Those with ancestry in the Medway area of Kent might want to grab a free PDF copy of a 56 page book Maritime Medway: how the River Medway made History from http://www.medway.gov.uk/pdf/MedwayMaritime.pdf
This book is an introduction to the history of the River Medway, not for the specialist. "It takes the main themes of that history and tries to highlight how they have distinctively affected the lives of Medway people, past and present. Some of these themes have been covered in depth over the years by specialist books. However, a general, approachable and reliable publication has long been lacking."
A section on prison hulks has information of more widespread applicability.
Many thanks for linking to this! A good chunk of my husband's maternal ancestors were from the Medway area with many in his direct line born, married and buried in Strood, Chatham, Gillingham, Brompton and Rochester itself. I particularly enjoyed the contemporary paintings and drawings and the details on local industries.
ReplyDeleteIt bears repeating that those researching ancestors in the Medway area should be checking out the City Ark web site ( http://cityark.medway.gov.uk ) which leads into "Medway Ancestors" ( http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/query/results/?Mode=Search&PathList=/Z4a_Medway_Ancestors/
) : many photographs of artifacts and about three centuries of church registries. A bit labour-intensive, but marvelous stuff.