This leaflet advertising Abbey Homestead's Berengrave Park Project was developing the new estates of Childscroft Road, Chalky Bank Road, Parkfield adjacent to Berengrave Lane and the north side of the railway line. This development would have been during the late 1950s/early 1960s at a similar time to the Tilbury Road estates (details of Finwell Road Rainham 1967 - Rainham House Prices) on the opposite side of Station Road. The other roads included were Roystons Close, Bushmeadow Road, Wooldey Road, Dignals Close and Iversgate Close.

If you have any old photos taken on the estate that you could share it would be great to see them - please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo below of Chalky Bank Road in 1961

 There are also leaflets for the Parkwood estate building in the 1960s here - Parkwood Wards Homes Sales Brochures and Promo Leaflets 1960s

History Articles

Shops in Station Road in the 1940s and 1950s

I am writing to say how much I enjoyed Dick Grice’s recollections of shops in Station Road in the November edition of AF. It brought back many memories of the people and smells associated with the
shops after so many years. I was born in I940 in The Mackland Arms. My Mum and Dad, Norah and Joe Gillman, ran the pub for over 20 years. My husband and I now live in Dorset but Rainham will always be
“home” to me.

Dick finished his account by suggesting that others may have fond memories of other shops that he omitted. Between Henry street and William Street was a little general shop run by Mrs Files. I can picture her
cutting out coupons from customers’ ration books with scissors secured to the counter with string. I was told my sister once took me in my pram to Mrs Briggs sweetshop. She was enjoying her purchases so much
she forgot to bring me home. At 97, just above Briggs, Celia O’Brien ran a betting shop from her front room where she sat at a high desk.

I was often tasked with dropping off a bet on the horses written on a piece of paper wrapped round a two shilling coin. At the top of Station Road just down from the Co-op was another fish shop run by Mr and
Mrs Cracknell. Coming back down that side was an off licence and next door a corn merchants run by Mr Clout where I collected meal to add to cooked potato peelings to feed our chickens. Another shop smell I
recall is boiling beetroot in Arnolds the greengrocers. On the comer of Station Road and Hothfield, opposite Amolds, was Miles Bros Lemonade factory. Just down from there was Dennis the butcher and another shop
on the comer with Solomon road but I cannot remember what they sold. 

Margaret Jordan

History Articles

 Memories of Rainham Past by John Austin

To my way of thinking Rainham has never been the same since the old C. of E. School with its flint walls, outside staircase and turret bell-tower at the top of Station Road (once White Horse Lane) was pulled down. Fortunately the Church still dominates the skyline. During 2020 Action Forum featured memories of growing up in Rainham from several widely-spread correspondents. I was born in a cottage still standing at the lower end of Maidstone Road, for many years known as Bredhurst Lane. My birth certificate records the district as ‘Gillingham’ but six years earlier it would have been stamped ‘Milton Regis’. Regis means royal: Milton had been owned by Kentish Kings as far back as William the Conqueror. Why the change? Prior to 1929 Rainham had its own Water Board, and a Fire Service dating back to 1901 — but no main drainage.

In that time the population of Rainham had almost doubled, and as growth continued it was feared that current methods of emptying privies were contaminating the subsoil in some areas. Milton Rural Council considered that extending their own drainage system as far as Rainham would cost over £20,000, far too expensive for Rainham to afford. There had already been suggestions from Rainham’s Parish Council that the small town should amalgamate with the neighbouring Borough of Gillingham, which had a population of 57,000. Gillingham Council agreed. Although this would mean an increase in rates for Rainham’s citizens, the proposal also offered other advantages including Widening the High Street and building a Town Hall, so the deal was settled. 

Photo showing the school at the top of Station Road

In 1939 my parents had just completed the purchase of a house at what was then the lower end of Hawthorne Avenue; there were then only fields of cabbages and potatoes beyond. So when I started school at the beginning of 1940 it was at Twydall lnfants. Frank, a couple of years older, attended Byron Road School. Though it was only about half a mile from our home as the crow flies, there was no direct path; I had to walk up to the A2, turn right as far as Twydall Lane, then north down to Romany Road - about 1‘/1 miles. Frank’s joumey was even longer, and we had to make the journey four times a day. A campaign begun by my mother and her neighbour for a more direct route eventually led to a proper footpath across the allotments to Romany Road.

The period between September 1939 and May 1940 became known as the ‘phony war’. No bombs fell, but gas masks were issued, ration books introduced, air raid shelters were erected and sandbags piled up round important buildings. Early in 1940 Andersen shelters, in the form of corrugated iron sheets, were delivered by the council to Hawthorne Avenue. There was no charge for families where the husband or father, like ours, was in the Forces. But how was Mum to dig the hole, which needed to be three feet deep? Fortunately the two teenage sons of the Howland family from Pump Lane came to the rescue. Mum herself, after a brief lesson in brick-laying from Mr Howland, built the blast wall in front of the entrance. 

