Crescent Shipping Ltd. 

Rochester and Chatham have a very long maritime history dating back over five hundred years to the time of Henry VIII. Rochester has a Norman castle and cathedral standing side by side above the Medway, with its Limehouse reach and Bridge reach below, and was also where Charles Dickens spent his childhood. Moving forward in time, the Thames and Medway Canal was dug between 1804 and 1824 to provide a safe route between the rivers Medway and Thames. Barges were thus able to avoid the long passage round into the Thames estuary, and at the Strood (Rochester) end the canal was entered through a lock into Frindsbury basin. The canal opened on 4th October 1824 but proved to be a commercial failure and it was filled in by the South Eastern railway in 1845.