Introduction
This site has been created as part of the Riverside Communities Project, delivered by the Medway Valley Countryside Partnership: www.medwayvalley.org
The Riverside Communities Project has celebrated the River Medway and its heritage through a series of events, activities and interpretation. This sight aims to share information about the heritage of the Medway area, highlight the many ways you can better experience and enjoy the Medway via recommended walks, spotter guides and links to other sites of interest and also invite you to add your own story about the River Medway.
Derived from the Celtic word, 'medu', which refers to the sweet taste of the water, the River Medway begins its journey in Ashdown Forest in Sussex and flows into the Thames Estuary at Sheerness after passing 70 miles of downs, clay plains and limestone uplands. The Medway was seen as dividing the ancient Kentish kingdoms, the custom being to refer to those born on the East of the river as 'Men of Kent' and those born on the West as 'Kentish Men'. This tradition still remains today.
Despite havng the largest catchment area of any river in England, the focus of this website is a particular stretch of the river Medway, known as the 'Medway Navigation' which is a 19 mile (c.31 km) stretch from the Leigh Barrier, west of Tonbridge, to Allington Lock near Maidstone.
We hope you enjoy reading through the pages about the history of the area and find the links and recreation suggestions useful. In addition, we would like to invite you to contribute to this website with your own stories of times past in the area. Please contact Andrea at Medway Valley Countryside Partnership (MVCP) with any stories and photo's you might have about the 'Medway Navigation' section and we'll hopefully include these in the website in the Your Medway section. Contact us by email on medwayvalley@kent.gov.uk
We'll look forward to hearing from you and please keep an eye on the website for up to date information about recreation, events and actvities.
