Editing Chatham, Kent (section)

==Geography==
[[File:ChathamMedway.jpg|thumb|right|(1) Chatham Dockyard, seen from Fort Pitt, ca. 1830.<ref>From ''W. H. Ireland's History of Kent''</ref>]]
[[File:GillinghamGreatLines2718.JPG|thumb|right| (2) Chatham Town Centre from the Great Lines]]
[[File:ChathamDarland3029.JPG|thumb|right|(3) Luton Valley, from Darland Banks]]
[[File:GillinghamNavalWarMem2711.JPG|thumb|upright| Chatham Naval Memorial]]
[[File:ChathamA2LutonArches2784.JPG|thumb|The A2 road at Luton Arches. The New Road runs underneath the Luton Arches Footbridge.]]
[[File:ChathamHighSt2676.JPG|thumb|right|Sir John Hawkins Flyover, which was demolished in 2009.]]
<!--[[File:ChathamStation2799.JPG|thumb|right|Chatham Railway Station and Fort Pitt Tunnel]]-->
[[File:Chatham Bus Station 0271.JPG|thumb|right|[[Chatham Waterfront bus station]]]]

Chatham is situated where the lower part of the [[dip slope]] of the [[North Downs]] meets the [[River Medway]] which at this point is flowing in a south–north direction. This gives the right bank, where the town stands, considerable advantages from the point of view of river use. Compared with opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep; the illustration (1), an early print of the settlement, is taken from the point where Fort Pitt now stands. The town lies below at river level, curving round to occupy a south-easterly trending valley (The Brook), in which lies the High Street. Beyond the [[Chatham Dockyard]] was marshy land, now called St Mary's Island, and has several new developments of housing estates. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration.

Illustration (2) is taken from the opposite side of the valley: the [[Pentagon Shopping Centre]] is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and [[Frindsbury]] is on the rising ground in the right distance.

The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. The ''Darland Banks'', the northern slopes of the Luton Valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. The photograph (3), taken from the Banks and looking south, shows the village in the centre, with the rows of Victorian terraced housing, which unusually follow the contour lines. The opposite slopes are the ‘'Daisy Banks'’ and ‘'Coney Banks'’, along which some of the defensive forts were built (including Fort Luton, in the trees to the left)

Until the start of the 20th century, most of the south part of the borough was entirely rural, with a number of farms and large tracts of woodland. The beginning of what is now [[Walderslade]] was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village in ''Walderslade Bottoms''.<ref>[http://www.walderslade.kevinarrowsmith.co.uk/localhistory.php Walderslade Online: ''A Short History of Walderslade Village''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225195848/http://www.walderslade.kevinarrowsmith.co.uk/localhistory.php |date=25 December 2008 }}</ref>