Difference between revisions 47124368 and 47272474 on enwiki

{{infobox England place with map UA|
  |Map=               Gillingham - Kent dot.png
  |Population=        
  |Place=             Gillingham
  |District=          [[Medway]]
  |Region=            [[South East England]]
  |Ceremonial=        [[Kent]]
  |Traditional=       [[Kent]]
  |Constituency=      [[Gillingham (UK Parliament constituency)]]
  |Euro=              [[South East England (European Parliament constituency)|South East England]]
  |PostalTown=        GILLINGHAM
  |PostCode=          ME7
  |DiallingCode=      01634
  |Police=            [[Kent Police]]
  |GridReference=     TQ775675
}}
'''Gillingham''' is a town in [[Kent]] in the [[United Kingdom]],  forming part of the Medway [[conurbation]]; it is a constituent of [[Medway]] [[unitary authority]]. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark, Twydall and Lidsing.

Gillingham means a ''homestead of Gylla's family'', from Old English ''ham'' (village, homestead) and ''ingas'' (family, followers), and was first recorded in 10th century as ''Gyllingeham''.


==Status==

Each of the Medway Towns formerly had a different status: [[Strood]] was a rural district council; [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] a [[city]]; while both [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] and Gillingham were  boroughs.  When in 1974 the other three became one as Rochester-upon-Medway, Gillingham remained as a borough on its own. It was only when the [[conurbation]] was given [[unitary authority]] status that Gillingham lost its independence.

==History==

===Early history===

At the time of the [[Norman Conquest]], Gillingham was a small [[Hamlet (place)|hamlet]]; it was given by [[William the Conqueror]] to his half-brother [[Odo of Bayeux]]. The land was mainly farmland, and Odo rebuilt the parish church of St Mark's and constructed an archbishop's palace here.

(contracted; show full)
[[Category:Medway]]
[[Category:Former non-metropolitan districts]]

[[de:Gillingham]]
[[id:Gillingham]]
[[no:Gillingham, Kent]]
[[sv:Gillingham]]