River Medway

For the English drag queen, seeRiver Medway (drag queen).For similarly named rivers, seeMedway River (disambiguation).

River Medway
Medway at Gun Wharf,Chatham
Rivers in Kent, showing the Medway
Location
Country	England
Region	South East England,West Sussex,Kent
District	Mid Sussex,Sevenoaks,Tonbridge and Malling,Medwayand Maidstone
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Turners Hill,West Sussex
• coordinates	51°06′25″N0°5′37″W
• elevation	489 ft (149 m)
Mouth	Thames Estuary
• location	Garrison Point,Sheerness,Kent
• coordinates	51°26′57″N0°44′18″E
Length	70 mi (113 km)
Basin size	930 sq mi (2,400 km2)
Discharge
• location	Teston
• average	11.08 m3/s (391 cu ft/s)
• minimum	0.43 m3/s (15 cu ft/s)24 August 1978
• maximum	358.6 m3/s (12,660 cu ft/s)16 September 1968
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Eden,Bourne,Wateringbury Stream,East Malling Stream,other minor streams
• right	Teise,Beult,Loose Stream,Len,other minor streams
Designation
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Medway Estuary & Marshes
Designated	15 December 1993

River Medway
00.0 SourceTQ 334 359 51.10694°N 0.09361°W/51.10694; -0.09361 00.0 Upper Reaches  B2028  Fen Place Mill  B2110  Bluebell Railway West Hoathly Stream Weir Wood Reservoir Mill Place Foundry East Grinstead Stream Brambletye Mill  A22  Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line Tablehurst Mill Parrock Forge Hartfield Iron Mill  B2026  Hartfield Stream Warren Brook Waterdown Forest Stream Groombridge Stream Ashurst Mill  A264  Oxted Line Kent Water Ashurst Furnace Chafford Mills  B2188  Poundbridge Stream Barden Mill Stream Pound Mill 00.0 River Eden to Leigh River Eden  B2176  Ensfield Mill Ensfield Road Limit of navigation Redhill to Tonbridge Line  A21  Ramhurst Mill Powder Mills 00.0 Leigh to Yalding South Eastern Main Line Tonbridge Tonbridge High Street B2260  28 Town Lock Town Mill Cannon Lane A26  Southborough Bourne 25.6 Eldridge Lock 24 Porters Lock Hartlake Road 22 East Lock Tudeley Brook Pen Stream 20.8 Oak Weir Lock River Bourne Sluice Weir Lock Branbridges Mill Branbridges  A228  Medway Valley Line 00.0 Yalding to Allington Lock Site of Stoneham Lock River Teise Greater Teise Sluice Twyford Bridge B2162  Lesser Teise River Beult Hampstead Mill Hamptons Bridge B2162  15.3 Hampstead Lock Breden's Boatyard Hampstead Marina Hampstead Lane Canal Wateringbury Stream WateringburyBridge West Farleigh Stream 10.4 TestonLock Teston Bridge B2163  BarmingBridge East FarleighBridge 7.5 Farleigh Lock Line to Tovil Goods station Loose Stream River Len  A20   A20  Maidstone Maidstone East Line Boxley Stream Allington Castle 00.0 Allington Lock to Rochester Allington Lock  M20  Cossington Stream AylesfordBridge East Malling Stream Friars Mill Addington Brook Holborough Brook Borstal Mill Cuxton Mill High Speed 1  M2  Priory Mill Strood Tide Mill Rochester Rochester Bridge A2  Chatham Main Line Strood,Thames and Medway Canal Chatham Chatham Tide Mill Chatham Dockyard Medway Tunnel A289  Gillingham The Swale Isle of Sheppey Thames EstuaryTQ 903 758

TheRiver Medwayis a river inSouth East England.It rises in theHigh Weald,West Sussexand flows throughTonbridge,Maidstoneand theMedwayconurbation inKent,before emptying into theThames EstuarynearSheerness,a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.

The Medway has acatchment areaof 930 square miles (2,409 km²), the second largest in southern England after theThames.The map opposite shows only the majortributaries:a more detailed mapshows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along theNorth Downs,theWealdandAshdown Forest.