The phony war ended abruptly at the end of May with the mass evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. l can just remember standing near the viaduct in Pump Lane watching the Red Cross trains go by,
but of course did not appreciate their significance. As the Battle of Britain raged over East Kent in late summer most people were not expecting air raids on London or beyond — they still thought the war
would be over by Christmas. With Dad away, Mother and the two of us were left on our own in Hawthorne Avenue. Her sister Ethel, who lived in Ealing, thought we might feel lonely, so invited us
to join her family there. The house in Hawthorne Avenue could be let. Aunt Ethel’s house, one of a pair of semi-detached houses, was already fairly full. As well as her husband, who was something in the city, going
off each morning with a rolled-up umbrella and a bowler hat, but medically unfit for active service, there were also their daughter Joy (14), Cousin Renée (18) and Grandad, in his mid-70s. Mum
was fitted in somewhere, but Frank and I slept next door. This half of the pair was occupied by Mrs Gardiner and her son Derek: her husband too was away in the Forces.

Frank and I had just a short spell at school in Ealing. We were sometimes escorted by Joy and her friend Honor Blackman, who would later become famous for her roles as Cathy Gale in ‘The Avengers’ and as Pussy Galore in ‘Goldfinger’. Soon we were taking shelter under the stairs as raids reached Ealing, and it was during one raid that the doorbell rang, and Aunt Ethel opened it , expecting an ARP Warden saying we were showing a chink of light. But it was my father, in his Chief Petty Officer’s uniform, on a very brief leave. The four of us were able to have a photograph taken in a local park, but what I really remember about his visit was the clockwork train set he had brought with him from Hamleys. Not long afterwards a landmine blew the roof off the two houses, though none of the residents were hurt. Mum temporarily rented a nearby house — but then the school was also hit.

Before he left Dad had told Mum to ensure our safety by taking advantage of the evacuation plans for school children which came into action in October 1940. Frank and I were sent to
Cornwall where we were billeted at a farm. The place had hardly changed since the end of the previous century — no piped water, electricity or main drainage. The privy was at the bottom of
the garden. Very occasionally my mother was able to manage a visit, for she was now working at home back in Hawthorne Avenue (she had been Warned by a neighbour in Kent that the
tenants there had done a moonlight flit, leaving it in rather a mess) for the Royal Navy. Her job was attaching collars to naval uniforms, delivering them to the Dockyard when a batch was complete. But
following a visit in Spring 1942 she realised that we were not being adequately fed or schooled, and immediately took us back to Hawthorne Avenue. But now Twydall schools were full, and we were
allotted places at the Council School [later Meredale] in Solomon Road. Those of us who went there remember affectionately our caretaker, Mr Barratt, who would ladle our morning milk
ration from a churn into our tin mugs. His wife was the redoubtable Ma Barratt.

We boys were able to have our dinner at the only school canteen in the area which was actually sited in our playground. Dinners cost 3d each, but were well worth the price because it meant more rations
for mums struggling to feed children at home. At that time it was not overwhelmed by numbers, but as more and more children sought places restrictions had to be brought in. Only pupils living
more than a mile away from the canteen were eligible for the meals, and those from the senior school who lived in Upchurch or Lower Halstow had priority. Because our mother was working, and
the length of our daily trek the two of us were still allowed to have our mid-day meal there when we moved to the Senior School in Orchard Street at about the age of ten. Here our morning milk came in one-third pint bottles, issued by the caretaker Mr Dunn. At the end of morning and afiemoon school he would exchange his boiler suit for his police uniform and become Special Constable P.C.Dunn. Stationed at the junction with the High Street, he made sure children crossed the main road safely. 

En route to the canteen we straggled down past the blacksmith where we might catch sight of a shire horse being shooed or a red hot metal rim being fitted on to a cart wheel, then crossed the main road
to Station Road. (The barbers at No. 47 charged only 4d. for a boy’s haircut as opposed to 9d. in the High Street.) Opposite Webster Road, by the terminus of the No. 2 buses of the Chatham and District Motor Company in their brown and cream livery, we passed the ironmonger’s shop where pots and pans dangled in the doorway. As we turned into Solomon Road the whiff of our dinner became gradually more pungent as we approached the canteen. This was a long wooden hut in the playground, very close to the railway, and it shook with every passing train. The smoke from the engines, mixed with steam from the kitchen, could make the room quite foggy. In charge of the band of cooks, all ladies who had served there since it had opened, was Mrs. Barratt, more often known as ‘Sergeant Major’ or ‘Ma’ Barratt. She was not very tall, but had a voice that could be heard across the playground when telling us to get into our two lines, boys and girls separately. When I wrote about her in Action Forum in May 2001 (AF 356) I had many phone calls and personal visits from others who remembered her with mixed feelings.

At the door we had to extend our hands, which had to be clean enough to pass her inspection, before being allowed inside. If they showed signs of ink or paint, we were sent to scrub them before rejoining the queue at the back. (It was rumoured that even teachers had to show theirs.) Once into the hall her voice level dropped dramatically as she commanded us ‘Now say your grace, dears’ and we dutifully mumbled ‘For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful’. But then it was back to her usual pitch - ‘Elbows off the table’. ‘Sit up straight’. ‘No talking’. We sat on forms, twelve to a table, and a boy at the end might be deposited on the floor if all his neighbours stood up at once while he was still seated. Teachers sat at a separate table which was covered by a white tablecloth.]

