Traffic and politics

The history of Rochester Bridge (identifiable remains date from the Roman occupation of the walled town) and the records of the bridge administration span close on 2000 years of economic and social change. The fortunes of the successive crossings, culminating in the Medway Tunnel project of the 1990s, reflect developments in regional and national affairs; the remarkable surviving archive of the bridge administration gives valuable detail on practical issues such as maintenance and financial management, and on the personalities involved. Each of the six studies that make up this book focuses on a distinct period in the history of this ancient and important crossing of the Medway, setting it in a wider national context of economic, social and political history. The Roman bridge withstood the political vicissitudes of the early middle ages, but finally collapsed under huge pressure of water from melting ice as the frozen Medway thawed in 1381. Its medieval successor was less durable, but the crossing itself and its endowments continued to provide revenue. As the sixteenth century progressed, control of the bridge shifted from the sacred to the secular, and Elizabethan statutes heralded a new and stable administration. By the seventeenth century, as the Medway towns expanded and Chatham dockyard grew, the bridge was crucial to a wider regional economy. It has continued to be so down to the present day, adapting to the arrival of the railway and of the motor car, and now seeing its function complemented by the Medway tunnel project in which, appropriately, the Bridge Trust plays a key part.