Victoria during the Crimean War.[4] As a result of Florence Nightingale's privately circulated Notes on matters affecting the health, efficiency and hospital administration of the British Army (1858) the first Army Medical School was established at Fort Pitt in 1860. In 1859 a Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom ordered to be built a second, outer ring of forts, to strengthen the defences: Fort Horsted. Fort Luton (also a heritage site),Fort Bridgewood, Fort Darland and Fort Borstal.[5]
Chatham Town was also the location for several British military barracks: the Kitchener Barracks (c 1750-1780), the Royal Marines Barracks (c 1780). Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806), Melville Barracks, H.M.S. Collingwood and H.M.S. Pembroke. Although the postal address of Brompton Barracks (the headquarters of the Royal Engineers) indicates Chatham as its location, Brompton was an entirely separate village within Gillingham parish.[6] H.M.S Pembroke is now the home to the University of Greenwich at Medway based within the Medway Campus, Chatham Historic Dockyard.
[edit] Religion
Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was built in 1821, but remodelled in 1869, and abolished in 1964. 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.[7] 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.[7]
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.[8]
[edit] Commercial
Chatham became a market town in its own right in the 19th century, and a municipal borough in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.[5]
[edit] Transport
[edit] River Medway
The Medway, apart from its use by warships to travel to and from Chatham Dockyard, was an important means of communication to the interior of Kent. 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.[5]
[edit] Roads
Chatham stands on Watling Street, the 'Roman Road' from London to the Kent Coast. The length from Chatham to Canterbury was turnpiked in 1730. The Chatham to Maidstone road A230 was also turn piked before 1750. Watling Street formed the basic line for A2 main road in the 1920s.[5] However, Chatham has always been a bottleneck. The notorious high street was bypassed in 1769, by a new road leading from the top of Star Hill Rochester, then Star Lane, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches and this was called New Road. Later this became inadequate for the London to Dover traffic and the Medway Towns Bypass, the M2 motorway diverts all through traffic south of the Medway Towns.
The Medway Towns still generate more traffic than the town centres can handle. In the 1980s the Chatham town centre was remodelled and an inner ringroad was constructed. This was a one-way system with the construction of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover (1989) taking the south to north traffic over a pedestrianized high street, by the Pentagon Shopping Centre and the Pentagon Bus Station. On the 19 September 2006 the Ring Road in Chatham was made two way and the Sir John Hawkins Flyover was closed except for buses, taxis and cycles as part a regeneration scheme designed to relink the town centre with Sun Pier, Gun Wharf and the River Medway. It was expected that after a test period, during which the flyover remained open for buses, taxis, etc, the Sir John Hawkins Flyover would be demolished (as part of Chatham Riverside). However the two way change received a very hostile reaction from local residents and businesses. After a year long campaign that Medway Council reversed this decision.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15].[16][17] The Pentagon Bus Station ("The Pentagon") for the towns is in Chatham, within walking distance of the Chatham Railway Station.
[edit] Railways
The railway came to Chatham in 1858: first when the East Kent Railway opened a line to Faversham; and later in the year the short section connecting with the North Kent Line was opened, giving a route to London. Chatham railway station is the main interchange for the Medway Towns. Chatham Station lies in a cutting between the Fort Pitt tunnel and the Chatham Tunnel, the next station down line is Gillingham , and the next station upline is Rochester. The line passes over the Rochester Bridge and divides. One line takes the former London, Chatham and Dover Chatham Main Line via Cuxton and Meopham to Bromley South and Victoria while the other takes the former South Eastern Railway (UK) North Kent Line via Dartford and Woolwich Arsenal.
There are 4 trains an hour to London, Victoria, two trains an hour to London Charing Cross, and from November 2007 there will be a service to Ebbsfleet (change for Paris and Brussels) and London St. Pancras. Two trains an hour run to Dover and Ramsgate.
Part of the railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
[edit] Administration
Chatham is the centre of the Medway Towns and Medway Council has chosen to site its offices on Gun Wharf, in the building that was constructed for Lloyds.
The Ecclesiatical Parish of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (Land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).[18]
The borough of Chatham was created by the Great Reform Act of 1832, and contained most of Brompton and New Brompton.[7] It became a municipal borough in 1890.[5]
Chatham Town Hall was built in 1900 and has a unique architectural design. It was built for the Chatham Town Council, and the building is situated on The Brook, adjacent to the Pentagon Bus Station, and in 1989, Chatham Town Hall became known as the Medway Arts Centre until 1996, when it became the Brook Theatre.
Chatham lost its independence because of the Local Government Act 1972. On 1 April 1974 it became part of Medway Borough Council that was renamed, in 1979, the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway and then,in 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway. This, in its turn, was abolished on 1st April 1998; to join Gillingham Borough Council in the Medway Council (a unitary authority).[19]
[edit] Education
Chatham is served by the following Primary Schools.
- All Saints CE Primary
- Balfour Junior
- Bradfields
- 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.
