CHATHAM, a market-town and parish, partly
within the jurisdiction, and adjoining the city of ROCHESTER,
but chiefly in the hundred of CHATHAM and
GILLINGHAM, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 8
miles (N. by E.) from Maidstone, and 30 (E. by S.) from
London, containing 15,268 inhabitants. This place, anciently
called Ceteham and Cettham, derives its name
from the Saxon Cyte, a cottage, and Ham, a village, and,
till it rose into importance as the seat of one of the
principal naval arsenals in the kingdom, was, as its
name implies, only an inconsiderable village of cottages.
Previously to the Conquest, the lord of the manor
espoused the cause of Harold, and for his loyalty to that
prince was, after the accession of William, deprived of
his possessions, which were conferred upon Crevecoeur,
one of the Normans who accompanied the Conqueror
to England. The town is situated on the south-east
bank of the river Medway, and on the north side 'of
Chatham hill, and, though extensive, is.irregularly built,
partly from the nature of the ground, and partly from
the large space occupied by its vast naval establishments.
The dock-yard for the royal navy was commenced in
the reign of Elizabeth; it then occupied the site of the
present ordnance wharf, and was protected by Upnor
castle, which that queen caused to -be erected for its
defence. In 1622, it was removed to its present situation,
and greatly enlarged by Charles I., who erected
capacious storehouses, and constructed new docks, to
enable ships to float in with the tide: it was still further
improved by Charles II., in whose reign the Dutch Admiral
de Ruyter, having cast anchor at the Nore with
fifty sail of the line, sent his vice-admiral, Van Ghent,
with seventeen of his lightest vessels and eight fireships,
to destroy the shipping in the river Medway.
The vice-admiral attacked and took Sheerness, though
gallantly defended by Sir Edward Spragge, blew up the
fortifications, burnt the storehouses, and,; sailing up the
Medway with six of his men of war and five fire-ships,
destroyed three vessels in the river, and came in front
of Upnor castle, at that time defended by Major Scot,
whose warm reception of the assailant frustrated his attempt
on Chatham.
The dock-yard occupies an extensive area, nearly a
mile in length, -enclosed on the land side by a high wall,
and defended by strong fortifications, principally of
modern erection; the entrance is through a spacious
gateway, flanked by two embattled towers. The houses
of the commissioner and the principal officers are spacious
and handsome buildings, and the various offices
in the several departments of the yard are neat and
commodiously arranged: the numerous storehouses,
one of which is six hundred and sixty feet in length,
contain an immense quantity of every article necessary
for the building and equipment of ships of the
largest dimensions, all arranged with such order and
exactness, that upon any emergency a first-rate man of
war may be equipped for sea in a few days. The masthouse
is two hundred and forty feet in length, and one
hundred and twenty feet wide; many of the masts deposited
in it are three feet in diameter and forty yards
in height; the timber for making them is constantly
kept floating in two capacious basins. The new ropehouse
is one thousand one hundred and ten feet in
length, and fifty feet wide.; by the aid of powerful machinery,
cables of great dimensions are twisted here, some
of them being one hundred -fathoms in length, and
twenty-five inches in circumference: the sail-loft is two
hundred and ten feet long: the smith's shop, where anchors
of the largest size are made, of which some weigh
five tons, contains forty forges, for the manufacture also
of the iron-work necessary for ship-building. At the
north-eastern extremity of the dock-yard are the sawmills,
recently erected on a very extensive scale, under
the superintendence of Mr. Brunei, and worked with
powerful machinery propelled by steam; in the sawingroom,
which is ninety feet square, are fixed eight sawframes,
each capable of carrying from one to thirty saws,
and two circular saw benches, with windlases and capstans
for supplying them with wood, the whole set in
motion by an engine which produces eighty strokes of
the saws in a minute. To the north of the mills, where
!the ground is appropriated to the stowage of timber, is
"a canal, which, on entering the rising ground, passes
under a tunnel, three hundred feet long, into an elliptic
basin, forty-four feet deep, of which the longer diameter
is ninety feet, and. the shorter seventy-two, from which
the timber, having been floated into the basin from the
river by means of the canal, is raised by machinery with
extraordinary velocity. Connected with the steamengine
of the saw-mills are extensive water-works, for
the supply of the dock-yard; and on the iron pipes laid
down for that purpose in various parts of the yard are
fire-plugs, from which, when opened, rises a jet d'eau
above the summits of the highest buildings. There are
four wet docks sufficiently capacious for first-rate men
of war; and a new stone dock upon a still larger scale
has been recently constructed. There are six slips or
launches for building ships of the largest dimensions.
