Gillingham, Dorset - a potted history

The earliest known settlement in Gillingham is of a 2500BC Lake dwelling at Bay.  It is from Roman times, around 200AD, that a substantial farm settlement was established in the Commonmead Lane area, and much evidence has been unearthed.  In the Museum, Roman pottery, coins and roof tiles are on display. It is believed that it remained for several hundred years.

Evidence of Saxon occupation, probably from c. 660, is in the form of part of a Saxon Cross which is in St Mary's church, and the town's name Gillingham is of Saxon origin - Gylla being possibly the name of a local chief and ham is interpreted as a village or homestead. Edmund Ironside fought and defeated King Canute at nearby Penn and drove them down the hill to be finished off at a place still called Slaughtergate. Edward the Confessor was declared King at Gillingham in 1042.
The settlement and church of St Mary's is mentioned in the Domesday Book.  King John spent hundreds of pounds building a moated hunting lodge at King's Court, surrounded by parkland and an area which was declared as the Royal Forest of Gillingham. The hunting lodge was further extended by Henry III, into an extensive palace and used by Kings for over 200 years.
The oldest substantial building in the town apart from the church is Wyke Hall. Parts date from Tudor times, and although much altered over the years, is now in good order and divided into several separate dwelling units.

The Free school was a building near the church. Its most famous pupil was Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon (1609-1674), who was the grandfather of Queen Mary II and Queen Anne.  Robert Frampton, who was later to become the Bishop of Gloucester, was elected to become headmaster of the school in 1648. The school, founded in 1516, was later known as a grammar school and still survives as the comprehensive school, sited in Hardings Lane.

At the beginning of the 17th century Gillingham was still a small village. The present High Street consisted of houses and dwellings of the period with at least two inns, the Red Lion and The Phoenix.
The artist John Constable was a friend of the Reverend John Fisher vicar of Gillingham, and he visited Gillingham in 1820 and 1823. As a result five oil paintings of the area and four sketches were produced.  A copy of each of these is in Gillingham Museum.

St Mary's church has existed for over 900 years but was largely rebuilt in the 1830s under the direction of Henry Deane, vicar at the time. The chancel is the only substantial ancient part, dating from the 14th century. The church is unique in that the chancel floor is lower than that of the nave.

Despite its rural setting, Gillingham could claim to be an industrial town. In 1769, the Gillingham Silk Co. established the silk-throwing industry (i.e. the process of preparing raw silk for the weaver). In the early years of the 19th century, around 160 people were employed in the mill itself. Girl apprentices were often obtained from London workhouses. In 1847, Oake Woods opened their bacon factory. The railway arrived in 1859, closely followed by the Gillingham Pottery, Brick and Tile Co. in 1865. A cattle and stock market developed and this was followed by the emergence of firms still existing today, e.g. Bracher Bros and J.H.Rose & Sons. The population grew from 1,873 in 1801 to 3,380 in 1901.
As well as the new industries, the High Street was furnished with a variety of shops. Important among new industries were several serving the farming community, particularly for dairy products, which could now be dispatched several times daily to London and other large towns to arrive in a fresh condition.

During the first three decades of the 20th century, the prosperity of the town continued. A market was held every other Monday and the calf market was the second largest in the country. There was a large dairy depot for manufacturing cheese and supplying milk to London, as well as Eden Shute’s butter factory and Slade’s mineral works. After 1945 there was a steady decline and the end of the market in the 1950s seemed to mark the nadir of industrial Gillingham.
However, by the late 1970s, the trend was reversing and new firms – such as Sherman Chemicals, Biokil, Sigma Aldrich, Dextra Lighting Systems, Wessex Fare and Chester Jefferies – came to the town. Land was released for housing developments and the town started to grow again.  The ‘Relief Road’, Le Neubourg Way (named after Gillingham’s twin town in Normandy), provided the opportunity for a supermarket, a new library and museum to be built at Chantry Fields.  Gillingham Waitrose store soon attained the position of the third busiest Waitrose in the country, and has since become the focal point for the regeneration of the town’s retail trade.
In the past 20 years, the expansion of Gillingham included a huge building and refurbishment programme at the primary schools in School Road and at Milton and new primary schools at Wyke and Ham to meet the needs of housing during the first decade of the 21st century.  The Gillingham Comprehensive School is thoroughly modern and caters for over 1750 pupils from 11 to 18 years. It has been largely rebuilt over the past few years, and now has excellent facilities for all subjects plus a fine sports complex with an all weather soccer/hockey pitch.  The quality of education provided in the town has often been the driving force for families moving into the area.

The town's sports clubs cover football, rugby football, cricket and bowls. The latest high profile development in the town is the regeneration of the Leisure Centre in Hardings Lane. This has been the creation of Riversmeet, specially formed to take on the task of fundraising, publicity and management of the project, due for completion in 2010.

Gillingham is managed by the Gillingham Town Council and its 15 members meet on Mondays to discuss matters concerning the parish. North Dorset District Council is the next layer of local government and Dorset County Council oversees education, policing, fire and ambulance services, roads and bridges etc.

Altogether Gillingham is a fine place to live in a friendly environment, still only a few minute’s walk from the countryside.

Written by David Lloyd & Peter Crocker