[Bilgerat]

... the construction of a tunnel from Chatham Police Station to the then new Magistrates Court next door had to be abandoned because the builders were constantly fighting a losing battle against flooding in the tunnel.

I assure you that the tunnel was completed, as I have been through it. I won't tell you why 

I stand (or sit) corrected!

[skipraider]

... the construction of a tunnel from Chatham Police Station to the then new Magistrates Court next door had to be abandoned because the builders were constantly fighting a losing battle against flooding in the tunnel.

I assure you that the tunnel was completed, as I have been through it. I won't tell you why 

[Rochester-bred]

They actually built over the brook leaving the stream underneath but flooding did continue for some time.

[smiler]

Sometimes The Brook was a brook this photo was taken pre 1910 as the Rob Roy pub closed in 1909
  photo from Past and Present Pubs Chatham.

[Bilgerat]

In the late 1970's/early 1980's my dad worked for the Department of the Environment, which at the time was responsible for the maintenance and construction of all Government-owned buildings, including in Medway, the likes of Crown House in Chatham (now the Jobcentre), Rochester and Upnor Castles and all the buildings in the Dockyard, HMS Pembroke and the various Army barracks in the area. He told me a tale of how the construction of a tunnel from Chatham Police Station to the then new Magistrates Court next door had to be abandoned because the builders were constantly fighting a losing battle against flooding in the tunnel.

[James P]

Available literature suggests that the stream disappeared many years before the activities of Richard Bachelor and the Royal Engineers in their quest for a water supply. Perhaps the growth of Luton and the digging of numerous wells had already played their part in its demise.

[Sentinel S4]

I have noticed that in Kent we have a number of rivers that are wet for some parts of the year and then dry up or only rise to the surface every seven years (a legend in the Canterbury area) or are wet in their lower reaches only like the Little Stour (which is one of the many 'Nail Bourne's in the area along its upper reaches) which is wet from Littlebourne to Stourmouth. Could this river/stream have been the same with no discernable course above the Luton Arches?

S4.

[Durobrivae]

Could it be the building of the waterworks in Luton caused the bourne to dry up?

[Lutonman]

James P,
No evidence of a stream was uncovered during investigations or demolition of the old Christ Church, they used Auger piling for the new building but they were largely in chalk and as far as I know all came up dry. It is likely that the dry summers caused the stream to dry up was a more likely contributing factor to the  demise of the building. That apart the building was very badly built, laid on just 6ft flint foundations ( I actually dug down to inspect them).

However, the former Rector John Speers, who was there in the 1950's recalled to me once that he had been told that a village pond existed roughly where the entrance to the bus depot was. How true that is I don't know.

[James P]

The course of the Old Bourne through the Luton Valley has always intrigued me. As records show, it was intentionally covered from some point below Luton Arches, but further back into Luton disappeared below ground naturally some hundreds of years ago. I have tried without success to find record of its position through Luton. I have wondered if it played a part in the tragic subsidence of the old Christchurch, noting that about the same time my sister's house in nearby Pheasant Road developed a huge crack in the gable end wall, from top to bottom, requiring a great amount of repair work.

[Durobrivae]

Given the entire area was marshes, I would like to know where they got the infill from, it is an enormous amount of soil/chalk/clay to raise the entire area from marsh? St Mary's island was a similar situation but apparently they used the earth from the basins.

[YonderYomper]

Thanks for the pointer Kyn.

[kyn]

This thread may answer your questions:  http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=893.0

It may be worth using the search function on the forum, it can save time!

[YonderYomper]

A couple of questions I have about this stream:

Firstly, isn't that pumping station by Chatham Pentagon car park something to do with it... the one which is now a steam engine museum where they rebuilt the steam roller that used to be on the Darnley road play area?

Also, the stream has to emerge somewhere doesn't it?

Either to join the river directly at Chatham Ness, or as it passes through a water board facility to be ejected there in case of overflow?

[medwayexplorer]

I was working just off Luton road about 4 months ago delivering trench boxes to some fellas who had gone through a sewer pipe with a machine. They were fixing it and showed me where this sewer line intercepted a bigger one. We didn't open the lid but they said it was quite a way down and big. Wonder if this is access to the old culvert/sewer/stream.???