River Medway

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The River Medway in England flows for 112 km from Turners Hill, in West Sussex, through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, to the River Thames at Sheerness, where it is the latter's last tributary. The mouth of the river is defined by Garrison Point, between the Isle of Sheppey and the Isle of Grain.

It has a catchment area of 930 miles² (2408 km²): the largest in Southern England. Its tributaries have their headwaters on the North Downs to the north and the Weald to the south.

Contents

[edit] Tributaries

The major tributaries are:

see Rivers of Kent

The river and its tributaries flow through largely rural areas, Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway Towns being the exceptions. The Medway itself initially flows in a west-east direction south of the North Downs; at the confluence of the River Beult, however, it turns northerly and breaks through the North Downs at the Medway Gap, a steep and narrow valley near Rochester, before its final section to the sea.

[edit] Navigation

Until 1746 the river was impassable above Maidstone. To that point each village on the river had its wharf or wharves: at Halling, Snodland, New Hythe and Aylesford. Cargoes included corn, fodder, fruit, stone and timber.

In 1746 improvements to the channel meant that barges of 40 tons (41000 kg) could reach East Farleigh, Yalding and even Tonbridge. In 1828 the channel was further improved to Leigh in 1828. There are eight locks on the river. The lowest, opened in 1792, is at Allington, and is the extent of tides. The others are Farleigh, Teston, Hampstead Lane, East Lock, Porter's, Eldridge's and Tonbridge Town.

Small craft such as canoes can sometimes travel as far as Penshurst. The stretch from Leigh to Allington is known as the Medway Navigation, and is 19 miles (31 km) in length.

[edit] River crossings

Until recently the lowest crossing of the Medway was at Rochester, where there has been a bridge since Roman times. In the 14th century, the Wardens and Commonalty of Rochester Bridge were instituted by Sir John de Cobham to pay for the rebuilding and upkeep of the bridge. Until 1963, the nearest crossing to Rochester Bridge was the 14th Century bridge at Aylesford, 12 miles (19 km) upstream. Since then the following additional crossings have come into use:

  • 1963 A viaduct over the river was built south of Rochester to carry the first section of the M2 motorway. In 2003 this was widened to two separate spans.
  • 1996 The Medway Tunnel became the river's lowest crossing, connecting Gillingham to Strood. The four-lane tunnel was constructed using the immersed tube method, and was partially paid for by Rochester Bridge Trust, the current form of the Wardens and Commonalty.
  • 2003 A 1.3 km railway bridge, with a central span of 152 m, was constructed for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The railway bridge lies parallel to the M2 motorway bridges.

Two other major crossings are at Tonbridge where two bridges carry the A227 road and a rail link over the river.

[edit] Flooding

The middle section of the Medway above Tonbridge, because of the many tributaries entering the river in this stretch, has always been subject to extensive flooding. The town itself has suffered frequent flooding over the centuries - so much so that the higher part of the town to north is called Dryhill. Flood protection measures have therefore had priority. In 1981, a flood barrier was constructed near Leigh to protect Tonbridge, which had been severely affected by the flooding of 1968. During periods of high flow, the downstream flow is controlled by allowing up to 2.78 square kilometres of farmland upstream of the barrier to flood.

[edit] Historical matters

  • The Medway megaliths are a group of Neolithic chamber tombs including the Coldrum Stones and Kit's Coty House known in the valley.
  • Two military actions are called the Battle of the Medway: one during the Roman invasion of Britain; the other, also known as the Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
  • The Medway is said to divide the county of Kent into two parts. Traditionally, the western part, West Kent, was administered from Maidstone, while the eastern part, East Kent was administered from Canterbury, . The county was united in 1814, with Maidstone as the county town. The Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men continue the practice of labelling those living in West Kent Kentish Men (or Maids); Men of Kent (or Maids) those in East Kent.
  • In the early 1800s the Medway was linked to the Thames by the Thames and Medway Canal, which ran from Strood to Gravesend. The canal was not a commercial success, and by the 1850s the Strood end had been replaced by the railway line, which bought the canal tunnel between Strood and Higham. From Higham to Gravesend the canal remained in use until 1934, while the railway was laid on a slightly different route.
  • In 1942 the world's first test of a submarine oil pipeline was conducted on a pipeline laid across the Medway in Operation Pluto.
  • Every year a festival is held in Maidstone to celebrate the River Medway. Maidstone River Festival, which has been running since 1980, is held on the last Saturday of July. It features events on and around the river and attracts thousands to Kent's county town.

[edit] Literary references

Joseph Conrad describes the view up the Medway from the Thames Estuary in The Mirror of the Sea (1906).

[edit] Uses in films

The river Medway is filmed outside the remainder (after its closure in 1984) of Chatham Dockyard and passed off as a port at Cairo for the film The Mummy.The scene is brief but involves the main protagonists departing on their mission to the city of the dead. The River Medway was used for this film as opposed to the River Nile itself (most likely for cost reasons)

The Medway's 'marriage' to the Thames is given extensive treatment in Book IV, Canto xi of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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