Edmund John Niemann, 1813–1876 Panorama of the Medway from Upnor Hill with Chatham and Dockyard in the Distance & Rochester Beyond

Edmund John Niemann, 1813–1876

Panorama of the Medway from Upnor Hill with Chatham and Dockyard in the distance & Rochester beyond

Signed/Inscribed:

and dated "E J Niemann Chatham 59"

oil on panel

35 x 92 cm. x 13.3/4 x 36.1/4in.

This extensive Panorama shows the key Chatham Covered Slips and H.M. Dockyard centrally in the distance, with St Mary's Church just to the right of the dockyard before the major expansion northward onto St Mary's Island (left) from c. 1860 with the shipbuilding sheds of the 1840s and early 50s which four out of five (the most southerly of two early wooden ones was later lost to fire). The kiln in the right foreground is for the terracotta works, to the immediate left of the terracotta works is the "New London Stone Obelisk" marking the limit of the city of London over the river, this was erected in 1836. There is a small Littles shipbuilding yard by Upnor Castle & Barracks seen in the far right , this may have been part of the dockyard’s activities. In the far top right hand section is the Windmill and Star Hill at Rochester with Rochester Cathedral and the Castle in the far distance.

Notes

The Medway area has a long and varied history dominated originally by the city of Rochester and later by the naval and military establishments principally in Chatham and Gillingham.

Rochester was established on an Iron Age site by the Romans,who called it Durobrivae (meaning "stronghold by the bridge"), to control the point where Watling Street (now the A2) crossed the River Medway. Rochester later became a walled town and, under later Saxon influence, a mint was established here. The first cathedral was built by Bishop Justus in 604 and rebuilt under the Normans by Bishop Gundulf, who also built the castle that stands opposite the cathedral. Rochester was also an important point for people travelling the Pilgrims' Way, which stretches from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. The Pilgrims' Way crossed the Medway near Cuxton.

In Rochester, parts of the Roman city wall are still in evidence, and the city has many fine buildings, such as the Guildhall (today a museum), which was built in 1687 and is among the finest 17th-century civic buildings in Kent; the Corn Exchange, built in 1698, originally the Butcher's Market; the small Tudor house of Watts Charity endowed by Sir Richard Watts to house "six poor travelers" for one night each; Satis House and Old Hall, both visited by Queen Elizabeth I, built in 1573.

The Royal Navy opened a anchorage dockyard in Gillingham (Jillingham Water) during the reign of Henry VIII, in 1567 the Royal Naval Dockyard was established in Medway. Although it is called Chatham dockyard, two-thirds of the dockyard lie within Gillingham. The dockyard was closed in 1984, with the loss of eight thousand jobs at the dockyard itself and many more in local supply industries, contributing to a mid-1980s Medway unemployment rate of sixteen percent. It was protected by a series of forts including Fort Amherst and the Lines, Fort Pitt and Fort Borstal. The majority of surviving buildings in the Historic Dockyard are Georgian. It was here that HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, was built and launched in 1765. Sir Francis Drake learned his seamanship on the Medway; Sir John Hawkins founded a hospital in Chatham for seamen, and Nelson began his Navy service at Chatham at the age of 12. Other notable sea-faring and naval figures, such as William Adams, were raised on the Medway but apprenticed elsewhere. The river was further protected by such fortifications as Upnor Castle which, in 1667 in varying accounts says it was partly successful in thwarting the Dutch raid on the dockyard, or the commanding officer fled without firing on the Dutch.

Another warship built at Chatham that still exists is HMS Unicorn (a 46-gun "Leda" class frigate) laid down in February 1822, and launched 30 March 1824. She never saw active servi