History Articles

Rainham Kent History Forum

There is a forum dedicated to the history of Rainham Kent and with many contributors finding long lost friends. You can access the forum on the following link:

http://www.quicktopic.com/30/H/sjUV5A7TVsV

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: History Articles

Mystery Photographs - Berengrave Lane Rainham 1900s

I was contacted recently by someone selling a postcard of Berengrave Lane Rainham on Ebay that was virtually identical to one that is on the Rainham History site. Nothing strange there you might think - except on closer inspection the majority of photo is completely identical - all the people are in the same poses and same positions but with the addition of 2 young lads in the foreground.

There are a couple of possibilities. Firstly that 2 shots were taken and the lads wandered into one shot. The other that the lads were added or removed in the darkroom at a later date which looks to be the more likely possibility.

Have a look and see what you think!

Mystery Photographs - Berengrave Lane Rainham 1900s

Mystery photo of Berengrave Lane Rainham - early photo editing

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Southern Water/South East Water Drought

South East Water have announced today that the last 12 months have been the driest since 1976 and their reservoirs in Sussex are at extremely low levels. Southern Water have levels for their reservoir at Bewl on their website showing volumes since 2000. The level has been on a direct downwards path for 2011 and as of 17 November is at only 40% full.

By saving water using IBC containers or water butts over the winter you will have a store of water that you can use on your garden next year if Southern Water implement drought restrictions such as a hosepipe ban in 2012.

Southern Water/South East Water Drought hosepipe bans

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Finds in St Margarets Church Rainham Kent

Medway News, 24/9/2009

A FRAGMENT of medieval glass is among artefacts uncovered during the restoration of St Margaret's Church in Rainham.

The piece, which will be put on display once the work is completed, was found as specialist workers began the enormous task of stripping the church of its worn out beams and decaying goat-hair plaster to replace the roof and preserve the Grade 1 listed building for future generations. The work Is needed to update some repairs carried out in the 1860s when most of the stonework and windows were replaced. But the roof timbers are the main concern, with many of the originals having rotted to almost nothing. In a later stage the 100ft tower will also undergo restoration and the brickwork reflinted.

The £500,000 project, which is expected to last into the spring, has been funded by heritage grants and a massive fundral raising effort by supporters, which has so far topped £360000. A final push for the remainder of the cash is underway with vicar Canon Alan Vousden confident the money will be in place to ensure its completion. Mr Vousden said: "We are at a very exciting {KIint in the process, which started in 2005. "We have been very pleased, but not surprised with the support we have had. "The church is cherished by the people of Rainham and rightly seen as a landmark as well as a spiritual place. "Not all the donations have come from people who regularly come to church, but from parishioners who recognise its Significance and want to see it properly preserved. "It has captured the imagination of the people of Rainham and they have been very enthusiastic to see it succeed.

"We are delighted the scaffolding has gone up so people can actually see we are committed to making this happen and that their hard work is bearing fruit."

The work is currently taking place in the main nave and above the office and the organ has been dismantled and put into storage while the mural will be renovated in-situ. Services are currently being held in the Millennium Centre until the church, which dates in parts to t IOOAD, is safe

enough for congregations again.

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Shops in Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre 2012

This is a list of shops in Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre as of early 2011. Some have now changed hands such as Morellis now being a Costa Coffee.

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Tags: hempstead, savacentre, hempstead valley

The Queens Head Pub Wigmore/Harvester Restaurant Rainham

The Queens Head pub has been in Wigmore since at least the 1930s. This is a photo of it from approx 1930 when it looks fairly recently built. The Queens Head also became a Harvester Restaurant in the late 1970s.

Queens Head pub wigmore

The Queens Head is on the corner of Woodside and Maidstone Road in Rainham, Gillingham Kent. There is also a cash machine near the Queens Head located at the Total Garage on Maidstone Road approx 50 yards from the pub.

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1987 Hurricane/Great Storm in Rainham Kent

Along with much of the rest of the South East of England, Kent was affected by the severe winds from the Great Storm on the evening of 15/16 October 1987 resulting in hurricane force winds that destroyed many trees and damaged lots of buildings in the area. The event was made more famous by Michael Fish's comments on TV weather forecast that no hurricane was on its way a few hours before it struck.

