Moor in Medway
The borough of Medway has a number of features for your group to enjoy including attractions linked with Charles Dickens, who spent much of his time in the area. Luke Dodd provides a summary of its highlights.
Medway consists of five towns situated around the river of the same name. These are Rochester, Strood, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham, with several other smaller villages such as Cliffe and Grain located in the area. Strong connections with Dickens can be found all around the region, especially concentrated in Chatham where he lived as a young boy, and Rochester where he returned later in his life as a successful author. Medway is a coach-friendly destination and also a centre for maritime history with the famous Historic Dockyard located in Chatham. A forthcoming highlight for groups is the opening of Dickens World, adjacent to the Dockside Outlet Centre, in Chatham, in Spring 2007.
The world of Dickens
Groups can look forward to a wide variety of rides and features within the £62 million Dickens World complex. Upon entering the attraction, visiting groups will be confronted with a variety of replicated Victorian architecture and imitation cobbled flooring lit by gas lamps, evoking the feeling of the times Dickens lived in. A good starting point would be to climb aboard the dark boat ride, where groups can experience a 20-minute journey through recreated Victorian England. Whilst travelling on the ride, groups are confronted with open sewers, animatronic rats and views of London’s sky-line. Each ‘boat’ on the ride can contain up to 6 people and it will be able to transport up to 4,000 visitors a day.
Another key attraction is ‘Peggotty’s Boat House’, a 3D experience which recreates a boat journey and tells the story of Dickens life and travels.
Also featuring at the attraction is ‘The School Room – The Dreaded Disciplines of Victorian Education’. Groups will be put through their intellectual paces in this section, sitting at school desks and being quizzed on a variety of topics. Touch screen computers fitted into the 30 desks will ensure the teacher knows who got questions right and wrong, so therefore can punish them with a verbal telling off!
Keeping in with the theme of punishment, groups can experience what it was like to be incarcerated in Victorian times by visiting ‘Crime and Punishment’, which contains a number of recreated prison cells complete with animatronic characters wailing to be released.
Courage will be a necessity when visiting ‘The Haunted House’, in which images of the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge will spook you senseless. Smoke and mirror projection effects will be used to give the impression of paranormal phenomenon occurring. Costumed characters will also be on-hand to give you a scare within the structure.
Costumed characters also feature at the ‘Victorian Music Hall’, where during the day-time, animatronic models will perform, detailing the story of how Dickens used people familiar to him as inspiration for characters in his novels. There will also be puppets in boxes overlooking the stage providing entertainment. In the evening, the auditorium space will also offer supper show performances from costumed actors playing out scenes from the author’s life whilst you eat. Pre-booked groups of 15 or more are offered a discounted rate of admission to the attraction. GTOs can also enjoy free familiarisation visits and there is a designated coach pickup point and free on-site coach parking.
Moving away from the Dickens World attraction itself, there is a Odeon cinema next door and a Nando’s restaurant, which are already open within the complex.
As well as this, the Dockside Outlet Centre is located adjacent to Dickens World, built in 2003. The Centre is home to over 50 outlet shops, including the Designer Room and the Design House, housing designer names at a discounted price. There are also numerous cafés to dine in throughout the Centre such as a Thornton’s Coffee Shop.
Over the seas and far away
Whilst in Chatham, groups can make a trip to The Historic Dockyard Chatham, which also has ties to Charles Dickens as his father worked there as a pay clerk from 1817 until 1822. GTOs will find numerous attractions at the site to keep their group entertained including the Royal Navy’s last operational Second World War destroyer ‘HMS Cavalier’ and the Chatham-built submarine ‘Ocelot’, as well as the ‘HMS Gannet(1878)’, the last remaining sloop of Queen Victoria’s Navy. Also at the site, there is the ‘Museum of the Royal Dockyard’, which traces and details the 400-year history of the Royal Dockyard through interactive exhibits. Model ships can be seen in display cases and groups can find out the details of every single vessel built at the Dockyard from 1586 until 1966.
For an interactive lesson in rope-making, visit The Ropery, where groups have the chance to enjoy a guided tour and make their own piece of rope to take home with them. Group members play the part of a novice roper and are firstly shown how to make rope and then given the chance to have a go themselves. Groups can also enjoy a guided tour of the working Ropery without these elements, which takes place every 30 minutes.
A particular highlight for groups is the ‘Wooden Walls’ gallery, which recreates the sights, sounds and smells of the Dockyard of 1758. It tells the story of the construction of the ship ‘Valiant’, as seen through the eyes of a young apprentice, William Crockwell.
Also of interest is ‘Lifeboat!’, which tells the 170-year story of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution through a collection of historic lifeboats, archive films and artefacts. The gallery features 16 lifeboats ranging from early examples of pulling and sailing boats, through classic motor boats of the mid twentieth century to the more recent ‘all-weather’ boat.
Funding has been granted for the 19th Century No.1 Smithery building to become a museum space housing a variety of artefacts from a partnership that includes National Maritime Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Science Museum and the Dockyard itself. The museum is due to open to the public in 2009/2010.
Guided walking tours are offered including ‘Footsteps of Nelson’, which explores the links between Horatio Nelson and HMS Victory by visiting the site where the ship was built, and ‘Lady Days’, which offers the opportunity to discover the role women played in the work of the Dockyard. A new tour is to be launched this year at The Historic Dockyard Chatham entitled ‘Women at War’. This tour will give you a chance to reflect on what it was like working in the Dockyard during the Second World War and discover how women supported the war effort. With a guide dressed as a air-raid warden, you will discover what it was like for the men and women of the Dockyard during the war years and visit the Dockyard’s Admiral’s original air-raid shelter. The tour includes cream tea and a trip on the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle.Groups of 15 or more are offered a discounted rate of admission with GTOs gaining free entry.