The operation was run like clockwork. We were allotted only half an hour to eat, and of course had to finish everything on our plates. The food was filling if not exciting. We might have shepherds
pie made with mince, stew, well-boiled cabbage and swede, followed by milk pudding with a dob of jam, chocolate pudding or, our favourite, jam roly-poly and custard. These were boiled in long cloths. The meat in the stew wasn’t top quality, and one cheeky pupil offered to Mrs Barratt a dead cat he’d seen on his way to school. This earned him a telling off and a cuff round the ear. There were two varieties of milk pudding, semolina or tapioca. Supplies of the latter, made from cassava root imported from South America, were apparently limitless even after the war ended. I have avoided milk puddings ever since.

History Articles

Of Shipwrights and Bargemen

You may have seen a recent programme in the ‘Chronicle’  series on BBC2 entitled ‘Where There’s Muck ....’ The  theme was the increasing interest in industrial archaeology throughout the country, and during the programme  prizes were presented for the three most outstanding  projects of the year. 

The first prize went to a London group, but the  second prize was awarded to a group at Sittingbourne,  The Dolphin Sailing Barge Museum Trust, whose project  is the restoration of a small shipyard, the opening of a  maritime folk museum with particular reference to the  Thames Sailing Barge, and the conservation of a waterside  amenity area. However, the real purpose behind the group  is to ensure that the old skills and crafts associated with  the building of these 100-ton sailing barges — and sailing  them double-handed — is not lost when the few old salts  who have such skills and crafts unfortunately pass away. 

The Dolphin Yard is situated on a small inlet off  Milton Creek and was formerly Charles Burley’s old  barge yard. It consists of a set of barge repair blocks,  sail loft, carpenter’s shop, forge and a small area of saltings. The site was in a derelict condition, the buildings  in urgent need of repair and the inlet required dredging.  Much work has been done to date but volunteers for  working parties are still very welcome.  Mr. O’Shea, the curator, is living aboard his own barge  the ‘Nellie Parker’, and it is hoped to obtain another  barge for instructional purposes. Moorings will be  provided for fully rigged spritsail barges and there will be  full facilities for their maintenance at the Yard.

Photo: On The evening tide by J.R. Price

Visitors,  as well as members, are welcome, and eventually it will be  possible to watch or participate in such crafts as  sailmaking, spar-making and ship repair work.  Details can be obtained from The Curator, S/B  ‘Nellie Parker’, Crown Quay Lane, Sittingbourne.  Personally I find the ideas behind the Dolphin scheme  very interesting, and, if like me you find the sight of those  dark red sails beating up the Estuary a stirring one, or if  you just like ‘the fun of seeing something handsome  emerging from the rust of time’ to quote Magnus  Magnusson, a visit to Milton Creek could be a rewarding  experience.  

By Ted Timberlake 

From Action Forum, May 1971

(posted May 2021 so I have no idea if the barge is still present and if the address is still valid)

History Articles

The Co-op Treats

The Kent Co-operative Societies had branches in Rainham, Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham and held their annual ‘Treat’, or ‘Fete’ for the local population in local parks in each of the towns. The late Alan Major recalled the Rainham Co-op ‘Treat’ or ‘Fete’. He lived locally and his father was employed as a shop assistant and roundsman at the local Co-op Branch in Rainham. He recalled tales in the December 1986 issue of Bygone Kent, some of which are shared here. ‘At least as far back as 1910/11 up to 1915 a Coop ‘Treat’ had been held in Rainham Recreation ground, with ordinary sports, races etc. Mr Henry Samson the Co-op’s baker from 1896 to 1915, made bread, swiss rolls and 15 inch long slab cakes at Rainham’s Co-op bakehouse for these ‘Treats’.

Photo above showing W.Samson, E.Packer, K.Jones, W.Costen, B.Reeves at a Co-op treat in the 1920s.

In the 1920s the ‘Treat’ was also preceded by a Carnival Procession through Rainham. Rainham’s Co-op Carnival Procession started at Longley Road, up Station Road, along the High Street and Broad Walk to the ‘Men of Kent’ and back again but continuing down Station Road to the Recreation Ground. Children of Co-op members would gather in Station Road and climb aboard the horsedrawn carts and Motor vehicles to take part in the Carnival. Local farmers and other Rainham businessmen loaned their horses and carts and lorries for the purpose. These vehicles were suitably gaily adorned with streamers and similar. In addition there were floats advertising C.W.S. (Co-op brand) goods. Prizes were received for the best floats and best fancy dress costumes in a variety of classes and the vehicles gradually dispersed for the fun to continue on the Recreation ground. The Co-op used to provide the coloured crepe paper etc for anyone intending to enter in fancy dress as either Co-op or non Co-op subjects or characters. The last ‘Treat’ that had a preceding carnival was held about 1931 after which the police refused permission for it to be held on the High Street route. After that he Co-op ‘Treat’ continued with the help and support of those who had previously been involved from the the Co-op employees and families. Floats and Fancy Dress on the Rec and the ‘Treats’ teatime party for the children continued. Only the children of co-op employees and members were entitled to the tea-time treat.

