Gillingham, Kent

Gillingham's name is Old English in origin and means "the homestead of Gylla's people".[2] The names of Gillingham in Dorset and Gillingham in Norfolk have the same etymology,[2] despite the differing pronunciation.[3]

Gillingham became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, gaining municipal borough status in 1903.[4] John Robert Featherby was the first mayor of the Borough of Gillingham.[5] In 1928 Rainham was added to the Gillingham Borough. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it became a non-metropolitan district covering Gillingham, Hempstead, Wigmore and Rainham.[6] This district was abolished in 1998 before it merged with the other Medway Towns (in the City of Rochester-upon-Medway district) under the 1990s UK local government reform, to become part of the Medway unitary authority.

The town grew along the road from Brompton on the great lines (military barracks), to the railway station. As such it was a linear development. Close by was the road along the shore line, linking The Strand, and the tiny village of Gillingham Green. Later, communities developed along the top road - Watling Street – turnpike linking Chatham with Dover. All these communities merged into the town that is called today Gillingham.

The name Gillingham is recorded in the Domesday book of 1086. It is said to have been named after a warlord, Gyllingas—from the old English gyllan, meaning "to shout". He was a notable man in Kent history as he led his warriors into battle screaming and shouting. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Gillingham was given to the half-brother of William I of England, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who rebuilt the parish church at Gillingham and constructed an Archbishop's Palace on land bordered by Grange Road, the ruins of which could still be seen in the last century. At the time Gillingham itself was a small hamlet, built around the parish church and surrounded by large farm-holdings, of which St. Mark's Parish formed part, being part of Brittain Farm.

William Adams mentioned Gillingham in his writings, saying: "... two English miles from Rochester and one mile from Chatham, where the King's ships do lie". Adams was baptised at Gillingham Parish Church on 24 September 1564.[10]

The River Medway estuary at The Strand, Gillingham. The Kingsnorth power stations are on the opposite bank.

The Strand was once owned by the Davenport family in 1635, the Davenport family included a Mayor of Gillingham,[11] pie makers and key holders of Gillingham. The Davenport family had a road named after them in 1920. The Davenport estate was in Ashford, Kent. The estate comprised around 15000 acres and was called The Davenport Manor. The Davenports lost the estate in 1889. The Davenport family were among the investors in the Chatham Dockyard.

In medieval times the part of Gillingham known as Grange was a limb of the Cinque Ports[12] and the maritime importance of the area continued until the late 1940s. Indeed, a large part of Chatham Dockyard lay within Gillingham, and when it was closed in 1984, two-thirds of the then modern-day dockyard lay within the boundaries of Gillingham. The dockyard was founded by Queen Elizabeth I on the site of the present gun wharf, the establishment being transferred to the present site about 1622. In 1667 a Dutch fleet sailed up the River Medway and, having landed at Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey and laying siege to the fort at Sheerness, invaded Gillingham in what became known as the raid on the Medway. The Dutch eventually retreated, but the incident caused great humiliation to the Royal Navy.

The Seven Years' War began in 1756 and the government immediately gave orders for the defence of the dockyard; by 1758 the Chatham Lines of Defence were built. Over a mile long, they stretched across the neck of the dockyard peninsula, from Chatham Reach, south of the dockyard, across to Gillingham Reach on the opposite side. One of the redoubts on the Lines was at Amherst. The batteries faced away from the dockyard itself to forestall an attack from the landward side; the ships and shore-mounted guns on the river were considered sufficient to protect from that side. The lines of defence are now part of the Great Lines Heritage Park and also the Lower Lines Park (near MidKent College, Gillingham Campus).

Chatham Naval Memorial on the Gillingham Great Lines

War with France began again in 1778, and once more it was necessary to strengthen the defences. Fort Amherst was the first to be improved; it was followed by work beginning in 1800 to add others at Fort Pitt, Chatham, plus Fort Delce and Fort Clarence (both in Rochester); later in the 19th century others were added, including one at Fort Darland in Gillingham. This work, and the expansion of the dockyard, meant that more homes were needed for the workers. The position of the Lines meant that this building could only happen beyond, and so New Brompton came into being. The population rose to 9,000 people by 1851.

Gillingham was still only a small village; eventually it, too, was swallowed up, and the name of the whole settlement changed to Gillingham. In the 1891 census its population was 27,809, and in 1901, it was 42,530.

In 1919, after World War I, a naval war memorial in the shape of a white stone obelisk was set up on the Great Lines.[13] Additional structures were added in 1945 to commemorate the dead of World War II. Similar monuments stand in the dockyard towns of Portsmouth and Plymouth.

Arriva Southern Counties bus depot in Gillingham

The main source of employment was at Chatham Dockyard, two-thirds of which lay within the boundaries of Gillingham. When it ceased to be a naval base in 1984, there was significant unemployment. A World Heritage Site application has been made for the Dockyard and its defences.[15] Since the 1980s, Gillingham has rebuilt its economic base and the Gillingham Business Park was set up 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town centre, to attract investments and diversify economic activity.[16] The business park and ice rink were an early commission for Grimshaw Architects.[17]

Gillingham has a marina called Gillingham Marina. Gillingham is an important retail centre serving a substantial part of Medway. The town has a large street market in the High Street on Saturdays and Mondays, and is the busiest in the whole of Medway.[18]

Brompton Academy (Upbury Manor School), the entrance

The Gillingham Boys Grammar School, which was opened in 1923,[13] later became The Howard School in 1975, when it merged with the Rainham Campus secondary school for boys. Other secondary schools include Rainham Mark Grammar School (formerly the Gillingham Technical School), Brompton Academy (formerly New Brompton College and before that Upbury Arts College, Upbury Manor), Rainham Girls School, Chatham Grammar School for Girls and the Robert Napier School. There are also three primary schools in the small residential area called Twydall: Twydall Infant School, Twydall Junior School and St Thomas of Canterbury R.C. School. In Gillingham itself are St. Mary's, Barnsole Road, Woodlands, Byron, and Napier Community Primary Schools. In Wigmore, there is the Fairview Infants and Junior Schools and in Hempstead, the Hempstead Infant and Junior Schools.

