Traffic and Politics : The Construction and Management of Rochester Bridge, AD 43-1993

The history of Rochester bridge (identifiable remains date from the Roman occupation of the walled town) and the records of the bridge administration span close on 2000 years of economic and social change. The fortunes of the successive crossings, culminating in the Medway Tunnel project of the 1990s, reflect developments in regional and national affairs; the remarkable surviving archive of the bridge administration gives valuable detail on practical issues such as maintenance and financial management, and on the personalities involved. Each of the six studies that make up this book (written by different scholars) focuses on a distinct period in the history of this ancient and important crossing of the Medway, setting it in a wider national context of economic and social - and inevitably political - history, and including comparative material on other river crossings.

A story of great local interest (and) a series of illustrations both of changes in civil engineering and of the working of English local politics...also a wonderful illustration of the slow development of ideas of legal incorporation. May the Kent History Project produce more work of this standard. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW Detailed insights into the importance, for all those concerned with transport interests - and to regional historians generally - how the history of bridges elsewhere may, and should, be attempted... well illustrated by diagrams and photographs...strongly recommended. JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT HISTORY