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The landscape of the area changed very rapidly during this period. The jobs available in the Dockyard and associated industries drew people to Brompton and Gillingham. Streets of new houses appeared. The brickfields necessary to provide the raw material to build these homes began to eat up orchards and farmland. However, it was the cement industry which became the largest employer in the area before 1900. Portland cement, so-called because it looked like the top-quality building stone from Portland in Dorset, was much in demand, as it would set hard while under water. The essential ingredients (“blue” mud and chalk) could be dredged from the banks of the Medway and dug out of the hills behind. Frindsbury church soon found itself perched on the edge of an artificial cliff created by massive quarrying operations in the river valley. In Chatham and Gillingham, non-conformist religions became very popular, especially among skilled workers and shopkeepers. This led to the foundation of a number of evangelical chapels and a major Salvation Army citadel was built in the area. In 1836, Princess Victoria made an unscheduled stop in Rochester because of damage sustained by the bridge in a storm. She stayed at the Bull Hotel on the High Street, which was subsequently re-named the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel. The royal arms still decorate its façade. A series of Reform Acts increased the number of men who were allowed to vote, at first in towns only and later throughout the country. It was not until 1928 that women received the same voting rights. The first of these Acts, in 1832, gave Chatham the right to elect its own MP, Rochester retaining two MPs for itself until 1886, when this number was reduced to one. The Education Act 1870 divided the country into about 2,500 districts, each under an elected local board which had powers to build and maintain schools with money from a local tax. All children under the age of 13 years were supposed to attend. Many of today’s Medway schools were founded in the later years of the 19th century. Related pages Resources Industrial Medway: an Historical Survey by J.M. Preston. Published by J.M. Preston, 1977. Aveling and Porter Ltd., Rochester by J.M.Preston. North Kent Books, 1987. Dickens in Rochester: his Books and Festivals by Shirley Harrison and Sally Evemy. S.B. Publications, 1997. Dickens' Rochester by John Oliver. John Hallewell Publications, 1978. Louis Brennan: Inventor Extraordinaire by Norman Tomlinson. John Hallewell Publications, 1980. History of the Southern Railway by Dendy Marshall, 1963; 071100059X.
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Prehistoric Medway
350,000 BC – 43AD Roman Medway
43 – 410 Anglo-Saxon Medway
410 – 1066 Medieval Medway
1066 – 1485 Tudor Medway
1485 – 1603 Medway in the 17th century
1603 – 1700 Georgian Medway
1714 – 1830 Victorian Medway
1837 – 1901 Medway in the 20th century
1901 – 2000 Medway in the 21st century
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