Medway is a coastal county on the River Medway in North Kent near London with 250,000 inhabitants making it the third least populous in England. It borders on Kent and is also known as ‘The Medway Towns’ due to the 5 constituent towns-Rainham, Stroud, Gillingham, Rochester and Chatham. These 5 towns form a continuous conurbation due to the spread of population in the county.

Rochester was established by the Romans in 43AD and has been a seat of Kentish kings, invaded by the Vikings and besieged by King John in 1215. Modern Rochester has two tourist attractions Rochester Cathedral and Rochester Castle. Rochester Cathedral was built in the 7^th century making it the second oldest in England after Canterbury, Rochester Castle dates from 1127 and the Norman invasion.

The village of Borstal was the site of the first children’s detention centre in 1902 and the word ‘borstal’ is now a widely used term for any youth detention centre in the UK.

The area is famous for seafaring and ship building and its strategic importance with forts built along the coastline to help protect England from Naval attack. Chatham Dockyard was closed in 1984, after 414 years of service producing 500 ships for the Royal Navy in that time including HMS Victory Admiral Nelson’s flagship.