77-779: Pentagon bus station was the main bus interchange in Chatham , Kent , South East England . It was an integral part of the Pentagon Shopping Centre . Before its closure in 2011, 80% of local services started, terminated or passed through the centre. As part of the redevelopment plans for central Chatham, the Pentagon bus station was replaced in October 2011 by the Chatham Waterfront bus station on Globe Lane, adjacent to Military Rd. Space previously used by
154-697: A Naval hospital, RM barracks from 1905). HMS Collingwood and HMS Pembroke were both naval barracks. In response to the huge manpower needs, the village of Chatham and other nearby villages and towns grew commensurately. Trams , and later buses, linked those places to bring in the workforce. The area between the High Street and Luton village illustrates part of that growth, with its many streets of Victorian terraces. The importance of Chatham Dockyard gradually declined as Britain's naval resources were reduced or moved to other locations, and eventually, on 31 March 1984, it shut. The dockyard buildings were preserved as
231-637: A borough under the Local Government Act 1972 , by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a non-metropolitan district of the county of Kent ; under subsequent renaming the borough became the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway (1979); and, from 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway . Under the most recent change, in 1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham,
308-670: A cause of historical controversy. The issue was placed within the scope of a 1993 Competition Commission inquiry into The supply of bus services in Mid and West Kent . As a result of the inquiry, M&D were required to undertake to provide equal access at reasonable rates and conditions. In late 2013, Medway Council planned to turn the disused station into a car park for its employees but as of 2015 all entrances have been fenced off. [REDACTED] Media related to Chatham Pentagon Bus Station at Wikimedia Commons Chatham, Kent Chatham ( / ˈ tʃ æ t ə m / CHAT -əm )
385-525: A complex across the neck of the peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway, and included Fort Amherst . The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of more forts. The second phase of fort-building (1806-19) included Fort Pitt (later used as a hospital and the site of the first Army Medical School). The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of
462-520: A means for the transport of goods to and from 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 . Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on
539-539: A museum of Roman artifacts but originally a wayside hospital commissioned by Henry III in 1234. The A2 continues to Faversham, but does not (and never has) go through the town, but almost bypasses it to the south. A mile (1.6 km) later, it arrives at Brenley Corner, junction 7 of the M2. At Brenley Corner, the A2 once again becomes a primary dual carriageway. Straight after the interchange, Dunkirk and Boughton are bypassed as
616-530: A non-primary single carriageway road at this point. The M2 now parts company to bypass the Medway Towns , while the A2 heads into them. It enters Strood before crossing the River Medway into Rochester . The A2 bypasses the old High Street, heading instead along Corporation Street alongside the railway lines. It crosses the old High Street, climbs Star Hill and heads east into Chatham where it meets
693-543: A single-carriageway three-lane road. It was a dualled three-lane section, with hard shoulders (hardened verge), with four grade-separated junctions. It was to finish in the summer of 1966. Leonard Fairclough & Son constructed the bridges. The section was opened at noon on Friday 29 July 1966, with the Bishop of Rochester , David Say , who said a prayer, and George Harris, the managing director of Monk Ltd. The Rochester Way Relief Road, bypassing Kidbrooke and Eltham ,
770-476: Is a town within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent , England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham , Rochester , Strood and Rainham . In 2020 it had a population of 80,596. The town developed around Chatham Dockyard and several army barracks, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. The Corps of Royal Engineers
847-629: Is also an express bus via Strood and Rochester and A2 to Bluewater in Greenhithe . In the 19th century the ecclesiastical parish of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester). Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a Waterloo church built in 1821 by Robert Smirke , and restructured in 1869 by Gordon Macdonald Hills; it ceased being an active church in 1964, and
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#1732783198857924-410: Is currently used as an art project. 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. 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. Chatham
1001-752: Is derived from the Romany word for 'youngster'. Before the Chatham Dockyard was closed down on 31 March 1984, the cultural idea of the Chav did not exist in the Medway Towns. Local newspapers for Chatham include Medway News and Medway Standard , both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and the Medway Messenger , published by the KM Group . The town also has free newspapers in
