Medway Navigation Medway Navigation The River Medway in England flows for from Turners Hill, in West Sussex, through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, to the River Thames at Sheerness, where it shares the latter's estuary. The Medway Navigation runs from the Leigh Barrier south of Tonbridge to Allington just north of Maidstone. It is in length. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority responsible for the navigation. Until 1746 the river was impassable above Maidstone. To that point each village on the river had its wharf or wharves: at Halling, Snodland, New Hythe and Aylesford. Cargoes included corn,
Borough of Maidstone earliest in the county – that to Rochester and Chatham – was opened in 1728. In modern times, two motorways – the M2 and the M20 – pass to the far north of the borough and just north of the town centre of Maidstone respectively. The earliest line through Kent was built by the South Eastern Railway. It was not, however, built to pass through Maidstone: instead, a station was built at Paddock Wood railway station, then named "Maidstone Road", some six miles away. It was only in the period between 1844 (when that main line was connected by a