The children with ‘tickets’ would sit in long rows across the grass at the Rec and volunteer lady members of the Rainham Co-op Women’s Guild would walk along with large wicker clothes baskets filled with sandwiches, bread and butter, buns and slices of various different cakes. They would be followed by other lady helpers carrying long white enamel jugs of tea to be poured into the dozens of outward thrust cups and mugs. When the children had finished eating, members’ children could also have free rides on the swings, roundabout, coconut shies, hoopla and other sideshows. The children of the non-members had to pay for the privilege of sitting down to eat and enjoy the swing rides etc. The ‘Treat’ was aimed at being a perk for Co-op membership.

Penfold’s Fair, with a magnificent roundabout and all the rides, was an attraction along with the sideshows at the ‘Treat’ and set up on the Rec. There were running races, egg and spoon and sack races for boys and girls whose parents had obtained tickets from the Co-op previously for them to enter. Races for adults were held after Tea or in the early evening, the winners receiving ‘useful prizes’.

What would seem nowadays to be a somewhat amusing contest on ‘Treat’ day in the 1930s was to clean a silver spoon which had been made really black and tarnished. Alan recalls, ‘The spoon, along with a yellow cloth and a tin of C.W.S. Silvo polish was laid out for each competitor and on the word ‘go’ the children started to clean vigorously. A time limit was set after which the judges judged for cleanliness and brightness. The prize? A big package of C.W.S. products - brass polish, silver polish, polishing cloths, blacking etc.!

Maypole dancing was another attraction in the 1920s with beribboned, white-dressed local girls trained by a Mrs Brunning whose father, Mr Bardon, was President of the Rainham Co-op at the time. It was such an exciting day and so enjoyed by the local population of Rainham and those living in Upchurch and Lower Halstow. Sadly Co-op involvement with the ‘Treats’ ended before the 1939 War but it was a fun day with crowds of lively people enjoying themselves.

An extra perk enjoyed by the local children of the Council School in Solomon Road, was on the Monday after the ‘Treat’. As soon as they left their classes for dinner they raced to the corner of the Rec and on their hands and knees turned over every blade of grass, in the hope of finding dropped coins. Sometimes they were rewarded with pennies and halfpennies but just occasionally a shiny silver sixpence was found half trodden into the turf!

As told to Maggie Francis by the late Alan Major

History Articles

A common sight on old photos of Medway and Maidstone that show pubs are the words "Style & Winch Ltd - Maidstone Fine Ales". The brewery was formed by the merger of Style brewery and Winch brewery but they then acquired many other brewers and shut their brewing operations to centralise at their Maidstone brewery. Style & Winch finally closed in 1965 but the name lives on as the name of a pub in Union Street, Maidstone and is also still displayed prominently on the fascia of the Man of Kent pub in Rochester.

Bredhurst Bell customers in early 1900s. The pub sold Style and Winch Maidstone fine ales

Mulberry Tree pub, lower Rainham Road c1900

The Green Lion Rainham

Temperance Hotel Station Road Rainham (Railway Pub)

History Articles

OASTHOUSE THEATRE - 50 years young! 

Some people might say that the Oasthouse Theatre is  Rainham’s best kept secret! Many residents of Rainham  are not even aware that they have a theatre right on their  doorstep and if they are aware many think we are based at  the Community Centre by the station.  However, for the past 50 years the Oasthouse Theatre,  tucked away in Stratford Lane off the High Street (almost  opposite lvy Street) has been the home of the Rainham  Theatrical Society.

This intimate theatre, housed in a  Grade ll listed building, seats just 72 people and offers a  wide variety of drama, comedy and variety.  The Rainham Theatrical Society (or the RaTS as they are  more fondly known) were founded back in I948 and used  to perform in St Margaret’s Hall, Orchard Street and the  Co-op Hall, both of which have since been demolished.  Early in l96l agreement was reached for the group to  perform in the newly opened Rainham Library but this  was not deemed viable. However, a few months later,  Mary Hopkins (who was the secretary of the group) saw  an advert in the local paper announcing that part of an  Oasthouse in Stratford lane was for sale.

The Oasthouse  belonged to local landowner and farmer, Jack Clark and  part of it was still being used as a working Oast (this  continued until the late 70s). The group had always  dreamed of owning their own theatre and now they had a  chance to turn that dream into a reality!  After discussions with the owner the group decided to  take on the task of converting the Oasthouse into the  ‘First Oasthouse Theatre in the World’. Initially lack  Clark gave the group the building rent free and they held  a series of fundraising events to help with the renovation.  Monthly subscriptions were 2s.6d so members were asked  to buy a lino tile for 2s.6d to help raise more funds. They  even had their name engraved on it for posterity!

In June  1962 outline planning permission was granted by  Gillingham Borough Council and it was full steam ahead.  However, there was a minor set back when Jack Clark  asked the group for a weekly rental of £5. This did not  deter them and they continued to work day and night  (often into the small hours) on the conversion and  fundraising to help pay for the rent and building costs.  They obtained some lighting and carpets from the Globe  Theatre in Chatham and some seating from the local naval  barracks canteen. Finally after months of hard work the  theatre was ready to open the doors to the public for the  first time! The opening took place on 8th November I963 with a production of ‘Billy Liar’.

