Wigmore, Kent

Wigmore is a suburb/village in the southeast of the Medway conurbation in Kent, England. It is broadly bounded by the A278 road to the west, Rainham to the north and the M2 motorway to the south.

Wigmore

The post-war St Matthew's Church
Wigmore
Location within Kent
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGillingham
Postcode districtME8
Dialling code01634
PoliceKent
FireKent
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament

History

The placename is attested in 1275 as Wydemere, from an Old English *wīd-mere "broad pool".[1]

A sparsely-populated hamlet and farming area until the 20th Century, Wigmore was briefly the site of a smallpox isolation hospital (Alexandra Hospital) from 1902, and began to be developed as a village from 1906 when the 365-acre Wigmore agricultural estate was partitioned and sold as plots,[2] initially as smallholdings (hence the local “Smallholders Club”)[3] and rural shanties for Medway families.

Amenities

St Matthew's Church was founded in 1925 and was replaced in the 1960s by architects Brett, Boyd and Bosanquet.[4] A prefab Evangelical church[5] was opened later.

Now a fully suburbanised village within south Gillingham, the area has a community primary school,[6] medical centre,[7] and local football team, Wigmore Youth F.C.[8]

Transport

Arriva bus 132 runs between Wigmore, Rainham and Chatham.

Rock bands associated with the locality-championing Medway scene have referenced Wigmore; The Buff Medways in the song "Medway Wheelers" (2005)[9] and the Len Price 3 with "Wigmore Swingers" (2014).[10]

References
  1. "Wigmore" A Dictionary of British Place-Names. A. D. Mills. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
  2. Joyce and Miller, Brian and Sophie (2014). Gillingham & Around From Old Photographs. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445632971.
  3. "Smallholders Club".
  4. Twentieth Century Society, https://c20society.org.uk/publications/c20-magazine/review-the-buildings-of-england-kent-west-and-the-weald/
  5. http://www.wigmorefreechurch.org.uk/3ArmyHuts.htm
  6. "New Era Technology UK | Part of the New Era Technology family".
  7. "Wigmore Medical Centre - 114 Woodside, Wigmore, Gillingham, ME8 0PW".
  8. "Wigmore Youth FC".
  9. "Site Search | Cycling UK" (PDF).
  10. "Len Price 3: Nobody Knows (CD on JLM Recordings)".


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