Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2022 had a population of 111,033.

Etymology Gillingham's name is of Old English origin, derived from the personal name Gylla (or Gilla) combined with the suffixes -ingas (meaning "the people of" or "family") and -hām ("homestead," "village," or "estate"). Taken together, the name translates to "the homestead of Gylla's people". The names of Gillingham in Dorset and Gillingham in Norfolk have the same etymology, despite the differing pronunciation. Early recordings of the name appear in the Domesday Book (1086) as Gelingeham for Kent.

Status Before 1894, Gillingham was governed by the parish vestry, Court Leet, and from 1873, a local Board of Health. By 1891, the parish spanned about 5,000 acres with roughly 21,000 residents. The 1894 Local Government Act replaced the Board of Health with the Gillingham Urban District Council, an elected body responsible for local services. The UDC initially had 15 members, three wards (Old Brompton, New Brompton, and Gillingham), and met on Gardiner Street. Key figures included R. H. Cock (chairman), F. C. Boucher (clerk), and the Featherby family, George Featherby, a former brickmaker and councillor, was succeeded by his son John Robert Featherby, who became chairman in 1899. He led the effort for borough status, and when Gillingham became a municipal borough in 1903, Featherby became its first mayor, and the UDC was dissolved.

Transition to Gillingham Borough Council After the urban district council was dissolved, Gillingham Borough Council became the local authority body for the area, operating from 1903 until 1 April 1998. It was established by royal charter on 17 August 1903, evolving from the earlier Gillingham Urban District Council, and John Robert Featherby served as its first mayor. The council governed local services for Gillingham and, from 1928, the adjoining parish of Rainham, after its boundaries were expanded.

Unlike neighbouring Medway towns during the 1974 local government reorganisation, Gillingham chose to remain independent as a non‑metropolitan district under Kent County Council, handling local planning, housing and community services, while the county oversaw broader functions.

The council managed local development, infrastructure improvements and civic facilities throughout the 20th century. It was finally abolished in 1998, when it merged with Rochester‑upon‑Medway City Council to form the Medway unitary authority, known today as Medway Council.

Municipal Buildings The Municipal Buildings in Canterbury Street were built as council offices for Gillingham Borough Council. They were opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Broadbridge, on 25 September 1937. The Lord Mayor was received at Gillingham Railway Station by a guard of honour of boys of HMS Arethusa. Before the Second World War, air raid sirens were placed on the Municipal Buildings, and the local Civil Defence headquarters were in a single-storey building, to the rear of the car park. In about 1953, beneath part of the car park, Gillingham Borough Control Centre was built underground.

When Gillingham Borough Council later merged with Rochester upon Medway to form the unitary Medway Authority in 1998, the buildings were still used as council offices and for meetings for several years afterwards. Later, Medway Council then moved into the former Lloyd's of London headquarters at Chatham Gun Wharf, and the Municipal Buildings were considered surplus to requirements. They were sold off in 2008 under a contract which turned them into a residential care home.John Clancy

Geography The town grew along the road from Brompton on the great lines (military barracks), to the railway station. As such it was a linear development. Close by was the road along the shore line, linking The Strand, and the tiny village of Gillingham Green. Later, communities developed along the top road – Watling Street – turnpike linking Chatham with Dover. All these communities merged into the town that is called today Gillingham.

Climate Gillingham experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. Due to its southerly, sheltered, marine position near the European continent the climate is among the warmest in the whole of England.

History The name Gillingham is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is said to have been named after a warlord, Gyllingas—from the old English gyllan, meaning "to shout". He was a notable man in Kent history as he led his warriors into battle screaming and shouting. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Gillingham was given to the half-brother of William I of England, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who rebuilt the parish church at Gillingham and constructed an Archbishop's Palace on land bordered by Grange Road, the ruins of which could still be seen in the last century. At the time Gillingham itself was a small hamlet, built around the parish church and surrounded by large farm-holdings, of which St. Mark's Parish formed part, being part of Brittain Farm.

William Adams mentioned Gillingham in his writings, saying: "... two English miles from Rochester and one mile from Chatham, where the King's ships do lie". Adams was baptised at Gillingham Parish Church on 24 September 1564.WILL ADAMS: Gillingham's own Samurai.

