Hartlake disaster

The coroner found that "the accident arose entirely from the defective state of the road and the wooden bridge, and their dangerous construction, which ought to have been before remedied".

The deceased were buried in the nearby St Mary's Church, where a monument in the form of an oast house has been erected.

[8] The full cost of the burial was borne by the parish of Hadlow, the Medway Navigation Company refusing to contribute.

In October 2013, on the 160th anniversary of the disaster, a new plaque carrying the names of the dead was added to the by now weathered memorial.

[9] The name of the youngest victim, a two-year-old girl, remains unknown as her parents died with her in the accident.