This newspaper graphic shows how the storm progressed across the country in Oct 1987. Five people were killed across Kent by the winds and the damage they caused. A video of the news the day afterwards is here

I remember walking to school through all the debris - never managed to miss a day through the weather back then! - and finding the school closed with trees downed in the field.

We had lost electricity overnight but that came back during the day for us but many others were without power for several days where such damage had been made to the power lines from fallen trees.

Great storm tree blown over in Rainham Kent

This gallery shows a selection of images of the immediate aftermath and of trees uprooted taken some weeks later near Bredhurst and Queendown Warren. You can see the scale of the tree roots that have been ripped out of the ground compared to the person standing next to them which gives an idea of the ferocity of the hurricane force winds that hit Kent on 15/16 October 1987

This is a photo of tree downed in Marshall Road Rainham during the Great Storm of October 1987.

These are a few photos taken on the following day and the weeks afterwards showing some of the damage caused by the high winds.

Flag pole & washing line blown down by the winds in October 1987

Branch of cherry tree blown off by the hurricane force winds in 1987

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Snow in June 1989 (or was it!)

It's Snow Wonder!

Freak blizzards sweep through Medway in June 1989. This front page of Medway News shows cars in Lordswood driving through the snow but.

However, despite appearances of snow in the UK in June the weathermen insisted that it was all due to an intense hour long hailstorm but in some areas the paper claimed 9 inches of snow/hail had fallen.

In the previous week Medway had been basking in temperatures in the 80s.

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Nineteenth Century Rainham - Health Reforms after Scarlet Fever Epidemic

NINETEENTH CENTURY RAINHAM

Titbits from Milton Union records by Audrey Perkyns

In the 1860s and 1870s the public health movement developed, partly as a result of the scientific discovery of the causes of disease. Smallpox vaccination was the first sign of this. Fresh water and sewerage systems came to urban areas first. The isolation of those with infectious or contagious diseases became important, and from the 1870s the Milton Union had adapted a part of the workhouse premises as an isolation hospital. Inspectors of Nuisances (later Sanitary Inspectors) were the first public health officers to be appointed, followed by Medical Officers of Health (MOHs). In the Milton Rural Sanitary Authority (unfortunately this gives the acronym MRSA!) the MOH and the Guardians were keen to persuade the government to make notification of infectious diseases compulsory, as one episode illustrates.

In early 1876 there was a serious epidemic of scarlet fever in Rainham and Upchurch. The MOH was angry because Dr Penfold was not willing to notify cases occuring among patients who were not paupers, nor even to forbid their attendance at school. The problem was the association of the new Sanitary Authorities with pauperism because as new government responsibilities developed (registration, then vaccination, then public health), the obvious authorities to administer them were the ones already there - the Poor Law guardians. The stigma of pauperism was felt keenly. Anyone needing attention from the Poor Law MO was automatically pauperised, and lists of people receiving Poor Law benefits were published on the church doors. The government had to insist that this should not apply to vaccination, because it wanted to encourage it. Many doctors were not prepared to let their private patients be tainted by association with pauperism, and Dr Penfold was one among many who refused to cooperate to notify infectious cases to the MOH.

In support of his appeal for compulsory notification, the MOH, Dr Ray, wrote to the Local Government Board in 1876 that the infection had been controlled in parts of the Union where notification and isolation had occurred, but not in Dr Penfold's area. 'I have just returned from a spectacle, which ought to be impossible in any civil ized country, and more especially one in which legislation has recently turned to sanitary improvements.

In the house of one Edward Hart, a laborer residing in Station Road Rainham, a death has recently occurred from scarlet fever; the body, four days a corpse, and still unburied, was, as expressed by a neighbour, already turning black from the Virulence of the disease; a child running about the house and absolutely appearing at the front door was full out with the rash, which symptomises the malady. Other children who had not had the disorder, were freely mixing with the infected child. The mother and father of the youngster, full as they must be of the morbid poison, were going about their respective avocations, and were not to be seen. A neighbour, who showed us over this fever poisoned den, was going in and out of her neighbour's house. The neighbours themselves, seeing no fear, were mixing freely with the infected children. This in simply monstrous'

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MEMORIES OF RAINHAM by Doug Kitney

MEMORIES OF RAINHAM From Action Forum July 2004

Dear Editor,

After a previous letter of mine was published in Action Forum in August 2001 was grateful to Ron Baker who sent me copies of photos of the Council School children who were evacuated to Brynna during the Second World War. I had not realised there were so many of us!

