Rainham History - History of Rainham Kent, Old Photos and Life in Bygone Times
Rainham Church Bells 1913
The bells of St Margarets Church Rainham. The tower had 6 bells until 1913, the oldest dating from 1582, two more added in 1601.
In 1913 the two smallest ones were cast and all eight were rehung in an iron frame.
The photo shows Rev Tamplin & Mrs Tamplin, Sister Annie, Miss Baker and George Green the verger.
A249 Sheppey Crossing Bridge - Kingsferry Bridge Kent
The new A249 Sheppey Crossing opened in 2006 to replace the old Kingsferry Bridge between Sheerness and the mainland near Sittingbourne. The previous Kingsferry Bridge was officially opened in 1960 and had single carriageway each direction but could be lifted to allow river traffic by. The Sheppey Crossing is part of the A249 Dual Carriageway between Sheerness and Maidstone. These photos of the Sheppey Crossing were taken in 2007.
The Sheppey Crossing seems to be prone to fog which has caused a number of accidents in the short history of the bridge since 2006. One of the most serious was in September 2013 when over 130 vehicles were involved in a mass pile up along the length of the bridge and left the road closed for many hours. The history of the Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge is here
Childrens Toys 1900s Rainham
I recently visited the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, West Midlands where a typical village has been recreated with original houses, shops and amenities moved and rebuilt from their original locations to show life in the Black Country from early 1800s to around the 1930s. There were plenty of hands-on things to do including children being able to play with toys from the early 1900s. One of these was a metal hoop toy that you had to balance and push along the street with a handle as per the photo below.
Amazingly when we got back home I had received an email with some old photos of Rainham from the 1900s and one of the shots showed a child playing with exactly the same toy along the A2 in Rainham!
Jacobs Shop - 6 Station Road Rainham Kent
The attached photo is 6 Station Road about 1920/25. You may be able to read the name over the shop which was JACOBS, it is tucked behind the produce on display. My Dad, Percy Gladstone Jacobs, was born at that address and he can be seen in the photo. It is amazing to see how much produce was on display.
I am researching the family tree and this photo I found in with some old papers. Please feel free to dispaly this photo and also if anyone has any comment I would be pleased to hear.
Brian Jacobs
This is the same shop taken in 2013 now occupied by Medway Audio. You can see the detail above the shop canopy has gone and the wall to the left of the shop has been removed.
Holmwood, 27 Wigmore Road, Wigmore, Gillingham
My family lived in Wigmore from 1955 to 1966. Our house was No 27 Wigmore Road (Holmwood), which still seems to be there from Google
Earth, although what was the orchard now seems occupied by 'Leafy Glade'.
I remember arriving there one freezing January morning in 1955 at about 2am after a horrendous drive from where we previously lived in North Lancashire - no motorways then! Our furniture took another 3 days after getting stuck in the snow, so meanwhile we had to sit and sleep on the floor! The house had an ancient coke boiler which took about 5 hours to get any heat into the cast iron radiators.
The electric wiring was installed in the late 1920s by a previous occupant who had 'liberated' most of the switchgear from ships in the dockyard, the cables were lead sheathed! There were two other houses of the same design in Wigmore, one was not far from the road to Hempstead (now a tunnel under the link road I think.) I can't locate these on Google.The dairy leapt into action about 3am daily and the noise, including the fleet of electric floats setting out with bottles clinking, was something we hadn't bargained for. After a week we scarcely noticed it!
I cycled to school in Gillingham every day, sometimes coming back over Darland Banks. I can't see many parents allowing their kids to cycle along the A2 these days, but traffic was much less then. I often cycled to see my Aunt in Wye, going via the A20 and back along the A2. Of course this was the 'Never-had-it-so-good' time.
I still think it was the best time of my life, but I suppose everybody looks back at their teens like that.
Robin Dawes (Abbotts Ann, Hampshire)
Additional info following this message
The dairy was the one that became Unigate and was between Bredhurst Rd and Wigmore Rd. That site has also been built on now. If you came back you would notice a lot of differences - many of the old houses are being demolished to build larger detatched houses or gardens used for additional houses.
The following article was written by Tony Gutteridge, current owner of Holmwood
Holmwood, 27 Wigmore Road, Gillingham.
Terrys Dairy Wigmore Hempstead Kent
Terry's Dairy was on Wigmore Road, Wigmore, Gillingham adjacent to Holmwood. The dairy was sold to United Dairies which later became Unigate.
The site has now been developed for housing.
These photos of milk bottles from Terry's dairy were kindly provided by Jeff Williams.
The labels on the bottle say "Terry's Better Milk" and on the other side "Rainham 81319"
Manor Farm Pub Beefeater Gas Showroom Rainham
The Manor Farm Pub and Beefeater restaurant in High Street Rainham Kent used to be the Gas Showrooms for the area. The gas showrooms were built around 1928 and converted to Manor Farm Beefeater Pub Restaurant in the 1980s. The Premier Inn was added to the site in 2011 covering part of the Manor Farm pub car park.
Former Gas showrooms High Street Rainham Kent now Manor Farm Beefeater Pub Restaurant. The photo below was taken in 2001 before the outside of the building was painted
Manor Farm Beefeater Pub Restaurant High Street Rainham Kent in 2003 prior to construction of Premier Inn hotel in the car park to the right of this picture.
This photo was taken shortly after the Manor farm was repainted with the current yellow over the original lattice brickwork as part of their refurbishment
The photos below are from 2010 during the winter 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