Historic Medway

HMS Barfleur Memorial Added

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 8 Aug 2009 22:45:24 +0100

HMS Barfleur was built at HM Dockyard Chatham, and launched in 1892. Between 1899 and 1900 she took part in Allied operations during the Boxer Rebellion. At the junction of New Road and Gibraltar Hill, until recently hidden behind bushes, is a memorial to the 21 officers and men of HMS Barfleur lost during the conflict.

An Odd Little Garden in The Middle of Chatham

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:56:03 +0100

Added to the "Strange Things in Chatham" page - an odd little memorial garden on the edge of the Paddock.

Train Hit by V1 Rocket in Rainham

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:14:01 +0100

On August 16th 1944 a German V1 flying bomb hit the railway line at Oak Lane, in Rainham. Jonathan Smale's mother was on the train that got to the bridge just after the V1 hit it...

More details on the Pump House at Chatham Maritime

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:57:41 GMT

I've added a few more photos of part of one of the walls of the pump house at Chatham Maritime, to show some mysterious dates carved onto stones set into the wall.

Added the Theatre Royal

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:28:10 GMT

The Theatre Royal stands at the west end of Chatham High Street. It's currently being demolished, so here is a brief history and some photographs of it during 2008.

Added St Mary's Island

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 19:36:19 +0100

St Mary's Island was originally a marshy area to the north of Chatham Dockyard. It had many uses over the years: brickfields, prison, a place to bury the bodies of the prisoners of war held captive on the prison hulks in the River Medway, a place to change the reactor cores of the Royal Navy's submarines, a nuclear waste dump and now, after removing 1,300,000 tonnes of contaminated soil, a housing estate.

Added Chatham Maritime Pump House No 5 Page

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 19:32:17 +0100

Pump House Number 5 was used to drain the water from the docks. It sits deserted on the road to St Mary's Island, locked and vaguely spooky. It now has its own well-deserved page on the web.

Updated the Chatham Maritime Page

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 19:25:21 +0100

Chatham Maritime sits between the Historic Dockyard, St Mary's Island and the marina After several months away from the site, I've updated this page to correct some errors, add some photos and separate out some parts which really deserved their own sections.

Updated the Bowater Crest Factory.

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:23:36 +0100

I've added some more photos to the Bowater Crest site, and extended the commentary a little.

Added the Bowater Crest Factory.

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:37:25 +0100

I've added a new page about the Bowater Crest factory to the Gillingham section. Parts of it closed in the early 1990s, making way for the new Tesco store. The rest of the factory complex has now been closed and is awaiting demolition. This article has photos from before the site was quite so well fenced off.

Updated the Extent of Chatham Dockyard

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:09:54 GMT

Thanks to an e-mail from Bill Fowler, I've revised the outline of the extent of Chatham Dockyard on the Dockyard Page. I've still not updated the west bank of the Medway, which Bill tells me also had a lot of Dockyard-owned land, but I'll do that as soon as I can.

Updates to the HMS Bulwark and Princess Irene Page

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:10:25 GMT

After a visit to Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, I've added photos from the naval section of the cemetery showing the graves of the sailors killed in the HMS Bulwark and Princess Irene disasters to the HMS Bulwark page.

Updates to the Dock Road Tragedy Page

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:02:04 GMT

After a visit to Woodland Cemetery in Gillingham, I've added photos from the naval section of the cemetery showing the graves of the Royal Marines Cadets killed in the Dock Road Bus Disaster to the Gillingham Bus Disaster page.

More about Chatham Dockyard and Maritime!

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:01:15 GMT

I've added more details about Chatham Maritime - the part of the dockyard that's between the Historic Dockyard and the Marina. This part includes the St George's Centre, the Pump House, the Outlet Centre, the twin towers and the basins.

Added Fort Pitt Military Cemetery

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 15:48:32 GMT

I've been meaning to investigate here for ages - Fort Pitt Military Cemetery in City Way. Graves here date from the Napoleonic and Crimean wars to the 1990s. Just a brief tour (we got there after it was due to close) but I'll revisit as soon as I can.

Chatham Dockyard Updated and more Strangeness

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:08:13 +0100

I've added more information to the Chatham Dockyard part of the site, with photos of the memorial to the Napoleonic Prisoners of War at the St George's Centre. The Dockyard section has been moved from the main Chatham page to its own page. I also found a mysterious door (well *I* don't know where it goes) near the monument, so I've updated the Chatham Strangeness page too.

