The Navigation Company
History of the Navigation Company:
In 1740, an Act of Parliament was passed to make the Medway Navigable up to Forest Row (in Sussex) and the Medway Navigation Company was established by John Hooker in order to acheive this. Due to a poor sale of the shares in the organisation, the funds for the project were less than first desired to but funds were enough for work to begin to create a navigatable route in 1740. By 1744, the work had reached as far as Tonbridge (at a cost of £12,538). There were (eventually) 14 locks between Maidstone and Tonbridge (reduced to ten and now seven) which could accommodate barges of up to forty tons.
Coal, timber and building materials were shipped upstream, while timber, farm produce (including hops), iron and cannons were shipped down river towards Chatham.
In 1741 the Navigation Company carried its first cargo of coal up to Tonbridge – the price (charged at Tonbridge wharf) was 27 shillings for a 'chaldren'.
It is claimed that in 1834 there were more than 50 vessels from 20 to 90 tons 'belonging to the town' [of Maidstone].
The decline of the Navigation Company began in the 1830s. Ironically, it was in 1830, that the first steam powered (sixty ton) barge travelled from London to Maidstone (via the new Thames and Medway Canal, which was opened in 1824). It had a twelve horse-powered engine. Around this time the river was widened and towpaths for horses were introduced. Tolls were also reduced but this was only in response to much petitioning and criticism in the local press. An article in the Maidstone Gazette of 1834 complained of the great abuse of the Navigation Company because of its monopoly on river trade and called for a reduction in tolls.
In 1836 the company supplied coal to the gasworks, which helped to stem its decline, but a short while later they had competition from the railways. The Tonbridge to Maidstone link was built in 1844 and this was another major factor which contributed to the decline of the Navigation Company. Moreover, the company cut off its own nose to spite its face by refusing to supply the railways with coke. After 1860, the Navigation Co. had serious financial problems. More competition, this time from motorised road transport, was a further contributing factor to the decline of the Navigation Co. They lost the trade from the hop traffic in 1891, and coal to the gasworks in 1902. The collapse of Farleigh Lock in 1910 was the final death nell of the Navigation Co. which folded in the same year.
The Medway Conservancy Board was established in 1911 to manage the river and actually closed the river until 1915 to make a number of repairs. It was at this time that the 10 existing locks were built. Yet, when the river re-opened for business it was never the same with regard to industry traffic, and attempts after this to attract freight back to the river failed.
In 1803 there was an ambitious plan, to link Tonbridge with Portsmouth and Maidstone with the Thames (via the Higham Canal). This was dubbed the 'Grand Southern Canal'. Unfortunately, the plan was too ambitious and was never realised.
Nowadays the Medway is used mainly for pleasure, rather than for transporting goods (see The Medway Today - Recreation).