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Walderslade is a large suburb to the south of Chatham split between the unitary authority of Medway and the boroughs of Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling in South East England. It was, until 1998, fully part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. It encompasses almost all the ME5 postcode district (except parts of Luton). Walderslade was formerly a small rural village nestled in the valleys of the North Downs, however development accelerated with the expansion of towns in Medway after the First World War. The urban area developed quickly after the Second World War leading to the current make-up of several large estates surrounding the original village, which is the local centre of commerce. Walderslade comprises several named areas, notably the Davis Estate (near Rochester Airport), Wayfield, Weeds Wood, Walderslade Woods, Princes Avenue and Lordswood. ==History== An important Bronze Age hoard was found in Walderslade in 1965 during house construction. Comprising two gold penannular bracelets, it is now in the collections of the British Museum.〔British Museum Collection ()〕 The name Walderslade comes from the Saxon language, and means "wood in a valley". Walderslade Valley or Bottom – is one of several dry chalk valleys in the area, that were created during past ice ages as a result of melting ice when England was still joined with the continent. During warmer post glacial periods, elephants and hippopotami roamed the valleys. 〔Walderslade, The Wooded Valley, Edwina Kissick (2008)〕 Walderslade valley was originally wooded, hence its name. Although over time the woodland became restricted primarily to the higher ground (Lord Wood, Dargets Wood and Hall or Hail Wood) – where substantial woodland remained until the area became subject to new housing development. This started in the early 1900s and expanded considerably from the 1950s onwards. It is possible that the Romans (who were present in nearby Luton) were the first to start the clearance of woodland in the valley. The southern (Boxley) end of the valley – still retains some woodland. There were originally four farms in the Walderslade and surrounding areas, including Walderslade Farm and Settington Farm – which both existed within Walderslade Valley. Also Gibralter Farm and Shawstead Farm (the last two still exist in a nearby valley). Shawstead Farm (and probably others in the area) were associated with the clearance of local woodland to help supply Chatham Dockyard with oak for the building of wooden sailing ships. Chatham dockyard constructed ships such as HMS Victory, launched at Chatham in 1765. Most of the larger and more valuable oak trees would have existed in the richer soil of the Valley bottoms and slopes (Walderslade, Shawstead etc.) where the farms were typically located. The ruins of Upper Shawstead Farm are now within the boundary of Capstone Farm Country Park. Most of this farmland belonged to Shawstead Manor.〔http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/query/results/DateList=&PathList=&SearchWords=De...&Verbose=no&Boolean=&Mode=Search&IDX=6775〕 Settington Farm was located close to where Morrisons Supermarket now stands in Walderslade Valley and existed up until the 1950s. Walderslade farm existed close to where Walderslade village exists today and extended along the Valley to Settington Farm. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walderslade」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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