Rainham History - History of Rainham Kent, Old Photos and Life in Bygone Times
Milton Road now Webster Road Rainham Kent
Many of the street names in Rainham have changed over the years. You can read here how Rainham Kent Street Names have changed over the years but one that still has a reminder of the original name is Webster Road which was originally Milton Road. At the end of the street is still Milton House with a brass plaque on the front gate.
History of Bloors Place Rainham Kent
BLOORS PLACE - Lower Rainham
Bloors Place stands on the Lower Rainham Road, not far from the riverside and Bloors Wharf, which was known in earlier times as Blowers Quay. The quay, and Bloors Place, take their name from the family of le Bloere or le Blore. The house, one of the oldest in Medway, was originally built between 1470 and 1510. Once a simple Wealden hall house, a stone range was added to the rear in the early 16th century, perhaps at the same time as the very large central octagonal chimney was inserted. These improvements were probably made when Christopher Bloor lived there. According to Hasted, Christopher Bloor, who had bought the Manor of Sileham from Sir Antony St Leger, 'rebuilt his seat in this parish ... .in which his ancestors had resided for several generations'. The house was surrounded by walls with defensive apertures known as gun loops, and also special niches, bee boles, to hold the straw skeps where the bees were kept.
Like most old houses, Bloors Place has been frequently altered and extended. In 1710 the front was refurbished. The building was damaged by a fire in the eighteenth century and 'A great part of the old mansion was pulled down circa 1798 or earlier to adapt the size of it to that of a farmhouse, though what still remains of it, with the garden walls, offices, and so on show it to have been of large size, well suited to the hospitality of those times, and to the rank which the founder of it, Christopher Bloor, esq., held among the gentry of the county'. [Kent on line - Parish Clerk.]
The house came indirectly into the ownership of the Tuftons, Earls of Thanet, through Bloor's daughter, Olympia. The Tufton surname is commemorated by monuments to two descendants in St Margaret's Church at Rainham: the chapel at the end of the north aisle (officially St John's Chapel) is often called 'The Tufton Chapel'. An 1851 survey of Sir Richard Tufton's Bloors Place estate describes the house, rooms and all the outbuildings in some detail. It then goes on to make comments on the fields (there were 447 acres of arable, pasture and orchard), and records that the tenant, William Smart, was highly respectable and from the appearance of his farm, stock, etc. a man of substantial property (Holley).
From 1891 a Scotsman named James Stewart had been running the farm, and in 1920 he bought the whole estate for £2S,000. It has changed hands several times since then - when last sold the price was nearly thirty times that sum. According to some recent sale particulars 'The property still boasts a wealth of character features including a heavily timbered interior with feature crown posts and 16th century moulded stone mullion windows to the rear, panelled drawing room and a first floor landing with detail enriched spandrels and moulded stops above the doorway'. The agent at an earlier sale also mentioned 'the delightful wall paintings of fairy tale scenes from the 1950s in one of the bedrooms. During the Second World War SW Fleming lived in the house and in 1950 a well known TV personality Willoughby Gray bought the property and became a popular customer of the Three Mariners pub.
Since then new owners have partly modernised the interior, putting in another staircase, reordering the kitchen and converting an outbuilding to a utility room for example, but any such alterations to a listed building have to be done following detailed planning consultation. Currently planning permission is being sought for exterior changes such as replacing a flat roof with a pitched roof more in keeping with the original house, and also adding a second dormer window at the front.
The Long Winter 1962-63 (Guardian pamphlet)
By any standard the winter of 1962-3 was one of the hardest Great Britain has ever had. It has been reckoned that in the Midlands, which didn't have the worst of it, there has been nothing comparable since 1740.
Click to view the whole booklet as PDF about the Long Winter of 1962-63 (a Guardian pamphlet) which was published about the winter of 1962-63 and the impact across the UK.
Even the most conservative estimates for the country as a whole conclude that it was the coldest since 1829-30. It was a winter in which cars were driven across the Thames, pack ice formed a quarter of a mile outside Whltstable Harbour, a family was marooned on a Dartmoor farm for 66 days. It killed at least 49 people. And though its economic effects were not as severe as those of 1946·7, public transport was several times brought to a standstill, and the January power crisis was grave enough to provoke an emergency meeting of the Cabinet. It was a winter to remember. What follows-the day-by-day summary of the chilliest news, the special articles by Guardian reporters and correspondents which appeared in the paper at the time, the illustrations and the statistics is a memorial to the long winter 1962-3.
Photo of cover of The Long Winter 1962-63 Guardian pamphlet
House Price Predictions 1989!