Another of my memories concerns Amy Johnson who new solo to Australia in the 1930s. A civic reception was arranged for her at the Central Hotel. My late maternal Grandmother worked for Mr Charles Cox and was roped in as a waitress forIh is occasion and my mother look me and my late brother Graham along to watch. Before the ceremony we were allowed in to see the splendid table settings and where the famous lady would sit, but what impressed me most was the silver model of her aeroplane.

Looking through the Picture Book of Old Rainham I am surprised there is no mention of the Providence Chapel in Orchard Street within the section of places of worship. This is said to have been built for the workers of Mr William Henry Wakeley in I854. William Wakeley must have been one of the largest emp!oyers of labour at that time as he also had three roads named after him, William Street, Henry Street and Wakeley Road.

The Rainham Pottery, which is also mentioned in the book, was based in a house which previously had been occupied by the Chapman family. When converted to a pottery it was painted white and had a slogan on the wall which read 'Stop and have a pleasant meal and watch the potter at his wheel'.

The Pottery was next door to the Tudor Cafe, owned by Mr Davis.

Yours faithfully,

Doug Kitney

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MEMORIES OF RAINHAM Part 1 by Doug Kitney

MEMORIES OF RAINHAM From Action Forum August 2001

Dear Editor,

Like my six brothers I was born in Rainham and so I am always interested and make a point of visiting once a month to collect Action Forum. Over the last few months there have been some particularly interesting articles that have brought back many memories. Mr Edwin Jelly, whose shop was pictured on the front of the April 2001 edition, I remember very well. As I was passing his shop one day he called me: 'Oi you' he shouted - which I ignored, so he had another go: 'Kitney boy', so I turned. He had a message for my mother, he had some good boys' suits and would she like one for my 10-year-old brother. I relayed the message and Mother was interested so I had to return to the shop where I collected a parcel containing three suits for my brother to try; all three suits appeared similar, jackets and short trousers, but each with a different price tag.

Mother decided on the cheapest and I returned to the shop with the unwanted ones and the money. On another occasion, Queenie Moor went hurtling round the top of Pudding Road on her bike and smashed into the shop window. Ma Barrett at the Council School Canteen revived many memories. I can picture her now banging on the bench with her huge ladle and booming 'QUIET' in her loudest voice and then very sweetly saying 'Now say your grace my dears'. It always gave me a smile. During the war years I was at Orchard Street Boys' School, Mr Smith was Headmaster. He patrolled the school carrying a large cane and was not afraid to use it. Two female teachers I remember. Miss Woodward stood no nonsense, but the other was a little lady who dressed in a long tweed costume and wore a pince-nez, she was not used to handling boys and frequently fled the class in tears. Finally, with my brother Dick, I was evacuated to Brynna in South Wales and remember a school photo taken of all the Rainham evacuees being on display in a glass case at the side of Mrs Cheesemans Boot & Shoe Shop. I would love to have a copy if anyone still has the picture.

Yours faithfully,

Doug Kitney

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: History Articles

The Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge History

The Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge History (from Action Forum June 2006)

As the completion of the new bridge for the Sheppey Crossing fast approaches it seems timely to consider the history of the link between the Island and the rest of Kent.

Photos of the new Sheppey Crossing here

Before 1860 when the first permanent structure was built there existed three separate ferries between Sheppey and the mainland, two for foot passengers and a larger one, Kings Ferry, for travellers with horses and luggage. The right to levy a toll on all strangers visiting the Island had been granted by Henry IV in 1401 to help with the upkeep of the road and ferry. Gradually this right changed to include all those who crossed and also included cattle, sheep and lambs, packhorses, carts and other vehicles. The toll was finally removed on June 30th 1929 and although not everyone approved this certainly led to an increase in visitors to Sheppey in summertime. The first permanent link was constructed on behalf of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, so that a branch line from Sittingbourne to Sheerness could be laid. This was officially opened on June 19th 1860. Two railwaymen who lived in a house on the bank of the Swale had to see the trains across, maintain the structure and raise the middle span of the bridge, a moveable viaduct, by hand to allow craft free access along the Swale. Foot passengers were still rowed across the water by boatmen for many years after the opening of this bridge, partly because of the frequent breakdowns often caused by ships colliding with the structure.

