The Medway Gap is a topographic

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 feature in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 near Rochester.

It was created when the prehistoric

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 River Medway

River Medway

The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....

 cut through line of chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 hills now known as the North Downs

North Downs

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...

; other rivers such as the Darent

River Darent

The River Darent or River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames in England. Its name is believed to be from a Celtic word meaning 'river where oak-trees grow'...

 and the Stour

River Stour, Kent

The River Stour is the river in Kent, England that flows into the English Channel at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes...

 have similar features.

Its past significance as a means of travel is indicated by the prehistoric Medway megaliths

Medway megaliths

The Medway megaliths or Medway tombs are names given to a group of Neolithic chambered long barrows and other megaliths located in the lower valley of the River Medway in the English county of Kent...

 in the area. Today a local rail route and a relatively major road (the A228) utilise the valley. The river here is bridged by the M2 motorway and High Speed 1 viaducts.

It also has the effect of creating local weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

 patterns, thereby frequently exhibiting opposite conditions to the surrounding countryside.

It is also a used by local government to refer to the series of small towns north west of Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, within Tonbridge and Malling

Tonbridge and Malling

Tonbridge and Malling is a local government district and borough in the English county of Kent.Tonbridge and Malling borough covers an area from the North Downs at Burham and Snodland in the north to the town of Tonbridge in the south...

 such as Aylesford

Aylesford

Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...

, East Malling

East Malling and Larkfield

East Malling and Larkfield is a civil parish in the district of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent, England. It is about southeast of West Malling, northwest of Maidstone, and SSW of Rochester....

, Eccles

Eccles, Kent

Eccles is a village in the English county of Kent, part of the parish of Aylesford and in the valley of the River Medway.-Archaeology:It is the site of a Roman villa estate and pottery kiln, excavated between 1962 and 1976. It replaced an Iron Age settlement , and was occupied until the end of...

, Larkfield

East Malling and Larkfield

East Malling and Larkfield is a civil parish in the district of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent, England. It is about southeast of West Malling, northwest of Maidstone, and SSW of Rochester....

, Leybourne

Leybourne

Leybourne is a small village in Kent, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to Larkfield and West Malling....

, Snodland

Snodland

Snodland is a small town in the county of Kent, England, located on the River Medway between Rochester and Maidstone. It has a population of about 12,000 people....

 and West Malling

West Malling

West Malling is a historic market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of about 3000-5000.-Landmarks:...