1078-442: Is flowing in a south–north direction. This gives the right bank, where the town stands, considerable advantages from the point of view of river use. Compared with opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep; the illustration (1), an early print of the settlement, is taken from the point where Fort Pitt now stands. The town lies below at river level, curving round to occupy a south-easterly trending valley (The Brook), in which lies
1155-632: Is misleading). A section of the modern A2 from Rochester to the Roman settlement of Vagniacae , modern Springhead , is believed to roughly follow the Roman route. The A2 starts at Borough in Central London, at a junction with the A3 , near the church of St George the Martyr . The remains of a small Roman temple was excavated at Tabard Square in 2003. The A2 at this point is named Great Dover Street, and
1232-562: Is on the rising ground in the right distance. The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. The Darland Banks , the northern slopes of the Luton Valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. The photograph (3), taken from the Banks and looking south, shows the village in the centre, with the rows of Victorian terraced housing, which unusually follow
1309-554: 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 . A second Baptist chapel
1386-541: Is still based in Chatham at Brompton Barracks . The dockyard closed in 1984, but the remaining naval buildings are an attraction for a flourishing tourist industry. Following closure, part of the site was developed as a commercial port, other parts were redeveloped for business and residential use, and part was used as the Chatham Historic Dockyard museum. Its attractions include the submarine HMS Ocelot . The town has important road links and
1463-688: Is the last set of traffic lights out of Greater London (the lights only apply to traffic turning right onto the A2213). Shortly after here, the A2 crosses the A205 South Circular Road and becomes a motorway in all but name, with 3 lanes and a hard shoulder in each direction. Within the London section the left hand lane is used for local traffic. At Falconwood, the road becomes the East Rochester Way ;– this point
1540-625: Is the only part of the A2 within the congestion charging zone . At the end of the road, it meets the London Inner Ring Road and becomes a primary route. The A2 heads along Old Kent Road towards New Cross , where the A20 breaks away. The A2 continues east through Deptford and Blackheath until it arrives at the Shooter's Hill Interchange with the A102 near Greenwich . A section of
1617-572: The A230 and A231 . There used to be one way ring road but it was changed to two way running in 2006 and was partially closed to all but buses and taxis in 2009, meaning the ring road was no more. The A2 heads to the south of Gillingham , where the A289 Medway Northern Bypass joins it. The A278 departs from the A2 to head south to meet the M2, whereas the A2 goes through Rainham and Newington before entering green country for
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#17327831988571694-584: The Bluebell Hill TV transmitter, supplemented by a low power relay transmitter in the town centre. A2 road (Great Britain) The A2 is a major road in south-east England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent . This route has always been of importance as a connection between London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe . It was originally known as
1771-653: The Dover Road . The M2 motorway has replaced part of the A2 as the strategic route. Unlike the other single digit A-roads in Great Britain, the A2 does not form a zone boundary . The boundary between Zones 1 and 2 is the River Thames . The route of the current A2 follows a similar route to that of a Celtic ancient trackway . It was an important route for the Romans linking London with Canterbury and
1848-567: The England Hockey League . Kite Flying is possible, especially power kiting on the Great Lines Heritage Park (between Gillingham and Chatham) and at Capstone Farm Country Park . Skiing is also possible near Capstone Farm Country Park at Capstone Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre. On a cultural level, Chatham gave birth to several movements in literature, art and music. In the period from 1977 until 1982
1925-605: The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD), now the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) came the band known as Wang Chung . The vocalist and guitarist with Wang Chung, Jeremy Ryder, who is better known as Jack Hues attended KIAD. Alongside such individuals was Alan Denman, who became a well established lecturer at KIAD, and who founded The Flying Circuits in 1984, which became an urban theatre movement in
2002-839: The M2 at Three Crutches Interchange, near Strood . This latter section, from the Pepper Hill Interchange (near Northfleet and the Ebbsfleet International railway station ), to the Cobham Interchange underwent extensive works (2007–2009) to move the entire carriageway south to run parallel to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link , so as to move the road away from residential housing – and continue using four lanes in each direction, with grade separated junctions. The A2 reverts to
2079-757: The Medway Extra (KM Group) and yourmedway ( KOS Media ). The local commercial radio station for Chatham is KMFM Medway , owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station Radio Sunlightbased in Richmond road between the high street and the River Medway. The area can also receive the county wide stations BBC Radio Kent , Heart and Gold , as well as many radio stations in Essex and Greater London . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian from
