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Top Attractions in Chatham

Fort Horsted

Fort Horsted is a scheduled monument that lies in the Horsted Valley to the South of Chatham, Kent, England. It is a late 19th century Land Fort, and one of six constructed around Chatham and Gillingham, Kent to protect HM Dockyard Chatham from attack. Originally proposed in the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom Report, published in 1860, it and the other land defences were omitted as part of general cost cutting with only the coastal defences on the River Medway being retained and completed under the original 1860 proposals. It was not until the mid-1870s that a revised program was accepted, which included the construction of a convict prison at Borstal, Rochester, to provide low cost labour for the construction of a line of four forts, Fort Borstal, Fort Bridgewood, Fort Horsted and Fort Luton . Its construction started in 1879 and was complete by 1889 after much delay.

Chatham Historic Dockyard

Chatham Historic Dockyard is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England. Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres and was one of the Royal Navys main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was divided into three sections. The easternmost basin was handed over to Medway Ports and is now a commercial port. Another slice was converted into a mixed commercial, residential and leisure development. 80 acres, comprising the 18th century core of the site, was transferred to a charity called the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and is now open as a visitor attraction. It claims to be the world’s most complete dockyard of the Age of Sail. The attraction has seven main elements: Three historic warships: HMS Gannet HMS Cavalier HMS Ocelot The Ropery: a Grade I listed building, Georgian and Victorian rope factory. Wooden Walls: a recreation of the working life of the dockyard in 1758, centred on the construction of HMS Valiant. Steam, Steel and Submarines: tells the story of Chatham Dockyard and the Royal Navy’s use of the River Medway in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lifeboat: a museum about the work of the RNLI which has 17 historic vessels. 3 Slip – The BIG Store: Originally a covered slipway, now a display of large objects from the dockyard and the nearby Royal Engineers Museum. No 1 Smithery: The structure is a Grade II listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It was restored by van Heyningen and Haward Architects and re-opened as a visitor and exhibition centre in July 2010. The new building provides dedicated storage and curatorial facilities for the National Maritime Museum and Imperial War Museums 4,000 ship models as well as a regional Touring Exhibition Gallery, and museum quality permanent Exhibition Galleries. The first touring exhibition to be shown was Stanley Spencers Shipbuilding on the Clyde series. A new project for 2014 is Command of the Oceans. This is possible due to £4.53m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Also the project got a £3m contribution from the Homes and Communities Agency. A new entrance on the north side of the visitor attraction will be built and a discovery centre linking the former naval base with other significant heritage sites including Fort Amherst, the Great Lines Heritage Park and Upnor Castle. This all became possible after the remains of the Namur warship was discovered under the floor of the Wheelwrights’ Shop in 1995. Workers at the dockyard performed eight years of restoration work on the MV Havengore, the ceremonial vessel that carried the body of Winston Churchill during his state funeral. In addition the dockyard is acting as custodian of artefacts, masts and rigging from the Cutty Sark and the Medway Queen, while their hulls are being restored elsewhere. Records of the ships built at Chatham go back to 1646. Chatham Dockyard had one of the best technical schools in England, it housed the first Dockyard School followed by Devonport and Portsmouth. It accepted students from Overseas Dockyards as Gibraltar and H.M. Dockyard, Malta Some of the hundreds of warships built at the Chatham Royal Dockyard may still be seen. These preserved ships include: HMS Victory HMS Unicorn HMS Ocelot ("O" class submarine – launched 5 May 1962, preserved in dry dock at Chatham.

Kent Police Museum

The Kent Police Museum is located within the Chatham Dockyard, in the English county of Kent. It is situated close by the Commissioners House. The museum is staffed by volunteers, and is open from February through to November. The museum includes displays on the history of the Kent County Constabulary which started in 1857; in all fourteen earlier police forces were amalgamated to form the force by 1943. The museums memorabilia collections include, uniforms, equipment, medals, photographs, scenes of crime evidence, and occurrence and charge books. Its collection was started in the 1960s and the museum was first opened in 1973. It was transferred to its current site in the Historic Dockyard; in what was Boiler House No. 3. The museum is home to the worlds largest working padlock.