Tributaries

See also:Rivers of Kent

The major tributaries are:

• River Eden
• River Bourne,known in the past as the Shode or Busty
• River Teise,major sub-tributaryRiver Bewl
• River Beult
• Loose Stream
• River Len

Minor tributaries include:

• Wateringbury Stream
• East Malling Stream
• River Grom

Former minor tributaries include the Old Bourne River, which flowed through the Brook,Chatham(not to be confused with the main tributary River Bourne).

The river and its tributaries flow through largely rural areas,Tonbridge,MaidstoneandMedwaybeing the exceptions. The Medway itself initially flows in a west–east direction south of theNorth Downs;at the confluence of the River Beult, however, it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at theMedway Gap,a steep and narrow valley nearRochester,before its final section to the sea.

Until 1746, the river was not navigable above Maidstone. Below that point each village on the river had itswharfor wharves: atHalling,Snodland,New Hythe andAylesford.Cargoes included corn, fodder, fruit, stone and timber.

In 1746, improvements to the channel meant that barges of 40 long tons (41 t) could reachEast Farleigh,Yaldingand even Tonbridge. In 1828, the channel was further improved up toLeigh.There are elevenlockson the river. The lowest, opened in 1792, is atAllington,and is thetidal limit.The others are atEast Farleigh,Teston,Hampstead Lane,Stoneham Old Lock (disused),Sluice Weir Lock,Oak Weir Lock,East Lock, Porter's, Eldridge's and Town Lock inTonbridge.The locks will take craft up to 80 feet (24 m) by 18 feet (5.5 m), and vessels with adraftof 4 feet (1.2 m) can navigate the river. The shallowest point is just below Sluice Weir Lock, which is prone to silting after heavy rain.

Small craft such ascanoescan sometimes travel as far asPenshurst.The stretch fromLeighto Allington is known as theMedway Navigation,and is 19 miles (31 km) in length. TheEnvironment Agencyis thenavigation authority.

Estuary

Dusk at Lower Upnor on the Medway Estuary

Downstream of the Medway bridges (M2, HS1) the river comprises a sequence of tidal reaches:

• Wickham Reach
• Tower Reach
• Bridge Reach
• Limehouse Reach
• Chatham Reach
• Upnor Reach
• Short Reach
• Gillingham Reach
• Pinup Reach
• Long Reach
• Kethole Reach
• Saltpan Reach

Stangate Creek

One of the channels on the southern side of the estuary, Stangate Creek,is the subject of a painting byWilliam Turner.In a location described as "opposite theIsle of Grain,Sharpfleet Creek, and the lower-end of the Hope ", aquarantinesite for ships was proclaimed on 16 September 1709, during an outbreak ofthe plague.The area had been leased tooysterfisherman, so compensation was paid to them. Nearly 150 ships quarantined there in the first six months of 1712, and the site was again used between 1721 and 1743.

In 1918 to 1920, damages were sought for damage done to an oyster fishery in Stangate Creek.

River crossings

Medieval bridge at Aylesford

Until recently the lowest public crossing of the Medway was atRochester,where there has been a bridge sinceRomantimes. In the 14th century the Wardens and Commonalty ofRochester Bridgewere instituted bySir John de Cobhamto 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 theM2 motorway.In 2003 this was widened to two separate spans.
• Between 1963 and 1996 theM20was built, with a bridge over the Medway south of Aylesford.
• 1996: TheMedway Tunnelbecame the river's lowest public crossing, connectingGillinghamtoStrood.The four-lane tunnel was constructed using theimmersed tubemethod, and was partially paid for by Rochester Bridge Trust, the successor to the Wardens and Commonalty.
• 2003: A railway bridge 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long, with a central span of 498 feet (152 m), was constructed forHigh Speed 1.The railway bridge lies parallel to the M2 motorway bridges.
• 2017: A new road bridge from the A228 between Holborough andHallingacross to Hall Road,Wouldham,to facilitate the development of Peters Village.

TheRedhill–Tonbridge railway linecrosses the Medway betweenLeighandTonbridgestations.

Three other major crossings are at Tonbridge, where bridges carry theA227 roadand arail linkover the river; there is also a two-span viaduct which takes theA21over theMedway Valleynear Haysden.