The Strand was once owned by the Davenport family in 1635, the Davenport family included a Mayor of Gillingham,CityArt, Medway Council. t pie makers and key holders of Gillingham. The Davenport family had a road named after them in 1920. The Davenport estate was in Ashford, Kent. The estate comprised around 15000 acres and was called The Davenport Manor. The Davenports lost the estate in 1889. The Davenport family were among the investors in the Chatham Dockyard. In medieval times the part of Gillingham known as Grange was a "limb" (junior member) of the Cinque Ports and the maritime importance of the area continued until the late 1940s. Indeed, a large part of Chatham Dockyard lay within Gillingham, and when it was closed in 1984, two-thirds of the then modern-day dockyard lay within the boundaries of Gillingham. The dockyard was founded by Queen Elizabeth I on the site of the present gun wharf, the establishment being transferred to the present site about 1622. In 1667 a Dutch fleet sailed up the River Medway and, having landed at Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey and laying siege to the fort at Sheerness, invaded Gillingham in what became known as the raid on the Medway. The Dutch eventually retreated, but the incident caused great humiliation to the Royal Navy.

The Seven Years' War began in 1756 and the government immediately gave orders for the defence of the dockyard; by 1758 the Chatham Lines of Defence were built. Over a mile long, they stretched across the neck of the dockyard peninsula, from Chatham Reach, south of the dockyard, across to Gillingham Reach on the opposite side. One of the redoubts on the Lines was at Amherst. The batteries faced away from the dockyard itself to forestall an attack from the landward side; the ships and shore-mounted guns on the river were considered sufficient to protect from that side. The lines of defence are now part of the Great Lines Heritage Park and also the Lower Lines Park (near MidKent College, Gillingham Campus).

War with France began again in 1778, and once more it was necessary to strengthen the defences. Fort Amherst was the first to be improved; it was followed by work beginning in 1800 to add others at Fort Pitt, Chatham, plus Fort Delce and Fort Clarence (both in Rochester); later in the 19th century others were added, including one at Fort Darland in Gillingham. This work, and the expansion of the dockyard, meant that more homes were needed for the workers. The position of the Lines meant that this building could only happen beyond, and so New Brompton came into being. The population rose to 9,000 people by 1851.

Gillingham was still only a small village; eventually it, too, was swallowed up, and the name of the whole settlement changed to Gillingham. In the 1891 census its population was 27,809, and in 1901, it was 42,530.

In 1919, after World War I, a naval war memorial in the shape of a white stone obelisk was set up on the Great Lines in Chatham. This monument, known as the Chatham Naval Memorial, commemorates members of the Royal Navy who died during the First and Second World Wars and have no known grave. Unveiled on 26 April 1924 by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII), the memorial originally listed 8,515 names of those lost in World War I. In 1952, an extension was added to commemorate the 10,098 sailors who died in World War II, bringing the total number of names to over 18,500. Designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, the memorial features a rostral obelisk intended as a mark for shipping, symbolizing the naval heritage of Chatham. It is one of three such monuments erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with similar structures in Portsmouth and Plymouth.

In 1924, a war memorial was unveiled at the junction of Mill Road and Brompton Road in Gillingham to commemorate the borough's fallen from World War I. Designed by sculptor F.W. Doyle-Jones, the Gillingham War Memorial is a stone obelisk featuring sculptural roundels and inscriptions. Later additions honored those lost in World War II and the Korean War. Originally located at the junction, the memorial was relocated in the early 1970s to its current position outside Medway Park Sports Centre. It was granted Grade II listed status in 2016 for its architectural and historic significance.

Disasters Gillingham has been the scene of two notable disasters: on 11 July 1929 a public demonstration by Gillingham Fire Brigade went wrong, resulting in 15 fatalities; and in the 1951 Gillingham bus disaster, 24 Royal Marine cadets aged 10 to 13 were killed in a road accident.

Economy

The main source of employment was at Chatham Dockyard, two-thirds of which lay within the boundaries of Gillingham. When it ceased to be a naval base in 1984, there was significant unemployment. A World Heritage Site application has been made for the Dockyard and its defences. Since the 1980s, Gillingham has rebuilt its economic base and the Gillingham Business Park was set up from the town centre, to attract investments and diversify economic activity.Medway Council https://democracy.medway.gov.uk/mgconvert2pdf.aspx?id=4711 The business park and ice rink were an early commission for Grimshaw Architects.Architects Journal https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/lets-not-skate-over-the-question-of-money

Gillingham has a marina called Gillingham Marina. Gillingham is an important retail centre serving a substantial part of Medway. The town has a large street market in the High Street on Saturdays and Mondays, and is the busiest in the whole of Medway.Gillingham Town Centre Development Framework

Transport

Roads

The Roman road now known as Watling Street passes through Gillingham; and until the opening of the Medway Towns bypass (the M2 motorway) in the mid-1960s the same route was followed by the traffic on the A2 to Dover. That road had been turnpiked in 1730, as part of the London–Canterbury coaching route.

In June 1996 the Medway Tunnel opened, giving Gillingham a second link to the M2 and Strood.

Northern Relief Road (Northern Link)