- Chatham Grammar School for Boys
- Chatham Grammar School for Girls
- Chatham South School
- Fort Pitt Grammar School (girls)
- Greenacre School
- Medway Community College
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive
- Walderslade Girls' School[20]
Tertiary
- Mid-Kent College is a Further Education College based at Horsted, but is also in partnership with Canterbury Christchurch University at Medway
Universities
- University of Greenwich at Medway
- University of Kent at Medway
- Canterbury Christchurch University[21]
[edit] Sports
The town's Association Football club, Chatham Town F.C., 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.
[edit] Popular Culture
It is claimed by some, that Chatham is the birthplace of "chav" subculture. The "Chav Culture" in Chatham and around the Medway Towns, included the wearing of gold jewellery, shell-suits and earrings. This was first evident from a website about "Chatham Girls" (immortalized in a song by Mark Taylor), which received a huge amount of media interest. The website was so popular it was pulled by Geocities for exceeding its bandwidth.[22]
On a cultural level Chatham also gave birth to several movements in literature, art and music. In the period from 1978 until 1982 the Medway Delta Sound emerged. Several of these bands gained international recognition e.g. The Milkshakes, The Prisoners (see also James Taylor Quartet), The Dagger Men, The Dentists, Christopher Broderick and The Singing Loins. In recent years there has been a renaissance in the Medway Delta Sound lead by singers such as Pete Molinari. 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 and Underground Heroes.
[edit] Notable People
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.
Twice BDO World Championship Darts Finalist Dave Whitcombe was born in Chatham and continues to live in Sittingbourne.
The composer Percy Whitlock (1903-1946); the painter and killer Richard Dadd (1819-1887); and, in more modern times, the artist/poet/musician Billy Childish and poet/painter/storyteller and mythographer Bill Lewis lived in Chatham. The poet/screenwriter/film maker and writer Alan Denman , was a lecturer at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) at Fort Pitt in Rochester. The Brit artist Tracey Emin and designer Zandra Rhodes were KIAD students. KIAD is now part of the University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA). Emin also lived at Castle Road, Rochester and in Chatham. The author and screenwriter Stel Pavlou also attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys, as did boyband-singer Lee Ryan.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Place Names of Kent, Judith Glover, 1976, Batsford. ISBN 0905270 614
- ^ "The Phoenician Origin of Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons by Lawrence A. Waddell
- ^ Brompton Lines Conservation Area Appraisal.
- ^ "The visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Fort Pitt Military Hospital, 3 March 1855", water colour by Sir John Tenniel, acquired by Queen Victoria for the Royal Collection.
- ^ a b c d e Jessup, Frank W. (1966). Kent History Illustrated. Kent County Council.
- ^ Chatham Naval Dockyard. Unesco. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
- ^ a b c John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles,1887
- ^ Rochester, The past 2000 years, (City of Rochester Society) 1999.
- ^ BBC News 6 March 2006 Two way system.
- ^ BBC News 15 September 2006
- ^ BBC News 18 September 2006
- ^ BBC KentPDF (103 bytes) Map of changes
- ^ BBC Kent Photos
- ^ BBC News 2 November 2006
- ^ BBC News 14 November 2006 Flyover Debate.
- ^ BBC News 10 April 2007
- ^ BBC News 11 September 2007
- ^ (John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))
- ^ Rochester, The past 2000 years, Published Privately City of Rochester Society 1999.
- ^ [http://www.medway.gov.uk/schools-index.asp?I_action=3&town=Chatham&I_nice=Chatham&I_key=town Chatham Medway Council List of Schools]. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
- ^ Universities at Medway. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
- ^ The Register
[edit] Twin Towns
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Annotations
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Former naval town on the River Medway. Chatham Historic Dockyard now a tourist attraction.
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Historic dockyard [snippets?]
http://www.medwaytowns.net/portal/modules/medway/dockyard.php
“…The history of the Royal Dockyard at Chatham can be traced back to the reign of Henry VIII, although many experts think its origins could be even earlier…”
http://www.chdt.org.uk/ -
A view of Chatham docks 1774 a model
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/nelson/viewRepro.cfm?reproID=D4788#content -
Thanks for the model picture, Aqua. The pits for the mastst to be stored underwater in can be seen mid lefthand side. These can still be seen in real life at Chatham.
References in the diary
- 1660
-
Apr: 9
Jun: 8
Sep: 6, 28
- 1661
-
Jan: 11, 14, 16, 17
Mar: 29
Apr: 7, 8, 17
Jun: 7
Nov: 5
- 1662
-
Mar: 3
Apr: 21
May: 14
Aug: 1, 11
Sep: 26
Oct: 7, 17
Dec: 24
- 1663
-
Mar: 17
Apr: 30
May: 11, 13, 21
Jul: 7, 10, 13, 31
Aug: 1, 3, 20
Sep: 21
Oct: 9
Nov: 12, 30
Dec: 14, 21
- 1664
-
Feb: 2
May: 3, 22, 23
Oct: 4
- 1665
-
Feb: 17
Mar: 8, 24
Apr: 18