A specially invited  audience included Cllr Michael Lewis (who is still an  honorary member today), William Poulton, President and  Irene Weller who performed the opening ceremony and  cut the 2 tier cake. Brenda Pearson (who is still an active  member of the society) was the first person to appear on  the stage playing the part of Grandma. As the curtain  opened, a ripple of applause ran through the tiny  auditorium marking the achievement of the society’s  dream.....and the rest is history!

Dean Caston        

History Articles

MEMORIES OF RAINHAM

l have lived in Rainham most of my life give or take a few years when I lived on the Isle of Sheppey. When I was growing up in the 60s Rainham like most places did not offer much in the way of entertainment. Of course there were the pubs: the Cricketers, the White Horse and the Green Lion and the local cinema. People called the cinema, the Bug Hutch, it was in the building now occupied by Gerald Luckhurst shop on the High Street. I remember going there with my Nan when I was about 8 years old it was 9d a ticket. When the cinema was first converted to a shop Liptons went in - our first big grocery store.

As a child in the 60s there wasn’t a lot of money about, not like today, so to get some pocket money I took a dog out for a lady who lived along Tufton Road. He was a scruffy dog named ‘Boy’. We had a lot of fun especially when I used to take him along Berengrave path to scrump blackberries and damsons. I got into a lot of trouble especially if the farmer happened to see us. I came home with bramble cuts when we had made a quick escape. I took all the fruit to my mum who made jam and fruit chutney.

My mum was an excellent cook her pastry actually melted in your mouth especially when she made her famous blackberry and apple pie. My dad loved walnuts so I used to check the weather forecast and if it said rainy and windy conditions I knew that was the correct time that the walnuts would drop. There is a big house in Webster Road that had two walnut trees near the road (now long been cut down). When I was about l0 years old I often went on my way home from school just to see if any nuts had fallen l could take a short cut through an unmade road called the pokey, into Tufton Road. My dad was very pleased if I came home with walnuts.

One particular day I set off to Webster Road I had a jumper on which was too big for me but it was brilliant for storing nuts in. I waited and looked up at the walnut trees, the wind was blowing, the rain came down with such a force I had to hide behind a car, I waited and waited until finally the nuts fell. I collected them all up and put them in my jumper and was just about to tum and go home when I heard a shout - Mr Mountain who lived in the big house came out with his black Labrador and called - where are you going with my nuts? He frightened the living daylights out of me so much I immediately dropped all the nuts and ran home. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me and told my dad what had happened. In between deep breaths I remember my dad saying that if the nuts were dropping over the Wall on to the road I could pick them up and have them.

I took this in and thought right I’ll go and get them. Can you picture the scene a ten year old with attitude! I ran round the pokey and not looking where I was going bumped into Mr Mountain taking his dog for a walk, I told him what my dad had said. At first he didn’t say anything just looked at me then he smiled saying your dad is quite correct you may go and pick up the nuts. And I did and every day after that till all the nuts had gone. I remember this incident as if it was yesterday especially as I now work as a gardener in this big house and I don’t need to scrump walnuts anymore because the lady who lives there gives me some every year for Christmas from the other trees in her garden. But this year there are no walnuts as the squirrels have had them all - greedy little monkeys. But funnily enough there seem to be a lot of young walnut seedlings popping up all over the garden so perhaps the squirrels hid them last year and forgot Where they had put them.

Denise Hazelden
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

History Articles

BALLOON OVER RAINHAM 

On June 12th 1889 the Chatham & Rochester News  reported that "the inhabitants of the little town of  Rainham were aroused from their usual quietude by  the appearance of a monster balloon  to the delight  of numerous onlookers a descent was made, both old  and young seemed quite amazed at the novel sight". As early as 1880 a successful balloon flight had  carried three passengers all the way from Ashford to  Crediton in Devon. 

Balloons, however, were not altogether unknown in  this area, for one of the pioneers of military  ballooning, Major James Templer, had bought Abbey Court Farm (then apparently known as Lidsey Farm)  at Lidsing in 1883. Templer, together with Captain  C.M.Watson, had started an army ballooning school  at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich in I878, using his  own balloon ‘Crusader’ and a grant of £150 from the  military authorities. The whole operation was  transferred to Chatham a year later, and it was from  the RE Barracks that cylinders of hydrogen were  carried by wagon to Lidsing, where in accordance  with Templer’s orders a deep pit had been excavated  near The Harrow, from which a balloon could be  inflated and launched. A separate wagon carried the  balloon itself, together with a drum on which was  coiled the wire rope (incorporating a telephone wire)  which would anchor the inflated balloon to the  wagon. 

