Rochester Esplanade
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Rochester Esplanade by Stephen McKay as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Rochester Esplanade
Image: © Stephen McKay Taken: 22 Oct 2021
This is part of the southern end of the Esplanade, beyond Esplanade Gardens. Today there are houses and flats here making the most of their waterside location. Historically, however, this was an industrial area, home to the Shorts aircraft factory. Their seaplanes were launched from the river. In 1941 the company extended their works into tunnels excavated into the cliff providing protection against air raids. After the Second World War, with the demand for seaplanes waning, the company decided to close its operations here and concentrate production at its other facility in Belfast. After that the site was occupied by a number of other companies before demolition in the 1990s. Now, only the street names are left as a reminder of the past including Valetta Way named after a monoplane first flown in 1930.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.383546
Longitude
0.495785