The Medway Gap is a
topographic feature in
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, England.
It was created when the
prehistoric
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
cut roughly south to north through the line of
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
hills now known as the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...
; other rivers such as the
Darent and the
Stour have similar features.
Its past significance as a means of travel is indicated by the prehistoric
Medway megaliths in the area. Today the
Medway Valley railway line and the
A228 road both run through the valley, connecting Tonbridge, West Malling and the Medway Towns. At the north end of the Medway Gap, the river is crossed by the
M2 motorway and
High Speed 1
High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...
viaducts
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
.
Environment
The Gap is designated as a Biodiversity Opportunity Area by Kent County Council. It also has the effect of creating local
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...
patterns, thereby frequently exhibiting opposite conditions to the surrounding countryside.
Human settlement
In the borough of
Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Kent, England. The council is based at Kings Hill. The borough also includes the towns of Tonbridge an ...
, the "Medway Gap" refers to the group of villages in this area i.e.
Aylesford
Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, northwest of Maidstone.
Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Two pubs, a villa ...
,
East Malling,
Larkfield and
Leybourne
Leybourne is a village and civil parish in Kent, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 motorway, M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to New Hythe, East Malling and Larkfield, Larkfield and West Malling. As of 2020, Leybourne Parish had a po ...
. Much of the residential development in this area took place after World War II.
[Kent County Council https://maidstone.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/88984/Kent-and-Medway-Structure-Plan-2006-SPG4-Vehicle-Parking-Standards.pdf] Most of these settlements are in the
Chatham and Aylesford constituency.
References
{{reflist
Medway
Geography of Kent