The use of balloons for military reconnaissance was  already well-established - the French employed them  during the Napoleonic Wars, and they had also  proved useful during the American Civil War. When  British Forces were fighting in the eastern Sudan in  i885 a detachment of balloonists from the Royal  Engineers under Major Templer took part. A  contemporary report related that on the 25th March ‘a  balloon accompanied the convoy to the zeriba [a  fortified camp], and probably frightened the natives,  as no attack was made’. Unfortunately high winds  generally made it impossible to employ the balloon,  The Chatham & Rochester News had carried an item  about Major Templer in April 1888, when the soldier  had been court-martialled at Brompton Barracks  charged with ‘disclosing secrets of military  ballooning to persons unknown’ (believed to be  connected with the ltalian Government). But he was  honourably acquitted, and obviously no stigma was  attached to his name, for he married the following  year.  Templer’s men were unkindly referred to as  ‘Balloonatics’, and certainly flights were not  without risk.

ln December 1881 Templer and two  others (Mr.A.Gardner and Mr Walter Powell) were  carrying out meteorological observations: air  temperature at different heights and amount of snow  in the air. They set out from Bath and travelled over  Somerset and Dorset, but as their vessel approached  Bridport the wind threatened to carry it out to sea.  They attempted to land and Templer jumped out,  holding the valve line, and tried to release the valve.  The reduction in weight lifted the balloon several  feet off the ground so that when Gardner jumped, he  broke his leg and the balloon rose still higher,  Templer, desperately trying to maintain hold of the  line, urged Powell to climb down, but the rope was  torn from his hands, and Powell, himself a keen  balloonist with his own balloon and a private  gasworks to inflate it, was carried away, never to be  seen again. 

Despite such incidents many flights were very  successful. as the Rainham occurrence  demonstrates, and the British Army continued to  experiment with both balloons and giant kites. An  article in Bygone Kent (Vol.l6 No.8) has several  excellent photographs showing army wagons and  balloons, and remarks that it was not unusual to see  these over Lydd, ‘with one, two, or even three men  suspended from them in light baskets’. Ballooning  at Lidsing, though, had ended by the close of the  nineteenth century. 

RAD 

 More information about James Templer here

History Articles

DESTRUCTION OF THE WHITE HORSE INN

On May 14th 1892 one of the biggest blazes seen in Rainham took place when a fire broke out in the "White Horse Inn" on the corner of Station Road and the High Street.

The Inn closed as usual on the night of Friday May 13th and the customers left while publican Charles Adie, his wife, their two children and four lodgers including two Royal Engineers stayed in the building. When everyone went to bed everything seemed normal according to Mrs Adie but at 4.20am she awoke to see smoke coming from the bedroom fireplace and heard knocking but at first she decided not to do anything. Unable to sleep she got up and went to the landing where she saw thick smoke coming from below. She realized that a fire had started so she woke her husband then the two Royal Engineers sleeping in the adjoining room. She went to the children’s bedroom, woke them up, wrapped a blanket around each and then took them out of the building by the back staircase. Mr Adie and the lodgers also managed to vacate the premises.

Photo of the White Horse Inn after it was rebuilt

While Mrs Adie and her children were taken into the "Cricketer’s Inn" opposite by the landlord Mr Jarrett, Mr Adie, assisted by police constables Packman and Bridgeland who had arrived on the scene, managed to take the horses and traps from the coach-house next to the inn to safety before the fire engulfed it.

By this time a large crowd of Rainham residents had converged on the scene after the alarm had been sounded. A mounted messenger was immediately sent to Chatham to rouse the fire brigade. Richard Wakeley junior from Moor Street Farm cycled to the waterworks at Keycol Hill to request that the water be turned on as it had been turned off during the night. Meanwhile, people present at the fire could only watch as large orange flames and thick smoke shot up into the sky and completely engulfed the building. According to the East Kent Gazette a large amount of spirits stored in the cellar contributed to the speed of the fire expanding. Just before this Mr Adie managed to get into the bar where he recovered the safe containing a large amount of cash before the roof caved in at about 6am. The two Royal Engineers managed to prevent the fire from spreading to ‘Church House’ next to the inn by cutting down a wooden shed between the two buildings with axes.

When the fire brigade arrived from Chatham the inn with all its contents had been completely destroyed and only the charred walls and the inn sign remained. The Chatham firemen could only push down the walls of the building with poles to make it safe leaving a heap of ruins apart from the coach-house which survived.

The "White Horse" building belonged to E Winch & Sons from Chatham. Fortunately, they had insured it so although the estimated damage totalled £2,000 the inn was rebuilt immediately and still exists today.

An investigation later attributed the cause of the fire to a beam that ran into the chimney at the back of the bar. The end had ignited then burst into flames. However, the biggest concern regarded the water being turned off and fire hydrants not being available. Mr Adie later commented that if the water had been turned on buckets of it could have been used to extinguish the fire before it took hold. This led to the establishment of Rainham Fire Brigade and hydrants being placed in different parts of the village during the following decade.

William Keutenius - Fire Officer Rainham Kent

History Articles

My GGGG Grandfather Robert Chambers was christened on the 13th of July in 1777 (as Robert ‘Chandler’) at Hollingbourne, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth nee Kemsley.  Not much is known as yet of Thomas Chambers background, confusingly his surname seems to have been spelt at times as Chandler.  Elizabeth Kemsley’s family were originally from Bredhurst and were landowners/farmers for many generations in that area.