2156-676: The Medway Towns . Many students from KIAD played various acting roles within The Flying Circuits, in Chatham, Gillingham and London . The scenes performed by The Flying Circuits were entirely based upon excerpts from the Electronic Town, a screenplay written by Alan Denman between January and October 1984, which concerned a futuristic science fiction dystopia . Denman also helped to form The Medway Poets with Billy Childish , Robert Earl, Bill Lewis , Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson . The Medway Poets met regularly at
2233-712: The North Kent and the Chatham Main Lines , and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are three trains an hour to London Victoria , two trains an hour to London Charing Cross , two trains an hour to Luton (via London Bridge , St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway ) and two services an hour to St Pancras via High Speed 1 . The former services run to Dover and Ramsgate ;
2310-650: The Rotherhithe Tunnel (1908). The road was given the reference A2 within the Great Britain road numbering scheme in the 1920s. The Dartford Southern By-pass, which relieved chronic congestion on the old route through Dartford, provided considerable local employment during the Post–World War I recession . It was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1924 and is now named Princes Road. It is estimated that
2387-467: The railway and bus stations are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre. The name Chatham is first attested in a charter of 880 (surviving in a twelfth-century manuscript); it appears again in a charter of 975 as Cætham , and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ceteham . The first element of
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2464-648: The 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy who were lost or buried at sea in World War I and World War II . The Chatham Naval Memorial was constructed from March 1924 to October 1924. The addition of the obelisk and Portland stone plaque walls and surroundings were constructed between June 1952 to October 1952. It stands on the Great Lines, the escarpment ridge between Chatham and Gillingham . The Grade II listed building Chatham Town Hall
2541-564: The 21/22 and 22/23 seasons. Lordswood F.C. plays in the Southern Counties East Football 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. Holcombe Hockey Club is one of the largest in the country, and are based in Chatham. The men's 1st XI are part of
2618-621: The A2 at Bridge . Traffic for the Channel Tunnel and Folkestone leaves at the junction with the A260 , and shortly after this junction the A2 loses its dual carriageway status, regains it, and loses it again within a few miles. The A2 formerly ran through Lydden but was diverted in 1977. Now single carriageway, the A2 forms the Dover bypass. It meets the A256 for Sandwich and Ramsgate at
2695-510: The A2 continues towards Canterbury and Dover. Formerly it went through Canterbury city centre, this has now been bypassed and the original route is now called the A2050 . It breaks off from the A2 at Harbledown – just after Gate Services – taking all Canterbury traffic with it. At Wincheap, the A28 meets the A2, although only westbound traffic can exit the A2 at this point. The A2050 rejoins
2772-408: The Borough of Medway became a unitary authority area , administratively separate from Kent. It remains part of the county of Kent for ceremonial purposes . Medway Council has recently moved its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the dockyard, a former Lloyd's office building. It was built between 1976 and 1978 and is Grade II listed. Chatham is part of
2849-772: The Charing Cross services terminate at Gillingham and the High Speed services terminate at Faversham . Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society. Buses are operated by Arriva Southern Counties and Nu-Venture to various destinations. They serve other towns in Medway including Gillingham, Grain, Strood and Rochester and also to other towns in Kent including Maidstone , Gravesend , Blue Bell Hill and Sittingbourne . There
2926-539: The Continent. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568, and most of the dockyard lies within Gillingham. Initially a refitting base, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then until the late 19th century, further expansion of the yard took place. In its time, many thousands of men were employed at the dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, including HMS Victory , which
3003-573: The High Street. In September 2006, the one-way system was abandoned and two-way traffic reintroduced on most of the ring-road system. Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and as of early 2010, the demolition of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover has been completed. It was replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station. The new Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011. Chatham railway station , opened in 1858, serves both
3080-446: The High Street. Beyond the Chatham Dockyard was marshy land, now called St Mary's Island, and has several new developments of housing estates. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration. Illustration (2) is taken from the opposite side of the valley: the Pentagon Shopping Centre is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and Frindsbury
