Chatham Leasing

Did You Know?

Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England. The town developed around Chatham Dockyard and several Army barracks, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard.

The name Chatham was first recorded as Cetham in 880. The Domesday Book records the place as Ceteham. Most books explain this name as a British root ceto (like Welsh coed) plus Old English ham, thus meaning a forest settlement.

One of Britain’s most important Royal Dockyar Chatham, it was associated with many great historical figures of their time – great seamen like Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson as well as literary legends such as Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens. The Chatham dockyard’s role in supporting the fleet linked it to many of the most significant events in history –from the Spanish Armada to the Cold War.

Chatham stands on the A2 road along the line of the ancient Celtic route, which was paved by the Romans, and named Watling Street by the Anglo-Saxons. Among finds have been the remains of a Roman cemetery.

It long remained a small village on the banks of the river, but by the 16th century warships were being moored at Jillingham water (Gillingham), because of its strategic sheltered location between London and the Continent. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568 and most of the dockyard actually lies within Gillingham. Initially a refitting base, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then until the late 19th century.

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 Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy who were lost or buried at sea in the two world wars. It stands on the Great Lines, the escarpment ridge between Chatham and Gillingham.

Although Rochester is very keen to associate itself with Charles Dickens (quite rightly as he based many of his characters and locations on people and places there) he never lived there. He lived in Chatham with his family for several years in his youth on two separate occasions. From 1817 to 1821 the Dickens family lived at number 2 Ordnance Terrace.