Secret Gillingham

- Blurb -

The modern town of Gillingham grew up on the banks of the River Medway around the Royal Naval Dockyard of Chatham, most of which actually lay within Gillingham. The 16th century saw the expansion of the one-time fishing and farming village of `Jyllingham', into an actual town. The population of the town expanded as the dockyards with their accompanying fortifications around the Medway grew, and today Gillingham is the largest town in the Medway area.In this book the Philip MacDougall investigates Gillingham's past, including many lesser known and secret events. Among these were a hidden English warship, sunk by the Dutch when they invaded the Medway and which still lies under the foundations of the dockyard, the prison hulks for convicts and prisoners of war moored in the River Medway off Gillingham, Jazreel's Tower and the unusual sect which built it, flight testing of early manned balloons, the country's worst death toll from a single bomb dropped in World War 1 and the unhappy history of the Napoleonic Fort Darland and its subsequent life as a military detention centre. Important characters in Gillingham's story include Will Adams, one of the first Europeans to sail to Japan and founder of the Japanese navy, the man who created Rochester, and James McCudden, one of Britain's most decorated air aces of World War 1.Secret Gillingham explores the less well-known episodes and characters in the history of Gillingham through the centuries. With tales of remarkable characters and unusual events, fully illustrated with photography, it will appeal to all those with an interest in this town in Kent.