The Lower Lines Park, also known as the Admiral's Gardens, is part of The Great Lines defensive fortification (Chatham and Gillingham). The site had military uses from its construction in 1803 to the Mid-20th Century. It owes its name to a house, built in the later 19th Century, to provide offices and accomadation for the Admiral, his family, and staff. The house and its gardens were in use until 1959 but were eventually demoished in the 1960s.

The park was revitalised in 2010 by clearing overgrown areas and installing paths, benches, and a childrens play area. Thisaction was supported and funded by MidKent College, English Heritage, and Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

In 2015, the Kent Gardens Trust performed a review of historical information relating to Admiral's Gardens, Chatham and Gillingham.

Taken from the review:
"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The Lower Lines Park, also known as the Admiral’s Gardens, is part of The Great Lines defensive fortifications, a Heritage Park and a potential World Heritage site. Although the Admiral’s house is gone its site and that of its surrounding formal gardens has potential for garden archaeology while the Park’s alternative name is a key to its historical association with its military past. The Park is also of significant archaeological potential as one of the few areas of the Lines where, because the defensive structures survive relatively intact, it is possible to appreciate the defences in their original form. The park is of value as a tranquil space and thoroughfare for both students of the adjacent college and for the wider community.

Brief History of Site Use:

… The area of the Great Lines fortifications, of which the Lower Lines (a scheduled ancient monument) forms part, was the site of the medieval town of Chatham. Together with surrounding farmland and common grazing, it was destroyed when displaced by the defence fortifications. Opposition by local people to the loss of ancient rights of way and cricket pitches were ineffective as the town became dominated by the military.

…The need for some kind of linear bastioned artillery fortifications was realised after the Dutch Raid of 1667 when the Dutch navy was able to sail unimpeded up the River Medway into the heart of our naval anchorage…The Lower Lines was the last section of the Chatham Lines to be constructed. The works were started in 1803 in advance of the Napoleonic Wars. This part extended the earlier section in the southwest, as far as St Mary’s Creek and effectively to the River Medway at Gillingham.

…In the 1860s advances in the power and range of artillery made the entire Chatham Lines obsolete. The Lines, in the form of ditches, had been installed to defend the Chatham Dockyard from any invading army by allowing British mobile forces to attack from a position of safety utilising gun emplacements positioned at intervals.

…According to ‘The historical landscape – Great Lines City Park’ report, from the late C19 and throughout the C20, including both world wars, the deep, brick-lined ditches with ramparts and gun emplacements were used for military training and experiments by the Royal Engineers. By building temporary bridges and other military engineering structures they learnt the elements of siege warfare. Any damage sustained was repaired as another practical exercise for the soldiers. Use of real explosives proved a popular public spectacle.

…In the later C19 a house was built to provide offices and accommodation for the Admiral, his family and staff. Known as Admiralty House it was surrounded by formal gardens, a kitchen garden, vinery and tennis court. It and the gardens were in use until 1959 (as recorded on the OS 4th edition 1929-1952) but were eventually demolished in the 1960s. The area of the gardens forms the core of the Park that exists today and is the origin of the alternative name ‘Admiral’s Gardens’.

The Park today (2014):

…The Lower Lines Park lies south of a bend in the River Medway between Chatham to the west and Gillingham to the east…The Park is bounded by roads and housing on three sides: Princess Mary Avenue and Johnson’s Avenue to the northwest, Cumberland Road to the east and part of Medway Road to the south.

The main part of the Park is laid out around a centrally-placed, slightly domed, plateau which is the site of the former C19 Admiral’s House (demolished in the 1960s) and its former surrounding formal garden of which only superficial traces as parch marks survive…On the west side of the plateau, above a steeply-sloping bed of C21 mixed shrub planting, on a bank created when the defence trenches were dug, is a re-constructed military-style bridge that crosses the Lower Lines defence trenches. This brick-lined ditch runs just inside the Park perimeter from its north-west corner southwards to the north of the MidKent College campus. Paths on either side of this ditch pass various sites of relic military installations, mostly below ground but marked with description panels, including two C19 gun embrasures, a searchlight seesaw and a WWII gunfast and bunker. At the southern end of the ditch is a wide section of moat, a searchlight vertical lift, a C21 earth bridge over the moat, countermine galleries and chamber and WWII gunfast with ammunition lockers and bunker. To the south of the plateau is an extensive area of late C20 mixed woodland intersected and surrounded by paths. Amongst the trees are surviving remnants of the WWII Medway Road Camp for Wrens and concrete slabs marking the site of its underground air-raid shelters. On the southern boundary of the woodland, adjoining the MidKent College campus, is the site of the Nore Command, HMS Wildfire." (1)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2015, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway: The Great Lines - Admiral's Gardens or Lower Lines, Chatham and Gillingham (Unpublished document). SKE31411.