Robert Flood gave a highly entertaining illustrated talk about Chatham Intra, an area along the River Medway between Chatham and Rochester. Robert’s obvious love and enthusiasm for the area shone through as he talked us through its history, its buildings and the surprisingly numerous historical figures of note associated with it. Who knew that there could be such a lot of history in such a small area?
Amongst the tales told, was that of Richard Dadd, born in Bath Head Lane in 1817. An amazingly talented artist, he was admitted to the Royal Academy at the age of twenty but went on to kill his father and spent the remainder of his days in Bethlem and Broadmoor.
We heard the tale of bitter rivalry between the two local railway companies which resulted in the construction of Chatham Central station, a complete white elephant which didn’t even survive for twenty years.
Robert told us about the many and varied shipyards that existed over the years, building and repairing ships. The best known was probably the Medway Steam Packet Company, whose last vessel, the Medway Queen, is in the process of being restored at Gillingham Pier. At one time there were over one thousand barges registered at Rochester!
We heard about the Featherstone family who acquired many properties along the High Street for their various retail outlets, adapting them to their needs while largely maintaining the existing buildings.
Robert told us the histories of the Wesleyan chapel, St Bart’s chapel and the Memorial Synagogue. We heard stories of the numerous pubs in the area and the breweries that supplied them. All in all, a glorious gallop through an area very familiar to those in attendance.
Report by Helen Stenhouse