This article about house price rises was written in December 1989 shortly before the market started a long crash! The prediction from Woolwich Building society was that house prices would rise by 11.9% a year over the next decade reaching an average of £200,000 in 2000. The reality was somewhat different! It might seem like prices have been rising forever but the 1990s were quite stagnant for house prices and only started rising towards the end of the decade. Of most interest locally is that prices in Maidstone were predicted to rise by the most in the country to an average of £400,000 by the year 2000. The average still hasn't reached that 17 years later!
National School in Station Road Rainham
The National School (later C of E) at the top of Station Road had been built in 1846. In 1887 the National School continued to function at the top end of Station Road for 180 boys and 160 girls. Samuel Hodson had served as headmaster since 1883 and Miss Emily Charlesworth assisted him while the infant’s school continued to be run by Mrs Brice. The Lower Rainham National School which had been erected in 1876 had about 60 pupils and was run by Miss Knight then by Mrs Seago. A small private school run by Miss Bertha Atkins also existed just off Rainham High Street near the church path.
The National School was enlarged in 1878 and 1884, to hold 600 (205 Boys, 190 Girls and 205 Infants) and in 1908 there were 549 scholars attending.
Some of my contemporaries will be interested to know that even in 1908 our Head teacher, Mr G.R. Bone, and the two Miss Campbells were already on the staff and the Girls' teachers included Miss Rickells. Nearly all female staff were unmarried and 1 believe that it was an act of 1941 which allowed married women to be appointed.
This photo of the National School on the left of Station Road was taken in the early 1970s shortly before demolition and shows the building with the two extensions added in 1878 and 1884. The site is now the location of Wilkinson's shop and Barclays Bank.
Temperance Hotel Station Road Rainham (Railway Pub)
The Temperance Hotel was located at 113 Station Road in Rainham opposite the train station. It became the Railway hotel and then Railway pub that closed in 2012 and as of 2017 is subject to a planning application to become a Wetherspoons pub.
The Parish Free Library and Reading Room became established at the end of the 19th century and could be found on the ground floor of the Temperance Hotel in Station Road. With a wide choice of reading material, over 2,000 books, daily newspapers and journals were available to read. A reference library could also be found. The lending library was only open from 7 pm to 9 pm. Mr Barrell from Milton Road (now Webster Road) served as the librarian in 1908.
The construction of Rainham Social Club took place at the rear of the Temperance Hotel around 1904. Although much smaller than the present club in Station Road, it had a full sized billiard table and a membership of about seventy. Mr Child served as the steward and the club stayed open from 10 am to 10-30 pm.
The Temperance Hotel became the Railway Pub which subsequently closed around 2012. It was reopening in 2019 as a JD Wetherspoon pub after major refurbishment and extension. The Railway photo below was taken in 1981
The information below is found on http://pubshistory.com/KentPubs/Rainham/RailwayHotel.shtml
1901/Stephen Mitchell/Inn Keeper/43/Kingsdown, Kent/Census ****
1901/Kate Mitchell/Wife/41/Wateringbury, Kent/Census
1901/Archibald Mitchell/Son/9/Maidstone, Kent/Census
1901/Albert Mitchell/Son/4/Maidstone, Kent/Census
1901/Dorothy Mitchell/Daughter/3/Rainham, Kent/Census
1901/Rosa Mitchell/Daughter/7 months/Rainham, Kent/Census
1901/Sarah Nye/Sister, Widow/51/East Malling, Kent/Census
1901/Alice Oben/Sister/43/East Malling, Kent/Census
1903/Stephen Mitchell/../../../Kellys Directory ***
1912-13/James Castle/../../../Kellys Directory ***
1913/James Castle/../../../Post Office Directory ****
1918/Mrs A Castle/../../../Post Office Directory ****
Charles Young Brown had the Railway Hotel, Rainham / Gillingham in 1919 for 14 years. I don't know if that is from 1919. *
1922/Charles Y Brown/../../../Post Office Directory ****
1930/Charles Y Brown/../../../Post Office Directory ****
1938/Hy A W Brown/../../../Post Office Directory ****
The White Horse Pub Through the Years
The White Horse pub is central to Rainham located on the A2 junction with Station Road and was sometimes known locally as the Wonky Donkey. Sadly it seems to be going downhill having closed last year, reopened again for almost a year and now is closed and boarded up (June 2017)
In previous years it was much more vibrant with many happy memories over the years.
1910 approx
1972
2001
Rainham Kent Station Photos Through the Years
Rainham Station was developed when the railway line was built in the mid 1800s and the first station was built around 1850. It has been redeveloped several times since then, most recently in the early 1990s.
Rainham Station around 1972
Rainham Station around 1972 - area in the distance to the right is undeveloped at this time
Rainham Station around 1972
Above: Rainham station a few years earlier, around 1950
Below: Rainham station in the late 1800s, probably around 1890
Below: Rainham station 1987 during the snow
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
Action Forum Article Count: 234
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