River Medway

On July 10th, 1941, a brand new British submarine was commissioned called HMS Umpire.

Nine days later on July 19th, the submarine and her crew were told to meet up with a convoy moving north along the Medway River in England and make their way to Scotland.

So Umpire joined up with the convoy, but then they started having engine problems that night And they began drifting back behind the convoy until they were basically not in the convoy anymore at all.

During this time, the commander of the submarine was up in the bridge, which is the area that controls the submarine when it's above surface, just above the wing.

I mean, this is an amphibious assault, isn't it? It's the most difficult kind of military operation, and it doesn't nearly go wrong.

I mean, they get the troops ashore and everything, but you have this major two-day, uh, uh, encounter at a river crossing battle Dio talks about, which probably is the River Medway.

You think it's the Medway?

In Kent.

He does another speedboaty crime, this time a depot in Aylesford, Kent.

Do you know Aylesford? Near the River Medway.

I know, I know Aylesford.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So it's ideal for speedboat escape 'cause it's near the River Medway.

So there's a Securicor lorry that's got 8.9 million pounds in it, and they've, they're getting, gonna speedboat away, so Lee gets sent to get a speedboat because they need a more powerful speedboat.

Lee's quote is, "I tell you what you need to do, guv'nor," one of the lads said.

Yeah, I mean, this is another problem, [laughs] that Cassius Dio says there are two river battles.

Now, some have suggested that if he lands in Kent, which of course we're disputing, then the first major river they come to is the River Medway.

It's the Medway, yeah.

If you, if you go to the Medway now, uh, near, near Rochester, there is a nice little stone monument that says, "Here the Romans crossed and there was a battle, and Caratacus..." There's no evidence for that at all.

[laughs]

Uh, and he sort of [laughs] he s- he puts two separate events.

But I think there's definitely one river battle, uh, and I don't think the River Medway actually exists as a conflict.

I think what Cassius Dio has done is he's taken these two different accounts of the same event and made them two separate conflicts.

And if you then stay on, stay on the theme of, um, of gas, um, we are going to be importing more and more gas unfortunately as we run out of our own, our own stuff, and most of that will come in the form of liquified natural gas.

And Centrica, about a year or so ago, bought a 50% stake in the Isle of Grain liquified natura- natural gas terminal down in River Medway in Kent.

Gro- the growth there, all their customers are blue chip, blue chip energy companies, utilities.

The capacity of that terminal is getting booked up for many, many years ahead, and it's being expanded.

Okay.

Britain's longest rope walk was at Chatham Docks on the River Medway and is still in use today.

At a quarter of a mile long, workers used bicycles to travel its length.

Now what we're going to do, by turning the handle up at the other end-

Um-

Gosh, that's amazing 'cause, well, I run in Medway, and I go up the Medway River, and I don't-

[laughs]

... see anyone famous at all.

We're told work to upgrade a flood storage area near Tunbridge has come at just the right time, as climate change brings more of a risk of extreme weather.

£42 million has been spent on expanding the site in Lye, which holds water from the River Medway.

Chloe Brewster from our colleagues at KMTV was at the opening event and spoke to Matt Borton, who's leader of Tunbridge and Moorlink Borough Council.

Flooding is a huge concern across Tunbridge and Moorland because our very geography is shaped by the River Medway and its tributaries.

Whether it's the town of Tunbridge, communities like Hildenborough or downstream through Golden Green and into East Peckham, what we have seen are communities that are affected by rising floodwaters during periods of heavy rain and it's important that we're able to defend our town and the villages from the worst impacts of floodwater.

And obviously a lot of money has gone into this.

In Christmas 2013, the last big event we had, much of Tunbridge Town was underwater at Christmas.

People had cars stranded, they couldn't get to their homes, and it was a terrible, terrible Christmas.

The Pilgrim's Way from Winchester to Canterbury.

by julia cartwright rootham to hollombourne the pilgrim's way continues its course over rootham hill and along the side of the chalk downs this part of the track is a good bridle road with low grass banks or else hedges on either side and commands fine views of the rich kentish plains the broad valley of the medway and the hills on the opposite shore the river itself glitters in the sun but as we draw nearer the beauty of the prospect is sorely marred by the ugly chimneys and dense smoke of the snodland limestone works at one point on the downs close to the thygo inn a few hundred yards above our road there is a very extensive view over the valley of the thames ranging from shooter's hill to gray's end on far away out to sea in the daytime the masts of the shipping in the river are clearly seen at night the nore lights twinkle like stars in the distance the height of these downs is close on seven hundred feet that of knockholt is seven hundred and eighty three feet on the other side of the medway the chalk range is considerably lower and the highest points are above de six hundred fifty seven feet hollombourne six hundred and six feet and charing six hundred and forty feet the way now runs past pilgrim's house formerly the kentish drover's inn above the old church and village of trosley and the megalithic stones known as cauldron circle one of the best preserved cromlechs along the road further on a short lane leads south to burling place the ancient home of the nevilles who have owned the estate since the middle of the fifteenth century while in a group of old farm buildings at paddlesworth formerly paulsford we find the remains of a norman pilgrim's chapel with a fine early english arch the track now crosses a large field and enters snodland an old town containing many roman remains and an interesting church was sadly disfigured by cement works and paper factories here the pilgrims left the hills to descend into the valley below Twice before, at Shelford and Dorking, they had crossed the rivers which make their way through the Chalk Range.

Now they had reached the third great break in the Downs, and a broad stream of the Medway lay at their feet.

They might, if they pleased, go on to Rochester, three miles higher up, and join the road taken by the London pilgrims along the Watling Street to Canterbury, the route of Chaucer's pilgrimage.

but most of them it appears preferred to follow the hills to which they had clung so long the exact place where they had crossed the river has often been disputed according to the old maps it was by the ford at cuxton where the river was shallow enough to allow their passage from bunker's farm immediately above burling a road diverges northwards to cuxton and rochester and was certainly used by many of the pilgrims At Upper Halling on this track we may still see the lancet windows of a pilgrim's shrine, formerly dedicated to St. Lawrence, which had been built into some cottages known as chapel houses.

The bishops of Rochester, who held this manor from Egbert's days, had a right fair house at Lower Halling, on the banks of the Medway.

with a vineyard which produced grates for king henry the third's table this pleasant manor-house on the river was the favourite summer residence of bishop hameau de her who built a new hall and chapel in the reign of edward i and placed his own statue on a gateway which was still standing in the eighteenth century another interesting house worn place lies a little higher up on the banks of the medway where the grass-grown track leading from bunker's farm joins the main road to cuxton and rochester This fine brick mansion formerly belonged to the Levesons, and the quarterings of Sir John Leveson and his two wives are to be seen above the central porch.

In the 13th century, a great number of pilgrims seem to have stopped at Maidstone, where, in 1261, Archbishop Boniface built a hospital for their reception on the banks of the Medway.

It is a true story.

Born in Gillingham, Kent, a shipbuilding town on the River Medway.

When he was 12, his father passes and he was apprenticed to a shipbuilder down in Limehouse on the London waterfront.

Spends about a dozen years learning the trade.