Robert Chambers married Ann Hales on the 26th of October in 1801 (as ‘Chantler’) at Chatham.  The couple had at least 4 children together.  Unfortunately, baptisms for their children have proved difficult to find, but we do know that they had the following children:

1. Sarah Anne (1802 Hartlip)
2. Richard (1805 Harltip)
3. Ann (circa 1811)
4. Robert (1818 Rainham)

Robert (snr) was possibly working as a ‘waterman’ in 1818 when his son Robert (jnr) was christened at Rainham on the 12th of April (this is assuming that the entry was recorded correctly, and it was not meant to read ‘woodman’).  Again, the surname was recorded as ‘Chandler’.

By the time the census of 1841 was recorded, Robert’s surname was spelt ‘Chambers’ and he was living at Meres Court in Rainham with his wife Ann, and his son Robert.  The occupation of both men was recorded as ‘woodman’.  In the census of 1851, they were again recorded as woodmen, and were still living at Meres Court.

The Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser contained a notice which ran for a few years during the 1850-60s, mentioning Robert Chambers.  It was reported that the Earl of Aylesford owned 114 acres of valuable underwood in woodlands located in Boxley, Bredhurst, Rainham, Kingsdown, Milsted, Borden, Newington, Stockbury, Thurnham and Maidstone.  Robert Chambers was mentioned as a contact for those interested in viewing the falls, specifically located at Rainham.  This Robert was more likely to have been Robert junior, as Robert senior would have been approximately 82 years of age at the time. 

In the census of 1861, Robert (snr) and his wife Ann were still living at Meres Court, and he was recorded again as a woodman.  Robert (jnr) had married Caroline Celine Allen on the 14th of January in that year. 

Robert (snr) died in 1862 and was buried at Rainham on the 25th of June.  He was recorded as having been 86 years of age.  His son Robert (jnr) sadly died just 4 years later, on the 19th of May in 1866.  It appears that Woodreve Cottage, and the position of woodreve, then passed to his nephew Charles Chambers (Grandson of Robert snr).

Charles was the son of Robert (jnr)’s brother Richard Chambers (1805), whose family lived at nearby Bredhurst. 

Richard Chambers (1805) and his wife Jane (nee Callaway) had married at Gillingham in a double wedding with their siblings, Anne Chambers and William Callaway, on the 9th of August in 1829.  Anne and William Callaway were my GGG Grandparents. 

This was not the only Chambers/Callaway marriage to have occurred!  Sarah Anne Chambers (1802) the sister of Richard (1805), Anne (1811), and Robert Chambers (1818), had married Robert Callaway (brother of Jane and William Callaway) earlier in 1824.

Charles Chambers married Eliza Kitchingham on the 4th of November in 1865, at St Margaret next Rochester.  The couple would have raised their many children at Woodreeve Cottage.  The census records of 1871, 1881, and 1891, record the family as living at Meres Court, with Charles working as a woodman or woodreve.  In 1881 the address had been recorded as ‘cottage’.

In the census of 1901 Charles was recorded as a woodreve ‘in park and wood’.  His six sons, who were still living at home, were working as wood cutters.

Charles died on the 25th of October in 1907 and was buried at Rainham on the 30th of that month. 

In the census of 1911 Eliza can be found still living at the cottage, with 3 of her adult sons.  William Chambers was 39 years of age and was recorded as the woodreve/wood keeper.  His brother Thomas was a wood dealer, and his brother James a wood cutter.  The address was now recorded as ‘Miers Court’.

William Chambers was christened on the 14th of April in 1872 at Rainham. 

By 1939, William Chambers was an unmarried bachelor, living at Woodreve Cottage with his unmarried siblings.  The siblings living with him were Thomas, Edith, and James.

In 1947 William Chambers died. 

‘Death of Mr William Chambers:

Well known at Rainham, Mr. William Chambers, of Woodreeve Cottage, Miers Court Road, passed away on Saturday after a very short illness.  Mr.  Chambers, aged 74 years, was one of a large family who had been connected with farming for many years.  He had been employed as a woodreve and gamekeeper by Messrs. H. and R. L. Cobb, auctioneers, and was a familiar figure at their sales in East Kent.  He was a bachelor, but leaves three brothers – Messrs. James and Thomas Chambers who also reside in Miers Court Road, and Mr. Edward Chambers, of Natal Farm, Rainham.  The funeral took place at Rainham Churchyard yesterday (Thursday)’ (East Kent Gazette, 11 January 1947, p5)

Woodreve cottage was occupied by many generations of the Chambers family spanning over 100 years.  As we do not know when Robert (snr) initially began working as a woodreve, they may have been living there for much longer.

I am certain that my GG Grandfather, Robert Callaway, would have spent a lot of time at Woodreve Cottage.  Robert Callaway was christened on the 1st of December in 1839, at Gillingham, the son of William Callaway and Ann nee Chambers (1811).  Tragically his mother Ann died shortly after the birth of her son Richard in 1843, her baby boy passing away just a few weeks later.  Robert was only about 4 years old at the time.

