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The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of . About of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.
The Medway has a Drainage basin of , the second largest in southern England after the River Thames. The map opposite shows only the major tributaries: a more detailed map Map of the Medway catchment area:The River Medway (and tributaries) shows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along the North Downs, the Weald and Ashdown Forest.
Minor tributaries include:
Former minor tributaries include the Old Bourne River, which flowed through The Brook, Chatham (not to be confused with the main tributary River Bourne).
The river and its tributaries flow through largely rural areas, Tonbridge, Maidstone and Medway being the exceptions. The Medway itself initially flows in a west–east direction south of the North Downs; at the confluence of the River Beult, however, it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at the Medway Gap, a steep and narrow valley near Rochester, before its final section to the sea.
Until 1746, the river was not navigable above Maidstone. Below that point each village on the river had its wharf or wharves: at Halling, Snodland, New Hythe and Aylesford. Cargoes included corn, fodder, fruit, stone and timber.
In 1746, improvements to the channel meant that barges of could reach East Farleigh, Yalding and even Tonbridge. In 1828, the channel was further improved up to Leigh. There are eleven canal lock on the river. The lowest, opened in 1792, is at Allington, and is the tidal limit. The others are at East Farleigh, Teston, Yalding, Stoneham Old Lock (disused), East Peckham, East Peckham, East Lock, Porter's, Eldridge's and Town Lock in Tonbridge. The locks will take craft up to by , and vessels with a draft of can navigate the river. The shallowest point is just below Sluice Weir Lock, which is prone to silting after heavy rain.The Medway navigation, Leaflet, March 1991, NRA-National Rivers Authority
Small craft such as can sometimes travel as far as Penshurst. The stretch from Leigh to Allington is known as the Medway Navigation, and is in length. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority.
In 1918 to 1920, damages were sought for damage done to an oyster fishery in Stangate Creek.
Three other major crossings are at Tonbridge, where bridges carry the A227 road and a rail link over the river; there is also a two-span viaduct which takes the A21 over the Medway Valley near Haysden.
The lowest crossing of the Medway are two cable tunnels between the Isle of Grain and Chetney marshes. These were built between 1973 and 1976 in anticipation of the commissioning of Grain power station. The tunnels are 1700 m long, 2.54 m in diameter and between 34 and 47 m below ordnance datum; each carries a 400kV electricity circuit. There is no public access.
The Domesday Book records many Manorialism in the Medway valley. Castles became a feature of the landscape, including Rochester Castle, Allington Castle, Leeds Castle (near Maidstone), and West Malling.
Two military actions are named after the river: the Battle of the Medway (43 Common Era, during the Roman invasion of Britain); and the Raid on the Medway, in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
In the 18th century Samuel Ireland published an illustrated book about a journey up the river, to the River Bewl at Bayham Abbey. The book's map shows some of the tributaries (unnamed). The illustrations include the castles at Queenborough, Upnor, Leybourne, Tonbridge and Hever Castle; Penshurst Place; and the bridges at Teston, Maidstone, Aylesford, East Farleigh, Barming, Branbridges and Tonbridge. The hops in the vicinity of the latter are also described; and the easterly River Len, which then supplied Maidstone with its piped water. The book states that Within about two miles of Tunbridge the Medway branches out into several small streams, five of which unite at the town ... having each its stone bridge.
The Thames and Medway Canal, duplicatively linking the estuary at Strood to Gravesend for adverse tides and weather was completed in 1824 but was not a commercial success; by 1849 the South Eastern Railway had taken over its tunnel through a hillside. The western part of the canal remained in use until 1934.
The Hartlake disaster of 1853 saw the deaths of 30 hop-pickers when a wagon carrying them crashed through the side of a rotten wooden bridge at Golden Green near Hadlow, throwing its passengers into the flood-swollen river.
In 1914 HMS Bulwark exploded while moored at Kethole Reach near Sheerness, killing 741 men with only 12 survivors. The following year exploded in Saltpan Reach with the loss of 352 lives.
In 1942 the world's first test of a submarine oil pipeline was conducted with one laid across the Medway in Operation Pluto.
For the 1999 film The Mummy the river was filmed at Chatham Dockyard, in an imitation of a "port at Cairo". The scene is brief but involves the main protagonists departing on their mission to the city of the dead.
The Maidstone River Festival, to celebrate the River Medway, running annually since 1980, is held on the last Saturday of July. It features events on and around the river and attracts thousands to Kent's county town. The festival was cancelled in 2012 due to the London Olympics, but returned in 2013. However, the 2013 event did not include a funfair or a fireworks display as in previous years, and lasted just one day instead of two.
Medway Flows Softly is a song by local man George Gilbert; it was written in the mid-1960s and is often played in local folk clubs and at festivals in Kent.
The River Medway is featured at Maidstone in the studio backdrop of the ITV1 regional news programme Meridian Tonight.
At 7.15 p.m. on 1 May each year, local Kettle Bridge Clogs dance across Barming Bridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge) to mark the start of their Morris dancing season.
Recreationally the river is used by many. For example, individuals and many clubs have paddling trips along many different parts of the Medway (e.g. Bewl Canoe Club). Individuals and club members paddling on the Medway and most other rivers should be members of British Canoeing.
See Medway watermills, and Medway watermills on the upper tributaries, the middle tributaries and the lower tributaries for more details.
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