The lowest crossing of the Medway are two cable tunnels between theIsle of Grainand Chetney marshes. These were built between 1973 and 1976 in anticipation of the commissioning ofGrain power station.The tunnels are 1700 m long, 2.54 m in diameter and between 34 and 47 m below ordnance datum; each carries a 400kV electricity circuit.There is no public access.

Flooding

The middle section of the Medway above Tonbridge, partly because of the various tributaries entering the river in this stretch – in particular the River Eden – has always been subject to extensiveflooding.Tonbridge has suffered frequent flooding over the centuries, so much so that the higher part of the town to the north is called "Dryhill". Flood protection measures have therefore been taken. In 1981, aflood barrierwas constructed downstream fromLeighto protect Tonbridge, which had been severely affected by the flooding of 1968. During periods of high flow, the flow is controlled by impounding the water and allowing up to 1 square mile (2.6 km²) of farmland upstream of the barrier to flood. However, this did not prevent significant flooding in Tonbridge in winter 2013–14. In recent years the village ofYalding,about 12 km downstream at the confluence with the River Beult, has been more prone to flooding than Tonbridge.

Footpaths

TheMedway Valley Walkfollows the river fromRochestertoTonbridgealong the bank most of the way aboveAllington.It starts on theSaxon Shore Wayat Rochester. TheNorth Downs Waycrosses the river using theMedway Viaductor motorway bridge. TheGreensand Waycrosses the river atYalding.AtWest Peckham,it is joined by theWealdwaywhich continues through Tonbridge, thus linking with the Eden Valley Walk. Maidstone Millennium River Park is a 10 kilometres (6 mi) walk from Teston Country Park to theMuseum of Kent LifeatSandling.The park, built between 1998 and 2001, has transformed 18 acres (7.3 ha) of wasteland and three new footbridges have been built over the river.

History

Ancient sites abound throughout the length of the River Medway. The area aroundAylesfordis a notableStone Agesite where theMedway megalithsare a group ofNeolithicchamber tombsincluding theColdrum StonesandKit's Coty House.Bronze Ageornaments and beakers have been found along the river; other burial sites and finds come from the pre-RomanIron Age.The Romans left evidence of many villas in the lower Medway Valley; laterJutishburial sites have also been found.

TheDomesday Bookrecords manymanorsin the Medway valley. Castles became a feature of the landscape, includingRochester,Allington,Leeds(near Maidstone), andWest Malling.

Two military actions are named after the river: theBattle of the Medway(43CE,during theRoman invasion of Britain); and theRaid on the Medway,in 1667 during theSecond Anglo-Dutch War.

In the 18th centurySamuel Irelandpublished an illustrated book about a journey up the river,to theRiver Bewlat Bayham Abbey. The book's map shows some of the tributaries (unnamed). The illustrations include the castles atQueenborough,Upnor,Leybourne,TonbridgeandHever;Penshurst Place;and the bridges atTeston,Maidstone,Aylesford,East Farleigh,Barming,Branbridgesand Tonbridge. Thehop fieldsin the vicinity of the latter are also described; and the easterlyRiver Len,which then supplied Maidstone with its piped water. The book states thatWithin about two miles of Tunbridge the Medway branches out into several small streams, five of which unite at the town... having each its stone bridge.

Frindsbury Church above the former entrance to the Thames and Medway Canal

TheThames and Medway Canal,duplicatively linking the estuary at Strood toGravesendfor adverse tides and weather was completed in 1824 but was not a commercial success; by 1849 theSouth Eastern Railwayhad taken over its tunnel through a hillside. The western part of the canal remained in use until 1934.

TheHartlake disasterof 1853 saw the deaths of 30 hop-pickers when a wagon carrying them crashed through the side of a rotten wooden bridge atGolden GreennearHadlow,throwing its passengers into the flood-swollen river.

In 1914HMSBulwarkexploded while moored at Kethole Reach near Sheerness, killing 741 men with only 12 survivors. The following yearHMSPrincess Ireneexploded in Saltpan Reach with the loss of 352 lives.

In 1942 the world's first test of a submarine oil pipeline was conducted with one laid across the Medway inOperation Pluto.