Gillingham also hosts MidKent College, a Further Education College which introduced Higher Education courses in 2012 and Universities at Medway, a university campus complex comprising University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Greenwich on the former HMS Pembroke barracks buildings.

See List of schools in Medway for a full list of schools serving Gillingham and the Medway area.

A view of St Mary Magdeline Church

Within Gillingham there are many churches from different Christian denominations. There are three Church of England churches: the historic parish church of St. Mary Magdalene; the evangelical St. Mark's; and St. Augustine's. There are also Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches.

The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene ("The Church on the Green",[27]) is the oldest building in Gillingham and Grade II* Listed.[28] The Normans built the church in the early 13th century, then in the 15th century a tower was added. More extensions were added during the 14th century. In 1700, Philip Wightman was commissioned to cast and hang a ring of five bells, to the tower. Then in 1737, Richard Phelps added another bell to complete a ring of six.[29] Edward Hasted refers to it in 1798, ‘three isles and three chancels, with a handsome tower steeple at the west end’'.[30] In 1811, Thomas Mears added two treble bells to make eight. In 1868, architect Sir Arthur Blomfield restored the church and tower and to mark the completion of the restoration, the firm of Heaton, Butler and Bayne replaced the stained glass in the east window,[29] based on a design by Henry Holiday.[28]

A view of Our Lady of Gillingham Catholic Church.

In 1896, Our Lady of Gillingham Roman Catholic Church was built close to Saint Mary Magdalene Church, and overlooks the River Medway.

It followed after other Roman Catholic churches in the area, the closest, St Michael's in Chatham (built 1863). Our Lady of Gillingham was built on the town of New Brompton, as Gillingham was then called, to mainly cater for the new workforce – those employed at Chatham Dockyard. The church itself was started in 1890, and was completed by 1896, being opened on 12 May 1896.

A local Roman Catholic school was established on the site of the church in 1894. The schoolrooms were used until 1972, when the infant section of the school relocated to nearby Greenfield Road. In 1988, after more building work on the new site, the whole school was reunited on its new site at Greenfield Road. The Church (Our Lady of Gillingham) celebrated its centenary in May 1996, two years after the local school.

St. Mark Church

Gillingham also has the Jāmi’ah mosque and a Hindu Sabha Mandir.

James Jershom Jezreel, founder of the Jezreelite sect which flourished in the area during the 19th century, began the building of Jezreel's Tower on Chatham Hill. The tower was never completed but stood until its demolition in 1961. There is still a Jezreels Road off Watling Street. The tower was painted by Tristram Hillier in 1937 as part of a series of posters for Royal Dutch Shell. A copy is held in Tate Britain.

Brompton Barracks have long been the home of the Royal Engineers. Today Gillingham is home to the Royal Engineers Museum.

• William Adams – nautical adventurer, advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, western samurai
• David Bell – Victoria Cross recipient
• Ryan Bertrand – UEFA Champions League winner with Chelsea FC
• Sara Forbes Bonetta – princess and god-daughter to Queen Victoria, lived for six years in Palm Cottage, Canterbury Street.[31]
• William Cuffay – chartist
• Nicholas Day – actor.
• H. D. Everett, novelist, born in Gillingham
• David Frost – television presenter.[32]
• Hector Gray GC – RAF officer posthumously awarded the George Cross for conduct under torture by the Japanese army in 1943.[33]
• John Hartnell – explorer on Franklin's lost expedition to find the Northwest Passage[34]
• David Harvey – eminent human geographer.
• Jack Hues – musician, most notably as the lead singer of new wave band Wang Chung
• James Jordan – professional dancer, appears on Strictly Come Dancing
• James McCudden – World War I flying ace[35]
• Fernley Marrison – first-class cricketer and British Army officer
• Brian Moore – sport commentator and journalist
• Dee Murray – bass player with Elton John
• Paul Nihill – Four-time Olympian, European champion, Olympic silver medallist and world record holding racewalker
• Stel Pavlou – novelist and screenwriter
• Gary Rhodes – chef and restaurateur
• Vaughan Smith – journalist (founder of Frontline Club), organic farmer who is giving refuge to Julian Assange
• R. N. Taber – poet and novelist
• Rosemary Tonks, poet and novelist, born in Gillingham
• Rik Waller – singer, seen on reality TV show Pop Idol in 2003.

• — Ito and Yokosuka (Japan), the latter being the burial place of William Adams.

• Medway
• Strood
• Rochester
• Chatham
• Rainham
• Gillingham Football Club
• Gillingham Borough Council elections for the political history of the borough covering the town which was abolished in 1998.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Gillingham (Kent).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gillingham, Kent.

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