I read with interest Freddie Cooper's memories of Cozenton Farm (May to September 1999). I had thought that all traces of it had long been expunged from our local history. It is a place that holds very special memories for me, as I too spent formative years there. Aged from eight to eleven I could be found in this magical place roaming through its forests of fruit trees, across its endless plains of grass, encountcring the huge woolly beasts that lived there before retreating to one of the many flint built ramparts to survey my kingdom. After a refreshing Victoria plum I might hop into one of the many vehicles dotted around the place and become a tractor driver or a lorry driver or anything else that my imagination could create. After a few Worcester apples picked fresh from the tree it was off to explore the dark recesses of the farm buildings never knowing what I might encounter.
To have your own private piece of countryside is an idyllic way to spend a childhood. Personally I did not arrive in Rainham until the age of seven, having been born in foreign parts on the other side of the River Medway in North Kent. We moved to Twydall in 1963; I will always remember that winter when the snow was up to the window ledges. Cyril Stephens, the last to farm the property (letter Oct 2000), lived a few doors away and I became a friend of his son; who was understandably popular, with a constant queue of small boys wanting to visit his farm. Unlike thc others I took to the country life and have stayed friends with Cyril Stephens and his brothcr Ken for the past thirty-five years. Ken unfortunately moved on to the great farmyard in the sky in June 2000.
Brothers Cyril and Ken Stephens began renting the farm from Mrs Richardson in 1958 and there is an interesting article in the East Kent Gazette of December 11th 1959 detailing their fight to save the land from the developers. I note with interest that such news was reported in the Sittingbourne local paper, not in similar Medway-based publications, which shows that thirty years after Rainham was devolved to Gillingham there was a greater interest in our affairs in the countryside around Sittingbourne than in the increasingly urban Medway Towns. The article gives an interesting insight into 'Cozenten', as they spell it: When the brothers first came to the 21 acre smallholding half of it was overgrown fruit plantation and the rest was rough grassland
The farmhouse itself was deep in the undergrowth and sadly in need of repair. They started near the house and worked outwards, grubbing, burning, ploughing and planting putatoes and other market garden crops. ' ' ... When they are finished only two acres of the original fruit, Napoleon and Black Eagle cherries will remain ... ' This would indicate that post war the farm went into a serious dccline. This period is better covered by Freddie Cooper's previous art icles but it is interesting to note how people's lives were interwoven within a small village community. Cyril Stephens worked at R.G. Hodge's garage at Rainham Mark; a large brick built building with a green roller shutter door as I recall. It stood on the site now occupicd by the modcrn petrol station. Onc of Cyril's duties was to act as driver for CIr Hodge's father-in -Iaw who by coincidence was Mr Richardson of Cozenton Farm. As petrol was rationed and farmers had a higher allowance Cyril would drive to Cozenton where Mr Richardson would supply just enough fuel for his required journey and not a drop more. It must be remembered that petrol rationing did not end until May 1950. This introduced Cyril to the farming world and sparked an interest that would result in he and his brother being the last custodians of Cozenton Farm.
To bc continued Colin Clifford