3157-678: The Medway Arts Centre organised a large parade, composed of dancers, musicians, artists and sculptors, who stood upon theatrical lorry floats. The vehicles were initially parked up next to the entrance into the Theatre Royal Cafe, a popular restaurant in the Chatham Town Hall, on Whiffens Avenue, and then started to travel into Chatham, Rochester , Strood and Frindsbury , where sweets, chocolate, posters, badges, leaflets, stickers and T-shirts were handed out to
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3234-401: The Medway Delta Sound emerged. The term was coined as a joke by the Chatham-born writer, painter and musician Billy Childish after Russ Wilkins's Medway-based record label, Empire Records, used the phrase "From The Medway Delta". Several Medway Delta bands gained international recognition, including The Milkshakes , The Prisoners (see also James Taylor Quartet ) and The Dentists . Out of
3311-460: The Medway Towns began to have an increase in alcohol and drug-related, antisocial behaviour, which many residents then realized had largely been caused by the closure of the dockyard in 1984, and the resulting mass redundancies. There has been a concerted effort to revitalise the Thames Gateway area and one of the largest employers in Chatham is now Vanquis Bank Ltd, a subsidiary of Vanquis Banking Group . The Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates
3388-741: The Nag's Head at 292 Rochester High Street, but disbanded in 2013. The Medway Poets were formed in 1975 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at the Kent Literature Festival and many others in South East England 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 movement of Remodernism came into being. Recent Medway artists of note include Kid Harpoon , Crybaby Special and The Monsters, Red Light, Underground Heroes, Tyrannosaurus Alan, Pete Molinari, Lupen Crook , Brigadier Ambrose , Stuart Turner and Theatre Royal. The term ' Chav ', research suggests, does not derive from Chatham's name ("Chatham Average"), but
3465-480: The Roman road has been identified running through Greenwich Park on an alignment with Vanbrugh Park. At Shooter's Hill, Watling Street and the A2 part company, as Watling Street continues along the A207 . At this point the A2 joins a dual carriageway , the Rochester Way Relief Road (the carriageways to the north of this junction being the A102 Blackwall Tunnel Approach) with a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h). The A2 meets traffic lights at Kidbrooke ; this
3542-400: The Romans in AD 50. The road appeared in the Antonine Itinerary , a contemporary map of Roman roads in Britain, as 'Item a Londinio ad portum Dubris'. In Anglo-Saxon times it became part of a longer road known as Wæcelinga Stræt ('Watling Street' in modern English). Rochester Bridge was rebuilt in stone in 1391 and the 'Wardens and Commonalty of Rochester Bridge' were created to maintain
3619-408: The United Kingdom ordered, inter alia , a third outer ring of forts: these included Fort Luton , Fort Bridgewoods , and Fort Borstal . These fortifications all required military personnel to man them and Army barracks to house those men. These included Kitchener Barracks (c 1750-80), the Royal Marine Barracks (c 1780), Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806) and Melville Barracks (opened 1820 as
3696-417: The York Tavern & Railway Inn, in Ordnance Street, Chatham, from 1974 to 1985, near KIAD at Fort Pitt in Rochester, and Chatham railway station . Chatham has always had a strong musical and creative arts heritage that has remained centred on local groups, many of whom were also part of the KIAD. Charles Thomson and Billy Childish went on to create the artistic movement known as Stuckism in 1999. There
3773-413: The bridge, the modern equivalent of which, the Rochester Bridge Trust , still manages the current crossing. By the 17th century, the road had fallen into disrepair and sections were converted into turnpike roads by various Turnpike Acts passed by Parliament . The section between Gravesend and Rochester was turnpiked in 1712 and that from Chatham to Canterbury in 1730; the section from there to Dover
3850-480: The bus station will be used to expand the Pentagon Shopping Centre. The new bus shelters have been designed to have living roofs (mainly sedums ). The Pentagon bus station was arranged as a two-lane, one-way, ring road around the outside of the Pentagon Shopping Centre at the upper level. The station had 18 bays, all on the inside of the road around the irregular 5 sided building. Bus access came from street level (The Brook) via one street level ramp and could exit via
3927-412: The congestion. The High Street itself is traffic free, so all traffic on Best Street and Railway Street has to skirt around it. The basic west–east routes are The Brook to the north and New Road to the south, but the additional problems caused by the situation of the Pentagon Bus Station meant that conflicting traffic flows were the result, from 1975 and onward. From April 1986 and onward until October 1987,
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#17327831988574004-422: The contour lines. The opposite slopes are the ‘'Daisy Banks'’ and ‘'Coney Banks'’, along which some of the defensive forts were built (including Fort Luton, in the trees to the left) Until the start of the 20th century, most of the south part of the borough was entirely rural, with a number of farms and large tracts of woodland. The beginning of what is now Walderslade was when a speculative builder began to build
