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The Medway Towns
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This weeks feature
The Medway Towns - Two Ways
In the post-war years, as farming, shipbuilding, fishing and industry all declined, and living in ‘the Medway towns’ became shorthand for commuting, tourism became an important lifeline, and there is plenty to keep visitors busy. Two arteries are particularly useful for exploring the area’s contrasts - the Saxon Shore Way and the North Downs Way, converging, near enough, on the Medway’s north bank at Rochester, and diverging again on the other side. |
Medway, an important lifeline. |
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The Saxon Shore Way follows the Medway, beside the mudflats where migrating birds winter, as far as the Swale, which divides the Kent mainland from the Isle of Sheppey. It then shadows the Swale to Whitstable and beyond.
The North Downs Way follows the chalk ridge across the open country between the Medway towns and Maidstone, and thence either to Canterbury or Folkestone, and ultimately Dover.
You can easily walk stretches of either path in between exploring the quiet roads that criss-cross the countryside, with its pretty villages and landmark oast houses, and stopping off at some of the country houses and gardens dotted around the area. |
An historical gem. | Leeds Castle
Just a few miles from the North Downs Way, east of Maidstone amid the rolling hills, is one of the country’s aesthetic and historical gems. Leeds Castle has been described as ‘the loveliest castle in England’, and it’s difficult to dispute that claim when you see it - a fascinating synthesis of Norman, medieval, Tudor, Victorian and 20th-century styles and sensibilities, resting on the two islands in a calm, swan-blest lake amid its beautiful park. |
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Leeds Castle seems to epitomise an image not just of Kent, but of England itself - romantic and unreal, perhaps, but nonetheless carrying resonance for natives and visitors alike.
Visiting the castle and the Medway towns on the same day offers a vivid and contrasting picture and county and country. |
Bridge over time
Having escaped siege and military attack, Leeds Castle’s greatest historical significance is as a bridge between medieval and early modern England.
The last queen to hold the property was Catherine de Valois, wife of Henry V, in 1422. Henry died the same year, however, and Catherine fell for her Clerk of the Wardrobe, Owen Tudor. The lovers were imprisoned, but Catherine was released, Owen escaped, and the two subsequently married. Their grandson became Henry VII, first of the Tudor monarchs. |
A portrait of Catherine de Valois. |
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The castle was founded during the reign of the Norman king, Henry I, and was a royal residence until the death of Henry VIII. Its more recent importance began in 1926 when it was bought, as little more than a shell, by Olive Wilson Filmer, later Lady Baillie, an Anglo-American heiress of the Whitney family (of Pratt & Whitney engineering fame).
Lady Baillie renovated and rebuilt the castle with the help of French designers, particularly Armand Rateau, introducing authentic period details rescued from other houses and many objets d’art, including the 16th-century busts of Henry VIII and his three children that can be seen in the Queen’s Gallery. |
She enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. |
She enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, entertaining royalty, politicians and film stars, but, on her death in 1974, Lady Baillie bequeathed the castle to a charitable foundation so it could be opened to the public and used for conferences, artistic events and the furtherance of peace.
Apart from permanent attractions - castle tours, gardens, the maze and grotto, and a beautiful breeding collection of birds, some of which are endangered species - there are regular special events.
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Inside the Medway towns
Though it has both Summer and Christmas Dickens Festivals, Rochester is notable for more than its literary connection. Its fine cathedral was largely built by the French monk, Gundulf, who began it in 1080, on the site of a Saxon cathedral. Much of his work remains, though the beautifully simple Romanesque west front dates from the 12th century.
Gundulf was also responsible for the magnificent keep that dominates Rochester Castle. Largely a shell, the keep’s interior still has an eerie atmosphere, and views from the top are superb. |
Rochester Castle. |
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Inevitably, however, one turns to Dickens. The Charles Dickens Centre is in Eastgate House, a 16th-century building which was the model for the Nun’s House in Edwin Drood and Westgate House in The Pickwick Papers. It is an excellent audio-visual introduction to his life and works, and some of the models depicting Victorian slums are beautifully made. |
Eastgate House. |
Other buildings nearby with Dickens connections include Restoration House, Satis House and the Watts Charity building in the High Street, immortalised in the story Seven Poor Travellers.
Gads Hill Place in nearby Higham is now a school, but can be visited on the first Sunday of each month and during the Dickens Festivals. The ‘Swiss Chalet’ that he erected at Gads Hill, and in which he did most of his writing, can now be seen outside the Charles Dickens Centre. |
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Two miles from Rochester High Street is the Georgian portion of the Chatham dockyard, in which Nelson’s flagship Victory was built. It requires most of a day to enjoy the dockyard to the full. You can find out what was required to build an 18th-century warship via a fascinating audio-visual installation, clamber over a World War II destroyer and a Cold War submarine, learn how rope is made in what was once the longest brick building in the world, have a drink in a pub that serves Flagship beer, brewed within the dockyard itself, and browse the Royal Dockyard Museum. |
Chatham Dockyard. |
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You will also find the Royal National Lifeboat Institute Museum and various other displays and exhibitions. It’s exhausting but fascinating, and if you have any energy left you can stroll up the hill for more military history at Fort Amherst. Dug into the chalk hill above the Medway, this is one of the best preserved of the forts built to defend the country from Napoleonic invasion. |
Fleur de Lis Heritage. | Along the coast
East of the Medway towns, Sittingbourne has a narrow-gauge steam railway originally used for transporting paper, and is home to Dolphin Yard, where Thames sailing barges were built. It is now a museum preserving some of these wonderful craft, along with photos and memorabilia.
Faversham is a fine old town, with the Shepherd Neame Brewery (England’s oldest, tours bookable), Chart Gunpowder Mills (the world’s oldest), and the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre housed in a 15th-century building which was once an inn.
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Whitstable’s harbour is busy again, and oysters and shellfish are still the local speciality. The markets on the harbour open every day, selling the many varieties of fish that send Rick Stein into raptures.
There are wonderful streets with ancient weatherboarded houses, many still occupied by craftsmen such as sail-makers, craft and antique shops line the high street and traditional beach huts still sit three-deep on the low cliffs. |
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