Wouldham is a village on the bank of the River Medway in Kent, Great Britain. As of 2006 its population is approximately 1000 people, with the 11th-century church, one school, one village shop, and two public houses, The Medway Inn and The Waterman's Arms. History The tusk and teeth of a mammoth were excavated in Peters Pit and displayed in Rochester Guildhall Museum. In 1982, the skull of an 18-year-old man was excavated- it was dated as 1500 BC and the museum staff have had the face reconstructed. Oral history suggests that the village was occupied when the Romans arrived, and that they constructed a ford across the Medway. The site of a temple dedicated to Mithras has been excavated and occurs on old maps. On the Wouldham Marshes is Starkey House built in 1483: a now-restored Grade II listed medieval manor house called Starkey Castle. In the churchyard, is the grave of Walter Burke, who was present on board at the battle of Trafalgar and the man who held Nelson in his arms as he died. Wouldham school celebrates this connection with history in many ways, its four sports teams being named after ships at the Battle of Trafalgar (Victory, , Sovereign, ), students being assigned into a house named after one of four famous figures at Trafalgar, which they are able to earn merit points for, and by holding an annual event at the nearby church to commemorate Walter Burke. A narwhal was discovered in the 1940s washed up on the bank of the river, and is documented in the Natural History Museum, London. Until 1963 there was a ferry crossing over the Medway to Halling on the opposite bank. Industry For a hundred years, Wouldham was synonymous with cement. The Wouldham Court Cement Works was the earliest cement works opening in 1847. The works were based on the riverside in the centre of the village. In 1855, the first owners of the cement works, Thomas Freen and Co, became bankrupt and it passed in 1856, to the Wouldham Patent Portland Cement Co. They built a tramway to connect the works with the quarry, which was 1,380 ft away. The tramline had six engines on it. The Wouldham Hall Cement Works also fronted the river, and took in some land in Burham. William Peters started making hydraulic lime on the site between 1857 and 1866. He had 18