Among the many fine vessels launched from this dockyard
may be noticed, the Royal Sovereign, of one hundred
guns, built just before the Restoration of Charles
II.; the new Royal George, of one hundred guns, built
in 1788; the Royal Charlotte, of one hundred guns; the
Ville de Paris, of one hundred and ten; the Howe, ot
one hundred. and twenty guns; the Trafalgar, of one
hundred and four guns; and the Prince Regent, of one
hundred and twenty guns: the Waterloo, of one hundred
and twenty guns; the London, of ninety-two, and
the Monarch, of eighty-four, are now on the slips. The
principal officers of the establishment are, a
commissioner (who is now the commissioner belonging to
Sheerness), a master attendant, master shipwright, clerk
of the cheque, store-keeper, clerk of the survey, clerk
of the rope-yard, master rope-maker, master sail-maker,
master boat-builder, master joiner, master blacksmith,
master mason and bricklayer, master house-carpenter,
master painter, boatswain, warden, and surgeon. In
time of war the number of artificers and labourers
employed in this dock-yard exceeds three thousand.
Within the walls is a neat brick chapel, erected in 1811,
at an expense of £9000, for the accommodation of the
families resident within the limits of the yard, and of
the division of Royal Marines in garrison here. The
ordnance wharf occupies a narrow site of land between
the church and the river, to the west of the dock-yard,
and still called the Old Dock: the guns belonging to
each ship are deposited in separate tiers, with the weight
of metal and the name of the ship to which they belong
marked on them: the gun-carriages are laid up under
cover, and immense quantities of cannon-balls and
bomb-shells are piled up pyramidally in various parts of
the wharf: the armoury contains hostile weapons of
every kind, ranged in admirable order. The principal
officers of this establishment are a storekeeper and
deputy storekeeper. A large building has lately been
erected for the grinding of paint, and the rolling and
smelting of lead by steam.
Prior to the year 1760, the defence of the arsenal was
entrusted principally to guard-ships in the river; to forts
erected on its banks, especially at Sheerness, which,
after the attempt made by the Dutch in 1668, had been
enlarged, with new-fortifications, mounted with heavy
ordnance; to Upnor castle, built by Queen Elizabeth;
and to a small fort below Gillingham, erected by Charles I.
In 1758; an act of parliament was passed for the purchase
of land, and for the construction of such works as
might be requisite for the perfect security of this important
arsenal, under the provisions of which act, the
extensive fortifications called the Lines were constructed:
these works commence above the ordnance wharf, on
the bank of the Medway, and are continued round an
area one mile in extent from south to north, and half a
mile from west to east (including the church of Chatham,
the village of Brompton, which is principally inhabited
by the artificers in the yard, and the barracks,
magazines, &c.), to beyond the northern extremity of
the dock-yard, where they again meet the river. These
fortifications were enlarged during the American war,
and strengthened by the erection of a strong redoubt
on the summit of an eminence commanding the river.
In 1782 another act was passed, for their further improvement,
under which considerable additions have
been made to the lines, and they are now considered to
constitute, next to Portsmouth, the most complete and
regular fortress in the kingdom. Forts Pitt and Clarence,
two strong redoubts flanking the southern extremity
of the lines, are situated on the heights overlooking
the town, and commanding the upper part of the
river; since the conclusion of the war, the former has
been used as an hospital for invalids. The lower, or
marine barracks, adjoining the upper extremity of the
dock-yard, consist of a uniform range of brick building
enclosing a spacious quadrangle: the upper barracks,
in Brompton, are also neatly built of brick, and are extensive
and commodious: the new artillery barracks,
built in 1804, are a fine range, forming three sides of a
quadrangle, and containing apartments for the officers,
lodgings for one thousand two hundred men, and requisite
stabling; the open side of the quadrangle commands
a fine view of the Medway in the fore-gound, and
of the Thames in the distance: the artillery hospital, a
neat building, erected in 1809, contains wards for one
hundred patients, with convenient apartments and offices
for the medical establishment. Near the entrance
into the town from Rochester are the premises formerly
used as a victualling-office, for supplying with provisions
ships lying at Chatham, Sheerness, and the Nore;
they were leased by government1 of the Dean of Rochester,
and at the expiration of the lease were converted to
private purposes. The town was much improved under
the provisions of an act passed in 1772, for paving it,
and for lighting it, but the streets are still very narrow
and inconvenient for carriages. A Philosophical and
Literary Institution was established in 1827, the  members.
