Geology of Kent to uplift, sedimentation, and marine erosion. The Isle of Thanet was till recently (AD 960) an island, formed around a deposit of chalk. The channels silted up with alluvium. Similarly Romney Marsh and Dungeness have been formed by accumulation of alluvium. Kent's principal river, the River Medway, rises near Edenbridge and flows some 25 miles (40 km) eastwards to a point near Maidstone, when it turns north. Here it breaks through the North Downs at Rochester before joining the River Thames as its final tributary near Sheerness. The river is tidal as far as Allington lock, but in earlier times
History of Rochester, Kent crossing the river near Maidstone thus provoking the Battle of Maidstone. By the time Fairfax approached Rochester Lord Norwich had marched off towards London, and Rochester itself was spared a battle. The bridge did not get off as lightly as the town however, the retreating Royalists destroyed the drawbridge section of the bridge and threw the planks into the river. In another contrasting pair of events, Rochester houses saw one king restored and another abdicate. Sir Francis Clarke entertained King Charles II on the eve of his restoration to the throne on 20 May 1660. Following this, his home in