GILLINGHAM  , a municipal

borough of Kent, England, in the parliamentary borough of Chatham and the mid-division of the county, on the Medway immediately east of Chatham, on the South-Eastern & Chatham railway . Pop . (1891) 27,809; (1901) 42,530 . Its population is largely industrial, employed in the Chatham dockyards, and in cement and brick works in the neighbourhood . The church of St Mary Magdalene ranges in date from Early English to Perpendicular, retaining also traces of Norman work and some early brasses . A great battle between Edmund Ironside and Canute, c. ro16, is placed here; and there was formerly a palace of the archbishops of Canterbury . Gillingham was incorporated in 1903, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors . The borough includes the populous districts of Brompton and New Brompton . Area, 4355 acres .