4081-493: The core of the village in Walderslade Bottoms . 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. The closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard on 31 March 1984 had the effect of changing the employment statistics of the town. About 7,000 people lost their jobs. The unemployment rate went up to 23.5%. From early April 1984 to December 1985, and onwards,
4158-421: The crowds, to promote the Medway Arts Centre. In April 1997, the Medway Arts Centre became the Brook Theatre . The Pentagon Shopping Centre stands in the town centre and serviced the old Pentagon Bus Station that was closed in September 2011. Chatham Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011, replacing the town's previous Pentagon Bus Station which was opened in 1970, before the Pentagon Shopping Centre
4235-419: The first time since Three Crutches. The road meets the A249 , now dualled, to the west of Sittingbourne , before going through the town itself (bypassing the now-pedestrianised High Street, as it does in Rochester and Chatham). Leaving Sittingbourne, the A2 continues east in an almost straight line, for it is still along the alignment of Watling Street at this point. At Ospringe it passes the Maison Dieu , now
4312-403: The historic site Chatham Historic Dockyard (operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust ), which was under consideration as a World Heritage Site the site is being used for other purposes. Part of the St Mary's Island section is now used as a marina, and the remainder is being developed for housing, commercial and other uses, branded as "Chatham Maritime". Chatham lost its independence as
4389-405: The line of the ancient Celtic route. It was paved by the Romans , and named Watling Street by the Anglo-Saxons. Among archaeological finds here have been the remains of a Roman-era cemetery. Chatham was long a small village on the banks of the river. By the 16th century, warships were being moored at Jillingham water ( Gillingham ), because of its strategic sheltered location between London and
4466-449: The name comes from the Common Brittonic word that survives in modern Welsh as coed ("woodland"). The second element is the Old English word hām ("settlement"). At the point when the current name was coined, then, it meant "settlement at Chat". The Old English term for the settlement's inhabitants is also reconstructable from a twelfth-century copy of a charter of 995, as * Cēthǣmas . The A2 road passes by Chatham along
4543-449: The old road. A new Lower Thames Crossing down river from the Dartford Crossing linking to the A2 has been proposed by the Department for Transport in 2009. Its original alignment roughly followed a mix of the ancient Celtic route and the turnpike road to Dover. The Roman alignment, however, is not easy to identify and much of the original A2 does not exactly follow what is known of the Roman route (the straightness of many long stretches
4620-430: The parliamentary constituency of Chatham and Aylesford . Before 1997, Chatham had been included in the constituencies of Mid Kent , Rochester and Chatham and Chatham . Chatham has proven to be a marginal parliamentary seat. Since 1945, the members of parliament for Chatham have been as follows: Chatham is situated where the lower part of the dip slope of the North Downs meets the River Medway which at this point
4697-435: The project provided 63,500 days work to local unemployed people. The Dartford Crossing opened as a single tunnel in 1963, then a second tunnel opened in 1980 for additional traffic on the A2, and the M2 Motorway opened in stages between 1963 and 1965 providing an alternative faster route for long-distance traffic avoiding the A2 through Rochester and Chatham. The three-lane stretch of the A2 between Falconwood and Cobham
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#17327831988574774-447: The river itself. The position of the road network in Chatham began with the building of the Roman road ( Watling Street , which passed through the town. Turnpike trusts were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to Canterbury was turnpiked in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the A230 ) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by the New Road (see illustration (1)) leading from
4851-416: The road crosses the Greater London boundary to head eastwards into Kent towards Dartford , bypassing the town to the south and cutting through Dartford Heath. The next junction links the road to the M25 London Orbital Motorway at Dartford ; the next, (Bean Interchange), is for the B255 and A296 for Bluewater , where Watling Street rejoins the A2. The A2 then bypasses Gravesend , before merging into
4928-411: The same or a second ramp as appropriate. In order to move the station from the Pentagon centre, Medway Council had to purchase the lease for the site back off Arriva Southern Counties , which was due to hold the lease until 2018. Arriva held the right to use the site as it had taken over Maidstone & District Motor Services , the previous incumbent. Access to the station by other operators has been
5005-406: The three Channel ports of Rutupiae (now Richborough ), Dubris (now Dover) and Portus Lemanis (in modern Lympne ). It had river crossings at Rochester over the River Medway ; Dartford ( River Darent ) and Crayford ( River Cray ). The Romans paved the road and constructed the first Rochester Bridge across the Medway. Access to London was via London Bridge which was first constructed by