By 1904 the bridge needed replacing, it had been unsafe to lift since 1901 and the railway company hoped to replace it with a fixed bridge but the Waterway Conservators would not contemplate that and another lifting bridge had to be built to keep the Swale open to shipping. The resulting Kingsferry Bridge was a bascule bridge, that is onc that has the deck hinged around one horizontal axis with a counter balance working mechanism; this was originally operated by hand but later by electricity. Traffic rattled noisily across the wooden planks of the roadway and as this platform of the tin bridge lifted to an angle of 45 degrees when open it could be clearly seen from many view points in the area. One of my earliest memories of this bridge is whilst having a fami ly picnic, it could have been at Motney Hill. We watched the bridge open to allow a boat to pass up to Ridham Dock. It was time to go home and my mother confidently announced we would wait just until the bridge went down. An hour later we gave in as the bridge remained defiantly open. It stayed like this for the next few days as it had once again been struck by the passing ship and could not drop down until major repairs had been completed. These incidents became more and more frequent as the bridge aged and by the late 1950s it was obvious that this was not an adequate solution for the people of Sheppey.

In 1956, during my first year at Sittingbourne Grammar School, I remember the staff making hurried arrangements for the 'Island Girls' to go home with friends who lived on the mainland as once again the bridge was stuck. This all changed on 20th April 1960 when the 'new' Kingsferry Bridge was officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Kent. The object was to provide reliable access to the island but this bridge also had teething problems and had to close for repairs a couple of years later. The bridge, constructed by John Howard & Co. Ltd, was 650ft long and lifted the 450 tons road and rail section vertically by counterbalance mechanisms housed in the four towers. There is only one other bridge of this design in the world. A new road had been constructed across the marshes finally eliminating the ancient bends and turns of the old road which was said to have followed the ancient trackways created by animals following the driest route across the wet lands. The new bridge dwarfed the old bridge as may be seen in our front cover picture and as the railway had also been diverted across the new structure the old bridge was soon demolished.

Nearly fifty years on and this Kingsferry Bridge was no longer adequate for modem needs and so finally a fixed four lane crossing, two in each direction, has been built 20 metres above the Swale sweeping over and dominating the old ferry crossing. Work began in the Spring of 2004 and Transport Minister David Jamieson ceremoniously broke the ground using a mechanical digger for the foundation of the first bridge pier on 29th April 2004. Work on the £100m bridge part of the larger £300m improved M2/A249 road schemes is now almost finished and it is hoped will provide a very welcome boost for thc economy of the Isle of Sheppey. Early in 2006 the Highways Agency announced a competition to name the new bridge. From 700 entries Mr Reginald Grimwade, agcd 80 years and a life long resident of the island, at present living at Minster on Sea, was chosen as the winner with his suggestion of 'The Sheppey Crossing'. During the two years ' construction period the progress of the new bridge has been eagerly watched by many.

Of particular interest was the period in late 2005 when ajacking mechanism was used to push the steel skeleton of the road deck steadily into place from each end of the working site. Finally in October and Novembcr 2005 the last remaining sections of bridge deck from piers 7·8 and 15-17 were lifted into place and the new dual carriageway structure was complete. The 1960 Kingsferry Bridge will be maintained for use by British Rail as trains are unable to cope with the steep incline of the new fixed bridge. The bridge will also keep a road across for local traffic to use and new pathways and cycle tracks will be created for pedestrian and cyclist use, as for safety reasons they cannot use the new bridge. I wonder how long it will be before yet another bridge is needed.

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: History Articles

Subcategories

Historical tales Article Count: 3

Historical tales

Rainham Life Article Count: 10

Rainham Life

Local Events Article Count: 48

Local Events

Photos Article Count: 143

Photos

Rainham Roads Article Count: 25

Roads around the Rainham - old photos of how roads used to look in days gone by

Rainham People Article Count: 32

Decades - Old Photos Article Count: 9

Old photos by decade

Action Forum Article Count: 231

Action Forum is a free monthly magazine that is distributed to the Rainham area covering Wigmore, Parkwood and Hempstead as well. This archive covers old copies of the magazine dating back to its initial publication in 1969 and give a fascinating glimpse into life in Rainham over the last 50 years.

Link to Article Index - Action Forum Index - Photos and Articles from 1969 onwards