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Chatham Police Station

Buildings and structures in MedwayChatham, KentPolice stations in Kent
Chatham Police Station geograph.org.uk 3955763
Chatham Police Station geograph.org.uk 3955763

Chatham Police Station was a police station of the Kent County Constabulary (later Kent Police) located on The Brook, Chatham, Kent, England. It served the Chatham area (a major naval dockyard and garrison town) throughout much of the 20th century and into the early 2000s. The station is recorded in contemporary accounts as still operational in 2002–2011, but was closed in the mid-2000s after Kent Police consolidated town policing into Medway Police Station, located in Gillingham. Chatham Police Station lay opposite the Medway Magistrates' Court. The Kent Police asset register (2024) still lists "Chatham Police Station, The Brook, Chatham" among its properties but no policing functions occur there today. The former police station was occupied by Kent County Constabulary as the Chatham Division headquarters and later by Kent Police (the successor force after 1974). Contemporary news reports confirm the station's use in the early 21st century: for example, in 2002 a high-speed motorway chase ended with suspects brought back to this Chatham station for questioning, and in 2004 two individuals were reported to have been held and questioned there in a child-death investigation. After the Medway Police Station opened in Gillingham in March 2007, the Chatham station at The Brook was closed. In the station's later years it came to be referred to as the former Chatham police station. Internally, the station would have contained the typical facilities of a small-town police house: holding cells (lock-ups) for detained persons, interview/desk offices, an "incident room" or briefing area, and accommodation for sergeants or constables on duty. Later Kent Police reports mention an "incident room" at Chatham in the 1980s case of Victoria Anyetei. Several high-profile events touched Chatham Police Station over the years. In 1905 the famous escapologist Harry Houdini staged a public escape at Barnard's Palace of Varieties in Chatham. Newspaper accounts describe how Houdini was locked up handcuffed in a Chatham jail cell (at a temporary setup for the show) and promptly broke out. Notably, local accounts suggest Chatham police refused to participate in Houdini's demonstration, so police from nearby Rochester handled it instead. During World War II, Chatham's station played a role in frontline defense. In 1941 a German Messerschmitt crashed on nearby high ground (Luton), and the wounded pilot was reportedly taken under guard by the Home Guard to Chatham Police Station. An angry crowd of local civilians had gathered, but police and guards ensured the pilot's safe custody. (The pilot later returned in 1955 to thank his rescuers.)

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Chatham Police Station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.3845639 ° E 0.5263568 °
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Chatham Police Station

The Brook
ME4 4LD
England, United Kingdom
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Chatham Police Station geograph.org.uk 3955763
Chatham Police Station geograph.org.uk 3955763
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Nearby Places

Chatham Pentagon bus station
Chatham Pentagon bus station

Pentagon bus station was the main bus interchange in Chatham, Kent, South East England. It was an integral part of the Pentagon Shopping Centre. Before its closure in 2011, 80% of local services started, terminated or passed through the centre.As part of the redevelopment plans for central Chatham, the Pentagon bus station was replaced in October 2011 by the Chatham Waterfront bus station on Globe Lane, adjacent to Military Rd. Space previously used by the bus station will be used to expand the Pentagon Shopping Centre. The new bus shelters have been designed to have living roofs (mainly sedums).The Pentagon bus station was arranged as a two-lane, one-way, ring road around the outside of the Pentagon Shopping Centre at the upper level. The station had 18 bays, all on the inside of the road around the irregular 5 sided building. Bus access came from street level (The Brook) via one street level ramp and could exit via the same or a second ramp as appropriate. In order to move the station from the Pentagon centre, Medway Council had to purchase the lease for the site back off Arriva Southern Counties, which was due to hold the lease until 2018. Arriva held the right to use the site as it had taken over Maidstone & District Motor Services, the previous incumbent. Access to the station by other operators has been a cause of historical controversy. The issue was placed within the scope of a 1993 Competition Commission inquiry into The supply of bus services in Mid and West Kent. As a result of the inquiry, M&D were required to undertake to provide equal access at reasonable rates and conditions. In late 2013, Medway Council planned to turn the disused station into a car park for its employees but as of 2015 all entrances have been fenced off.

Chatham Ragged School
Chatham Ragged School

Chatham Ragged School is a former ragged school in King Street, Chatham, Kent. Built in 1858, it served as a free school for poor and destitute children under the Victorian “ragged school” movement. The modest one-storey brick structure still bears its original “RAGGED SCHOOL” stone plaque above the entrance. On April 21, 2020, it was designated a Grade II listed building in recognition of its historical importance. Ragged schools were 19th-century charities providing free basic education to the poorest children. The movement began with individuals like John Pounds (who taught street children for free in Portsmouth from 1818) and was organized nationally by the Ragged School Union (founded 1844). By 1870 around 350 ragged schools operated in Britain. In Chatham, a lecture by the Field Lane Ragged School secretary in 1849 inspired local volunteers to open a school for destitute children. Chatham Ragged School began in April 1849 in a small house on Queen Street. It quickly outgrew this site as demand grew in the densely populated Brook-area slums. In 1856 local supporters raised subscriptions to build a permanent school on new land provided at the top of King Street. 1849: Chatham ragged school opens in a Queen Street cottage (inspired by a lecture at the Mechanics’ Institute). 1856: Fundraising begins for a purpose-built school; the War Office grants a site at King Street and £20 towards costs. 7 October 1858: Foundation stone is laid (by Lady Harriet Smith, wife of Sir Frederick Smith, local MP). £250 of the £400 cost had been raised, with a gala bazaar in 1860 clearing the remaining deficit. c. 1860: New school building completed and opened. Designed by architect John Young (who gave his services free). Late 19th/Early 20th century: The ragged school operates for several decades; its exact closing date is unknown. It appears on an 1898 map as a school, but by 1903 maps still label it as “school” and by 1932 as a “hall”. 1930s: Much of Chatham’s Brook-area slums are demolished in clearance programs. The ragged school building survives as a rare vestige of the pre-20th-century community.