5082-511: The top of Star Hill Rochester, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches. This also became inadequate for the London cross-channel traffic and the Medway Towns Bypass , the M2 motorway , was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns. Chatham is the hub of the Medway Towns. This fact means that the existing road system has always proved inadequate for the amount of traffic it has to handle, and various schemes have been tried by Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council, to alleviate
5159-409: The town centre remodelling of Chatham began, and Railway Street was realigned into becoming part of an inner ring road, that became a one-way system. This redevelopment included the demolition of the House of Holland department store in January 1987, and the construction of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover in Chatham, that was opened in February 1989, so the traffic could be carried from south to north over
5236-548: Was a resurgence in the live music scene in early 2001, with an initial focus on the Tap 'n' Tin venue in Chatham. The essence of the original greatness of the Medway Delta Sound was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by David Wise's Urban Fox Press, which also published several books by Medway poets and artists. In 2008. the independent arts organisation Medway Eyes was founded, specialising in music and photography. It had promoted several arts exhibitions and gigs at The Barge, at 63 Layfield Road, in Gillingham (now closed) and
5313-422: Was built in January 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With Chatham being part of the Medway Towns, it took on a new role as the Medway Arts Centre in April 1987, with the promotional motto " Putting The Arts Back into The Medway ". There were many events held within the Medway Arts Centre, including many stage plays, themed nights and snooker tournaments. Likewise during May 1990,
5390-411: Was built in stages from around 1963 until 1973. A section of Ringway 3 (part of the proposed M16 motorway linking to the A2, which later formed part of the M25 motorway opened between 1974 and 1977. The Strood to Swanscombe dualling was constructed from 1 June 1964, being seven miles, with a contract of £4,436,869 given to A. Monk Ltd of Padgate , near Warrington . The dualled section replaced
5467-448: Was built there in the 1760s. After World War I , many submarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard. In addition to the dockyard, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack. Upnor Castle had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667 showed that more defences were required. The fortifications, which became more elaborate as the threat of invasion grew, were begun in 1756 as
5544-669: Was founded about 1700. The Ebenezer Chapel dates from 1662. Chatham Memorial Synagogue was built by Simon Magnus in 1867 on the Chatham end of Rochester High Street in Rochester. For a full list of schools serving Chatham visit List of schools in Medway The town's Association Football club, Chatham Town F.C. , plays in the Premier Division of the Isthmian League having gained two successive promotions in
5621-575: Was once the westbound terminus of the dual carriageway. There are exits for Bexleyheath , Black Prince (at Bexley ), and other south east London suburbs. Motorists should be aware that the section between the Blackwall Tunnel Approach and Dartford Heath is monitored using average speed cameras . Just before the A2 reaches the junction with the A2018, the speed limit increases to the national speed limit (70 mph, 112 km/h) as
5698-569: Was only turnpiked in the 19th century by which time it was known as the Great Dover Road. Rochester Bridge was rebuilt in cast iron in 1856 (and rebuilt again in 1914 with a second bridge in 1970). The London, Chatham and Dover Railway completed a railway route from London to Dover in the 1860s. Access to London from the A2 across the River Thames was improved with the completion of Tower Bridge (1894), Blackwall Tunnel (1897) and
5775-640: Was opened in 1975, and was considered an unwelcoming environment for passengers. This was because of the diesel fumes from the buses, coaches and minibuses, and because the waiting areas would sometimes become very crowded, whenever large groups of customers from the Pentagon Shopping Centre used the stairs and escalators, to get on board the green buses, coaches and minibuses that were managed by Maidstone & District Motor Services . The Medway, apart from Chatham Dockyard, has always had an important role in communication: historically it provided
5852-415: Was opened in 1988. The M20 motorway to Folkestone was constructed in stages from the 1960s and provided a faster route to Dover following extensions built in the early 1990s, after which traffic levels on the M2 and A2 reduced. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge opened in 1991. A new flyover for A2 westbound to M25 northbound traffic was completed in late 2007. In 2008, a section of the A2 beside Gravesend
5929-501: Was widened to 3 or 4 lanes between Pepperhill (a suburb of Northfleet) to Cobham. It was also rerouted away from the houses of Gravesend/Singlewell to make room for the new lanes and reduce the amount of noise and pollution from the widened roads. The old route of the A2 (the Roman road) has been made into a combined footpath and cycle path. The new road section opened in 2009. A section of the old road has been turned into Cyclopark , with footpaths, cycle paths and an equestrian route along
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