of which are about to erect a building for the reception
of their library, and the collection of natural
curiosities, antiquities, &c.: the expense is estimated
at £2000. There are two subscription libraries, one
the United Service library, and the other the Marine
library. Races are held annually in August, on the
extensive plain without the lines. The market is on
Saturday: fairs, for three days each, are held on May
15th and September 19th. Chatham is partly within
the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and partly
within the limits of the city of Rochester: it is also
within the jurisdiction of a court of requests held at
Rochester, for the recovery of debts under £5.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Rochester, and in the patronage of the
Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary, is a neat plain structure of brick; the
original edifice having been de.stroyed by fire, at the commencement
of the fourteenth century, a new one was built
under the sanction of a bull from the pope, who granted
an indulgence of one year and forty days to all who
should contribute to the work; in 1635 it was repaired
and enlarged for the increased population arising from
the dock-yard, and the steeple was rebuilt by the commissioners
of the royal navy; in 1788, the body of
the church was taken down, and rebuilt of brick upon
a larger scale, and the churchyard being found too
small, the Board of Ordnance gave three acres of ground,
at a short distance from the church, for a cemetery,
which was consecrated in 1828. A new church of the
Grecian Doric order, with a tower, and containing one
thousand six hundred and twenty-four sittings, of which
one thousand and ninety are free, was completed in
1821, at an expense of nearly £15,000, which was
defrayed by the parliamentary commissioners. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Perpetual
Curate of Chatham. The living of the dock-yard chapel
is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Lords of
the Admiralty. There are places of worship for Baptists,
Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians.
An edifice for a school was built in 1828, at an
expense of £1600, defrayed by one hundred shareholders
of £15 each, who have each the privilege, on payment
of £6 per annum, of sending one boy to be instructed
in the classics and in modern languages: the
head-master has a salary of £300, the second one of
£150, and the third one of £100. A National school,
chiefly supported by subscription, has a small endowment
of about £6. 13. 4., arising from tenements bequeathed
by Mrs. Elizabeth Petty, in 1723. Melville,
or Marine hospital, is a handsome range of building at
a short distance from Chatham, begun in 1827, and
finished in the following year, at an expense of £70,000,
for the use of the whole naval department; it is built
of brick and stuccoed; the front consists of three
pavilions, containing apartments for the accommodation
of three hundred and forty patients; a colonnade extends
the whole width, -which is three hundred and
twenty-two feet; and ,at the back are neat houses for
the officers of the establishment. In 1078, Gundulph,
Bishop of Rochester, founded and endowed an hospital
for lepers, which he dedicated to St. Bartholomew, of
which the chapel only is remaining: the estate has been
vested in the Dean of Rochester, who is governor and
patron: there are at present four brethren, two of
whom are in holy orders, and officiate as chaplains. An
hospital for decayed mariners and shipwrights was
founded by Sir John Hawkins, in 1592, in which twelve
pensioners have each a separate house, an allowance of
eight shillings per week, and an annual supply of coal:
the management is vested in twenty-six governors, of
which number five are elective. A fund, commonly
called the chest, for the relief of sailors who have been
disabled in the service, was established by Sir Francis
Drake and Sir John Hawkins, Knts., in 1588, when,
after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the seamen of
the royal navy agreed to contribute a portion of their
pay for the relief of their distressed brethren: this chest
was removed to the royal hospital at Greenwich in 1802,
and the management of the funds, which was vested in
the principal naval officers, has been transferred to the
first lord of the admiralty, the comptroller of the navy,
and the governor of Greenwich hospital. Numerous
Roman remains were discovered in forming the fortifications.
Chatham gives the title of earl to the family
of Pitt.