About This Site
The concept for this site originally dates from 2000 as a personal project when looking through my grandmother's collection of old photos. She had lived in Wigmore all her life and had many images depicting the changes over that time. This site went live in 2001 and I am very grateful to all those people who have provided photos of Rainham to use.
I understand that material from this site is now being used for teaching in local schools and it is gratifying that this collection of photos and documents is proving useful for teaching new generations about the history of the local area.
Freddie Cooper talking about life in Rainham in the last century
Change in the urban environment is continual and even in the short time that this site has been running significant changes have been seen (see example). The main change within the Rainham area is the continual infill of new housing. Due to the properties built before the Second World War with large gardens particularly in Wigmore there is a ready supply of old bungalows that are being demolished to be replaced by multiple detached houses. In addition the decision to abandon the bypass of the centre of Rainham has led to the release of land retained for the road between the A2 at Holding Street and Orchard Street for new housing.
In addition I would like to thank Action Forum, local magazine for Rainham who have agreed to let me use articles on the site. I would also like to thank Hales & Moore fishmongers of Station Road Rainham who have provided publicity for the site with a display in their window.
Any photos or information would be most welcome. Articles or reminiscences about the history of Rainham, Kent or surrounding areas would also be extremely useful and can be formatted for web use if emailed through.
If you are looking for more information about Rainham and local Kent history then you may be interested in Rainham Historical Society which has monthly meetings at the Millennium Centre in Rainham Kent.
Please contact by:
e-mail to info@rainham-history.co.uk