Added "Outside Medway" Section

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 3 Feb 2007 17:25:31 GMT

I've added a new section for information I've got which features places outside Medway. For the moment it'll just be Margate, Ramsgate and the East End, but I might get the chance to extend it later.

The RM Cadets Gillingham Bus Disaster

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 5 Nov 2006 12:55:04 GMT

The Disasters In Medway section has been updated to include details of the Royal Marines Cadets Bus Disaster, which happened in Dock Road on 4th December 1951, resulting in the deaths of 24 RM Cadets, and the injury of many more.

The Fireman's Wedding Disaster

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:48:32 +0100

The Disasters In Medway section has been updated to include details of the fireman's wedding tragedy, which happened in Gillingham in 1929.

Family History Resources - More Added

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 14:44:22 +0100

I've added the details for Medway Council's mapping and cemetery/crematorium enquiry services to the Family History Resources page. Now you can find out on-line where your ancestors lived, and see their house if it's still standing. You can also find the locations of your ancestors' graves. Two really useful services from the council for those trying to research their family history, wherever they are in the world.

Google Maps Added

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:41:33 +0100

I've added Google Maps satellite views to the Medway Disasters and Chatham Strangeness pages! This means you can now see maps for the wrecks of HMS Bulwark and HMS Princess Irene, as well as the abandoned World War 1 submarine on the salt flats off the Isle of Grain.

Disasters in Medway & Chatham Strangeness - Updated!

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 16:04:06 +0100

Photo of HMS Bulwark added to the disasters page. Links to Google Maps satellite photos of HMS Bulwark, HMS Princess irene and the abandoned WW1 submarine added.

New Section - Disasters in Medway

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 09:43:07 +0100

A new section describing disasters which have happened in the Medway Towns, is now online. The first entry, describing the explosion of HMS Bulwark, is on the site in draft form.

Is there anybody out there?

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:54:41 GMT

So, is there anyone out there reading this feed? If there is, please drop me a line at jason@historicmedway.co.uk, so I can get some idea of numbers. Cheers Jason

Site Housekeeping

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:53:03 GMT

Over the Christmas holidays, I'm starting to do some general tidying of the site. If you're using a non-IE browser, things should start looking better soon as I'm running the pages through the W3C's HTML validator.

Updates about the Town Hall

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Thu, 1 Dec 2005 11:51:40 GMT

I've been sent more information about the Town Hall - well worth a look!

Added link to Derelict London site

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Mon, 7 Nov 2005 18:51:41 GMT

Added a link to the Derelict London site at www.derelictlondon.com.

Chatham Changes Put Off For a While

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sat, 1 Oct 2005 12:27:51 +0100

After deciding that Chatham really doesn't need extra traffic chaos on top of the current roadworks, Medway Council have rescheduled the massive reworking of the traffic flow around the town until next year.

Still, it gives me more time to get around to taking photos of the town centre as it is...

Changes Afoot in Chatham

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:24:19 +0100

It seems that Chatham town centre's traffic problems are about to get worse for a while. After installing a one-way system in the late 1980's, it's (mostly) being removed over the next year or so.

Some of the roads which are one-way, such as the Brook, are being changed back to two-way traffic, and the Sir John Hawkins Flyover is due for demolition.

Medway Council has full details .

Updated Guestbook (Again!)

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:59:38 +0100

My ISP has updated its CGI servers, and I've celebrated by updating the version of the guestbook script as well. It's all at http://ccgi.rossfamily.plus.com/cgi-bin/guestbook_histmed/guestbook.cgi - feel free to leave a message!

Chatham Mystery Tunnels Updated Again!

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:48:45 +0100

Dave has written about his exploits as a child in Chatham - including a very detailed description of the tunnels under Fort Amherst, Fort Pitt and the War Memorial.

Head over to http://www.historicmedway.co.uk/chatham/strange.htm to read more.

Quick apology!

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:54:49 +0100

It's been quite a while since I added anything to this feed, partly because I didn't get round to it, and partly because I wasn't sure whether anyone was reading it.

Anyway, my web stats say that people have been reading it, so I'd best get on with updating it. The site itself has been updated as well, so go over there and have a look!

http://www.historicmedway.co.uk/.

The Guest Book Is Back!

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 1 May 2005 09:55:23 +0100

The Historic Medway Guest Book is now back on-line, with all of the archived messages restored.

Chatham Mystery Tunnels Updated

jason@historicmedway.co.uk — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 11:33:52 +0100

Another suggestion for where the mysterious tunnel in the side of Chatham Hill leads...