Culture

The Medway's 'marriage' to theThamesis given extensive treatment byEdmund Spenser'sThe Faerie Queenein the 16th century (Book IV, Canto xi).Joseph Conraddescribes the view up the Medway from theThames EstuaryinThe Mirror of the Sea(1906).

For the 1999 filmThe Mummythe river was filmed atChatham Dockyard,in an imitation of a "port atCairo".The scene is brief but involves the main protagonists departing on their mission to the city of the dead.

The Maidstone River Festival, to celebrate the River Medway, running annually 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.The festival was cancelled in 2012 due to the London Olympics, but returned in 2013. However, the 2013 event did not include a funfair or a fireworks display as in previous years, and lasted just one day instead of two.

Medway Flows Softlyis a song by local man George Gilbert; it was written in the mid-1960s and is often played in local folk clubs and at festivals in Kent.

The River Medway is featured at Maidstone in the studio backdrop of the ITV1 regional news programmeMeridian Tonight.

At 7.15 p.m. on 1 May each year, localMorris dancersKettle Bridge Clogsdance acrossBarmingBridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge) to mark the start of their Morris dancing season.

Recreationally the river is used by many. For example, individuals and many clubs have paddling trips along many different parts of the Medway (e.g. Bewl Canoe Club).Individuals and club members paddling on the Medway and most other rivers shouldbe members ofBritish Canoeing.

"Kentish Men" and "Men of Kent"

The Medway is said to divide the county ofKentinto two parts: this may allude to the twodiocesesinto which Kent has been divided since the year 604: Canterbury and Rochester. The tradition has grown up, and is kept alive by the "Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men", that those born inWest Kent– the area north of the river, but including Maidstone, Gillingham (other than Rainham), Rochester and Chatham – are labelledKentish Men(orMaids); while those born in East Kent areMen(orMaids)of Kent.This labelling applies equally to those born in those parts of the traditional county absorbed into London since the 1880s.

Watermills

The power of the Medway has been harnessed for a millennium or more.Waterwheelsand turbines powered by the waters of the Medway and its tributaries have been used tomill corn,make paper,make cloth,smelt iron, pump water and generate electricity. There are over 200 sites on the Medway where such usage is known. Today, only one mill is working for a commercial trade.

SeeMedway watermills,and Medway watermills onthe upper tributaries,the middle tributariesandthe lower tributariesfor more details.

Gallery

Medway scenes:

• 
  The Medway flows throughTonbridgein many channels. TheSouth Eastern Main Linecrosses the Medway.
• 
  The Botany stream forms another channel inTonbridge.
• 
  Tonbridge Castle,amotte-and-baileycastle from 1066.
• 
  The River Medway passesTonbridge Castleand passes under Big Bridge.
• 
  Oak Weir Lock
• 
  River Bourne enters the Medway
• 
  Sluice Weir, on the right is the lock
• 
  The sluice at Yalding
• 
  Hampstead Lane Lock, Yalding
• 
  Bow Bridge, Wateringbury
• 
  Teston Lock
• 
  Upstream from Teston Bridge
• 
  Barges moored on the Medway at Aylesford
• 
  GrainandThamesport,from Horrid Hill,Gillingham.
• 
  TheGrain Towerat low tide.
• 
  The mouth of the Medway, looking fromGraintoSheerness.
• 
  And into theThames,youngsters atGrainwithSouthendbeyond.
• 
  M2 crossing the Medway.
• 
  Isle of Grain and the Medway Estuary from the air
• 
  Allington Lock and Sluice gates

See also

• Tributaries of the River Thames
• List of rivers in England
• Rivers of Kent
• London StonesatUpnor
• Medway Navigation

Further reading

• Hadfield, Charles (1969).The Canals of South and South East England.Newton Abbot, UK:David & Charles.ISBN0-7153-4693-8.

External links

• Map of the Medway catchment area
• Detailed navigation informationArchived24 October 2008 at theWayback Machine
• Leigh Flood Barrier page from the EAArchived30 October 2008 at theWayback Machine
• Flood protection measures
• Medway Valley Countryside Partnership
• Early Norman Churches In and Near the Medway Valley, Rev. Grevile M. Livett, Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 20, Kent Archaeological Society, 1893
• Bewl Canoe Club
• BCU Website