It appears that William and Ann’s children were then sent to live with Aunts and Uncles.  Robert lived with his Uncle Robert Callaway and Aunt Sarah Ann (nee Chambers) at ‘Meresboro’, not far from his Grandparents at Woodreve Cottage.  Also living at Meresboro, was Robert’s older sister Eliza (nee Calloway) who had married Thomas Boakes in 1854.

There is no doubt that Robert would have spent a lot of time with his relatives growing up in Rainham.  I like to imagine him as a boy running between his home at Meresboro, and his Grandparents at Woodreve Cottage.   I hope that after the sadness of his mother’s death he was comforted by growing up within a close-knit family, and playing with his many, many cousins who lived nearby. 

By the time the census was recorded in 1861, my GG Grandfather Robert Callaway was a young man.  He was recorded as boarding with the family of William Kitchingham.  Also living with the Kitchingham family was his cousin Harriet Chambers (sister of Charles Chambers who was to live in Woodreve Cottage a few years later).  Harriet was working for the family as a house servant and was recorded as having been just 13 years old.  Perhaps Robert was tasked with looking out for his young cousin, it is almost certain her presence there was not just a coincidence.

Robert was still living with the Kitchingham family in 1871, at No. 12 Orchard Street.  Just a couple of doors down, lived his widowed Grandmother Ann Chambers (nee Hales) with his cousin Elizabeth’s family.  Elizabeth Callaway (daughter of Robert Callaway and Sarah Ann Chambers) probably felt more like a big sister to Robert, and by this time she was married to Robert Hales.

On the 4th of October in 1874, Robert Callaway married Ellen May (from Hadlow) at Rainham.  His brother-in-law, Thomas Boakes, was recorded as a witness.   I like to think that his two children (including my Great Grandmother) grew up visiting Woodreve Cottage and spending time with their many relatives living in Rainham.

History Articles

Toe Rags in Rainham – as recollected to Maggie Francis

Horace Moore is a Rainham boy through and through. He was born in 1933 and lived at 205 Station Road, Rainham and he has shared memories and some of his many stories of his life and time growing up in Rainham. 

The Oast House, next to the Station was the main Offices for Wakeley Brother’s many businesses and Horace remembers horses and carts going up Station Road taking wheat to the Oast, where the sacks of grain were hoisted up from the back of the carts into the building, but Horace was more aware that the wheat came in on the barges. 

That was where he was happiest, down by the water with everything associated with the river. 

When Horace was a lad, Rainham was just a small community with the majority of the population involved working in various ways on the river, in the brickfields or in the agricultural community. 

Along with the rest of the local children, he went to Solomon Road School from the age of 5. No fancy introductions to school in those days. As he says; ’You just got left at the door on the first day and was left to get on with it’. 

By the grand age of six and half, Horace was doing his first job. 

George (Cully) Carter had young Horace, picking up winkles with him and running up and down Station Road for him selling them from door to door. 

Young Horace would sell the catch from an old cart, calling on the locals to buy a basin of whatever it was that he and Cully had caught that day. 

Horace loved the river and would go shrimping and winkling in the winter on the mud flats. 

Spring found him trawling for pink shrimps and brown shrimps, fluing (catching flounders). People would buy them off the boats. 

At the age of 13 Horace was taken on as an Apprentice to Jack Carter (Cully’s grandson) to become a Freeman of the River Medway. 

Four years later Horace was called up for National Service. His love of the river made him want to go into The Naval Reserve, but he couldn’t get in because he was colour blind. 

Instead he went in the Army and served in Suez. He earned 36 shillings a week in the Army and apart from 5 shillings which he kept for himself, he sent all the rest home to his dear old mum. 

He found out later, that his mum had saved up all his for him. 

Once he was out of the Army and home in Rainham, he did all kinds of jobs associated with the river. 

He worked on various barges moving timber and cement and ballast. He was on one called the Kentish Hoy, a 120-ton motor barge, which had been built originally in 1904. 

Horace belonged to the river and it was obviously ‘in his blood’, but he realised he needed to get himself established. He was good at catching the fish and had a natural talent for selling the fish door to door. 

His opportunity to allow his love of sharing ‘the catch’ with the local population of Rainham came in 1984 when he established Hales and Moore fishmongers in Station Road to build a business with his family. 

Horace loves to tell wonderful tales of old Rainham, one of which he has shared. 

When talking about old friends he was relating tales of how to ensure they managed to get safely across the mud flats.
Apparently to stay safe the boots had to be a very tight fit so that the feet were secure and you could get a better, more solid grip on the mud! 

So what better way than to get some old bits of rag and wrap them tightly round each toe to fill out the boots? 

Who knew? That was where the term ‘toe rag’ originated. 

(The best bit though is his description of walking into the kitchen in his little terraced house to find all these’ toe rags’, hanging up to dry over the fire on washday) 

The Hales and Moore Fishmongers is still thriving and is one of local businesses who have carried on serving the local population during these recent months. 

Until relatively recently Horace was still the delivery boy, driving the van with orders to local customers and restaurants, but still never happier than when he was on a boat on some water, somewhere. 

History Articles