Gillingham: Maritime History, Heritage and Green Spaces

Gillingham offers several points of interest for a stay: maritime history, military heritage, and natural and green spaces. If you are looking for a hotel, you might first consider whether your trip will be shaped more by a historical theme, outdoor routes, or nature and habitats. The places mentioned offer different focuses and can help you decide on the theme of your stay.

Maritime History and Heritage

The Medway Queen is at the heart of Gillingham’s maritime history. During Operation Dynamo in May and June 1940, the ship and its crew made seven round trips across the English Channel. There are two ways to explore it: historic ships at Gillingham Pier can be viewed by the public from the quay, and visitors can also take a guided tour aboard the Medway Queen.

A ramp on the Medway Queen is suitable for access by people with disabilities. Visitor information and access arrangements may change, so check both before your visit.

The Royal Engineers Museum is the largest military museum in Kent. Great Lines Heritage Park offers a different perspective: it is a former military landscape associated with the Field of Fire and the Chatham Lines. This gives you a choice of different points of focus: a single ship and its history, a museum, or a historically significant landscape.

Routes and Natural Spaces

Great Lines Heritage Park has direct routes for cyclists and walkers, connecting Chatham, Fort Amherst, Brompton, Gillingham and Medway Hospital.

Riverside Country Park offers a different focus. It covers 100 hectares along the Medway Estuary and includes Motney Hill and the Berengrave Local Nature Reserve. Mudflats, salt marshes, ponds, reed beds, grassland and scrub provide habitats for wildlife. Visitors can also walk, run and cycle in the park.

Both parks offer opportunities for walking and cycling; Riverside Country Park also offers running. The difference in focus is another point of comparison: Great Lines has direct routes connecting several named places, while Riverside is characterised by its location on the Medway Estuary and the variety of its habitats.

Market and Historical Connection

Gillingham has a market that takes place twice a week. As this current visitor information may change, check the market days when planning your visit. William Adams offers another local connection: he was an Elizabethan seafarer born in Gillingham. This puts a regularly held market and a historical figure side by side as different points of interest for your stay.

Discover more destinations: Allhallows, Isle of Grain, High Halstow, Rochester, Strood, Chatham, Chattenden.

Return to the main travel overview: Medway.