LOCATION
Lower Lines Park is located on Medway Road in Gillingham, Kent, directly adjacent to MidKent College’s Medway Campus.
It is a short walk from The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, The Royal Engineers Museum, Fort WILDLIFE Amherst and Great Lines Heritage Park. Gillingham Train Station is within walking distance A vast and varied array of wildlife of the Park. Alternatively, the 116 bus stops has made its home within the Park - much of which at regular intervals outside MidKent College on can be spotted by the patient enthusiast. Medway Road. Species include foxes, butterflies, bees, and a wide range of birds. A289 DOCKSIDE OUTLET CENTRE VANG UARD WAY PIER RO More than 30 bat and bird boxes were installed in AD LOWER the Park’s woodland after a sonic survey conducted CHATHAM MARITIME CAMPUS LINES PARK MIDKENT COLLEGE STROOD TRAIN STATION RD AY HISTORIC ROYAL DW by Dr Lynn Whitfield revealed that bats were RD DOCKYARD ENGINEERS ME A289 CK MUSEUM O present within the Park’s trees. RIVER D MEDWAY GILLINGHAM A231 A231 ROCHESTER FORT AMHERST Bats also roost within two former World War II air ROCHESTER TRAIN STATION BR GREAT LINES AD HIGH ST OOK HERITAGE PARK raid shelters built for the Royal Navy Wrens who GILLINGHAM TRAIN STATION RO E NEW ROAD lived in a camp nearby. The shelters have been ON A229 sealed, but access remains for the CHA MAIDST TH AM HILL bats that continue to roost B2097 CHATHAM TRAIN STATION
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HISTORY TOURS
History tours of the Lower Lines Park are available.
For more details please contact: Kevin Woolford on 01634 383541 or email: [email protected] THE HISTORY OF THE LINES structures. There is also much evidence to show that sections of the Lines were demolished Napoleonic Wars as part of siege operations The Lower Lines were the last training, and then rebuilt as section of the Chatham Lines part of the Royal Engineer to be constructed. The work training programme. commenced in 1803 and consisted of a series of deep Admiralty House brick ditches with ramparts. With the introduction of the nearby Gun emplacements were naval barracks around 1900, a large portion of the added to provide the support ground in front of the Lower Lines was given over of artillery weapons. to the construction of a large residence for the To the immediate rear of the Lines, Commander-in-Chief of the Nore, the most senior large barracks were constructed to house part of an naval home command. enlarged Chatham Garrison. It was the Garrison’s job This impressive building, known as Admiralty House, to defend the fortifications against French attack, and continued in use until 1959. It was to provide a powerful mobile force ready to attack demolished a few years later. THE PARK TODAY invading armies as they advanced across Kent. However, traces of the once- extensive formal gardens can Designated as a Scheduled A Place for Convicts still be seen in the Park today. Ancient Monument, the Lower A convict prison was constructed just Lines in Gillingham, Kent, north of the Lower Lines in 1856 to World War II comprise a series of fortifications provide labour within the Dockyard. Prior to the Second World and brick trenches constructed Conditions were harsh in the War a deep underground from 1803 onwards to help defend prison, with men forced to work in control centre was Chatham Dockyard from attack during chains, and a riot occurred in March constructed beneath the Napoleonic wars. It forms part 1861. the Lower Lines. From of Chatham Dockyard and its here the Nore Command defences, which is a propsed The prison was demolished around controlled most of the World Heritage Site. 1900 to make way for a new naval shipping movements in the barracks, later known as HMS North Sea. Construction of the Lower Pembroke. These buildings now house the Universities After the war, the facilities were Lines Park has seen 5.5 used to train members of the Royal at Medway. hectares of the open land Naval Reserve in what became known linked to the Lines revitalised as HMS Wildfire. Use of the training centre through MidKent College funding. Royal Engineers ceased when Chatham Dockyard Training was closed in 1984 and the The picturesque community space now features From this time, the bunker was sealed. However, an unrivalled view of the historic trenches that Lines were used to it still survives under what were so important to the protection of the area. provide a training is now the car park for facility for the Royal MidKent College. Visitors can enjoy a stroll through the beautiful Engineers, who were woodlands, a family picnic on the lush, open lawns, located at nearby or even some wildlife spotting care of the Park’s barracks. The ditches made many well-populated bat and bird boxes. an ideal obstacle for the building of temporary bridges History tours are also available (see back for details). and other military engineering