Holcombe Manor

Holcombe Manor was built in 1887 as a house by the first mayor of Chatham, George Winch, for him and his wife Mary Clarke Bluette to live in. Mary was brought up in the village of Holcombe Rogus, Devon. Winch built the new family house in a near-identical style to that of her childhood home, Holcombe Court in Devon, calling it Holcombe. There was a lake in the grounds, and a sunken Italian garden. The original building was later extended past the conservatories. In 1909 Holcombe Manor was put up for auction. The lots were the house itself, the local football ground, Chatham Town F.C., and the surrounding woodland. This area is now occupied by houses, shops and so on. In 1920 the house became home to Chatham Grammar School for Boys, after which more buildings were built to accommodate students. These temporary buildings remained on the site of the sunken garden for about forty years until the year 2000, when construction on the Performing Arts block was started. The last remnants of the garden were destroyed as the steps leading out from the Manors library down to the garden were demolished and the area bricked over. Today the English and Science stands on the site of the lake. The Parent-teacher association of Chatham Grammar School for Boys is called the Holcombe Association it is believed to be the oldest PTA in England. Students are known as "Holcombians".

Pentagon Shopping Centre

The Pentagon Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Chatham in Kent. The shopping centre is located next to the Waterfront bus station which replaces the Pentagon bus station, which 80% of services use. The shopping centre contains over 70 shops and 7 leisure facilities, many high street names in fashion, homeware and food stores. There are also cafes, restaurants and a bowling alley. As is common with some other 1970s era town centre shopping centres, The Penatagon does not feature a food court or any dedicated dining area. Instead, there are various food outlets scattered throughout the centre. Built as part of the redevelopment of Chatham town centre in the 1970s, the Pentagon also features the high rise Mountbatten House office block, which has controversially stood empty or part-used for most of its history. The Pentagon, Mountbatten House and the Brook multi-storey carpark are built in a distinctive orange-red brick with grey concrete.

Chatham Pentagon bus station

Pentagon bus station was the main bus interchange in Chatham, Kent, South East England. It was an integral part of the Pentagon Shopping Centre. Before its closure in 2011, 80% of local services started, terminated or passed through the Centre. As part of the redevelopment plans for central Chatham, the Pentagon bus station was replaced in October 2011 by the Chatham Waterfront bus station on Globe Lane, adjacent to Military Rd. Space previously used by the bus station will be used to expand the Pentagon Shopping Centre. The new bus shelters have been designed to have living roofs (mainly sedums). The Pentagon bus station was arranged as a two-lane, one-way, ring road around the outside of the Pentagon Shopping Centre at the upper level. The station had 18 bays, all on the inside of the road around the irregular 5 sided building. Bus access came from street level (The Brook) via one street level ramp and could exit via the same or a second ramp as appropriate. In order to move the station from the Pentagon centre, Medway Council had to purchase the lease for the site back off Arriva Southern Counties, which was due to hold the lease until 2018. Arriva held the right to use the site as it had taken over Maidstone & District Motor Services, the previous incumbent. Access to the station by other operators has been a cause of historical controversy. The issue was placed within the scope of a 1993 Competition Commission inquiry into The supply of bus services in Mid and West Kent. As a result of the inquiry, M&D were required to undertake to provide equal access at reasonable rates and conditions. In late 2013, Medway Council planned to turn the disused station into a car park for its employees but as of 2015 all entrances have been fenced off.

Chatham Waterfront bus station

Chatham Waterfront bus station serves the area of Medway, South East England. The bus station opened in October 2011, replacing the town's previous Pentagon bus station which was built in the 1970s and was considered an unwelcoming environment for passengers. The bus station is part of the town's regeneration scheme. Medway Council demolished the John Hawkins flyover in Chatham town centre to make room for the bus station. The main operators at the bus station are Arriva Medway Towns and Nu-Venture. The bus station has 19 stands on four platforms. Bus services run from the bus station around the Medway area and to parts of Kent. The bus station has a travel centre and public toilets. The bus station has been criticised for its open design and waterfront location as compared to the previous enclosed Pentagon bus station.
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