Roaming around Rochester
A short coach journey away and your group will arrive at historic Rochester. The city has strong links to the world of Charles Dickens and this is evident in the wealth of information offered on the writer’s life.
When your group arrive in the city, a dedicated four bay coach setting down point is located at the rear of the Medway Visitor Information Centre to enable drivers to drop off and collect passengers in complete safety. Just 200 yards from this point is the Acorn Wharf Coach Park offering 32 coach spaces and a coach driver’s rest area with complimentary refreshments for the driver. The Visitor Information Centre itself has a wealth of information about the local area available such as leaflets and brochures as well as staff on-hand to discuss group options and a café serving hot and cold refreshments.
As you emerge at the front of the Centre you will find yourself in the cobbled main High Street of Rochester where the majority of the city’s attractions are situated around as well as a wealth of specialist shops offering everything from confectionery to rare books and antiques.
Starting with Rochester Cathedral, groups can take in over 1,400 years of the history of Christian prayer and pilgrimage. The structure itself is made up of a variety of different periods of architecture including Gothic and Romanesque styles. Guided tours can be arranged for a small fee but need to be pre-booked.
Opposite the Cathedral is Rochester Castle, which was built by Bishop Gundulf, William the Conqueror’s most favoured architect during 1087. Standing 113 feet high, the Castle’s keep dominates the Rochester skyline and is the tallest in England. Groups have the opportunity to have a guided tour of the Castle and discover what life was like here. Groups receive a discount on admission to the Castle.
Just a short stroll from the Castle is the Guildhall Museum, which is set in two adjacent listed buildings; the 17th century Guildhall, built in 1687, and the former Medway Conservancy Board Building, built in 1909. The centrepiece is a two tier gallery recreating a prison hulk of the Napoleonic period, illustrating the conditions prisoners were kept in. Keeping in with the city’s Dickensian links, there is the new ‘Dickens Discovery Room’, which enables visitors to discover more about the author’s life and works through interpretation panels and a multi-lingual touch screen information panel. There is also a seven minute film about Dickens’ life shown continuously throughout the day. Admission to the Museum is free; however groups are advised to pre-book their visit.
Nearby, groups can experience a building, which featured heavily in Dickens’ Christmas short story, ‘The Seven Poor Travellers’. The Six Poor Travellers’ House was a house, which provided up to six poor travellers at a time with board and lodging. It was set up by Elizabethan MP Richard Watts and continued its service up until World War II. Admission is free.
Following this, a trip to Restoration House, a 16th century mansion, is worthwhile. Charles Dickens used the House as the inspiration for the home of Estella and Miss Havisham in his novel ‘Great Expectations’. Groups of eight or more receive a discount on admission and can enjoy a guided tour of the gardens. Groups also receive a souvenir guide pack each for no added cost. The attraction is open during the summer only.
To explore this picturesque city in a quirky way, why not a enjoy a Footsteps in Time walking tour. Groups are guided through the town by costumed characters taken from Dickens’ novels such as Nancy from ‘Oliver Twist’. During the tours, the guides will highlight passages in the writer’s novels, which have been inspired by the city. Private tours can be booked for groups.
Guided tours are also available from the City of Rochester Society, for pre-booked groups, of the ancient cathedral city on foot. By coach, the Society can offer a courier service of the area around Rochester made famous in Dickens’ novels.
Additional attractions
Apart from Rochester, the other towns in the Medway area have a lot to offer groups including museums, underground caverns and parks.
In Chatham, groups can take a trip underground at the Fort Amherst Heritage Park and Caverns. The fort was built in 1756 to protect the naval dockyard from land attacks and houses a network of underground chambers and tunnels. These were extended in 1802 and 1811 when convicts were used for labour to create vast underground stores, shelters, barracks and guard rooms. The tunnels lead visiting groups to the top of the fort, where they are offered expansive views of Medway. Pre-booked groups receive a discount on admission.
Paying a tribute to soldier engineers, past and present, is the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham. The Museum has 26 galleries and 6,000 exhibits including a First World War Gallery, where groups can experience the grim reality of the trenches, and a Second World War Gallery, which recreates the sights and sounds of its battles. Items displayed at the Museum include tanks and a Harrier Jet as well as torpedoes, locomotives, weapons and 26 Victoria Cross medals. Also on display is the Duke of Wellington’s map used in the Battle of Waterloo contained in a display case. The site has a coach drop off point and groups receive a discount on admission to the Museum.
Staying in Gillingham, groups can take in wildlife and horticulture at Capstone Farm Country Park. The Park contains 114 hectares of woodlands, meadows, orchards and hedgerows. There are nature trails to follow as well as a Visitor Centre and picnic area. Admission is free and pre-booked groups can arrange a guided tour of the Park.
Another castle to explore near Rochester is Upnor Castle, which is located in the picturesque village of Upnor. The turreted Castle was built principally for the protection of Queen Elizabeth I’s warships anchoring on the Medway. Groups receive a discount on admission to the Castle.
Finally, groups can visit Temple Manor, a 13th century house in Strood. The house was owned by the Knights Templar – a religious order of Knights who played a significant role in the Crusades. Its purpose was to provide lodgings for members of this order on their way to and from the Crusades. Admission is free with groups advised to pre-warn of a visit.
Our thanks to Medway Tourism for its hospitality to Luke Dodd during his visit to Medway.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Medway Council
95 High Street
Rochester
Kent
ME1 1LX
Telephone: +44 (0)1634 338118
Fax: +44 (0)1634 332756
E-mail: mary.sewell@medway.gov.uk
Web: www.medway.gov.uk