This article was taken from the Action Forum January/February 1997 Number 308
Memories of Rainham by Colin MacGregor
Most of the families in that area were large by today’s standard. Indeed I am one of eleven children although there weren’t too many families that big. We didn’t have a lot of material things. Not many Dads had cars, and if I recall there was only one private telephone at Mr Eccles’ house to be used only for emergencies, otherwise it would be up to the main road to use the public box, pressing buttons ‘A and ‘B’. In those days the telephone box was rarely vandalised. In the Summer, lines of red London buses would be seen slowly making their way to the Coast through Rainham (there was no M2 Motorway). They would stop for halfway refreshments at places like the Men of Kent public house. I can remember several skirmishes between the local children and the Londoners. Most of the children from our area attended the Church of England Primary School that was at the top of Station Road.
Sadly this school is no more. I’ll always remember the big tree in the playground which some of the bravest boys would climb. We were taught our lessons by teachers such as Miss List, Mr Turner (Headmaster), Miss King, Miss Evans (Fanny) Miss Thomas, Mr Turtain and some whose names I’ve long forgotten. Then there was Mr Pollock (the School Caretaker) who would don his special constables uniform to stop the traffic at the zebra crossing (as it was then) by the school. Nor many of the children from our area went on to university or even grammar school – but many have aspired to greater things and very few went bad. I often walk around Quinnell, Brown and Holding Street and it is nice to see that many of the houses have been refurbished with pretty porches and modern double glazing and have not suffered the same fate as Sunderland Square whose own children would have their own memories of Rainham to recall.
I could go on for hours about people and places in old Rainham – i.e. Saturday morning pictures at the Royal Cinema (or the Bug Hutch as we used to call it). Standing on the railway bridge watching the steam trains puff through. Old shops long gone, Barbara Kitchingham little shop on the corner of Holding Street, Miss Nicholson’s little sweet shop by what is now Lloyds Bank, Smiths sweet shop in Station Road where we could buy penny lollies.
I can even remember when the Library and Police Station were in the High Street. Also running errands to the Co-op in Station Road (not the new one) where we would have to remember Mum’s dividend number (probably most of us still do). The money would be put into a metal pot, a lever was pulled and the pot would shoot along wires to the cashier’s desk who put back your change and sent the pot back along the wire. And who will forget the dreaded buzzer while waiting to see the dentist in the clinic in Holding Street. Since my childhood I have travelled around this world and have many memories of places far afield – but none fonder than my memories of growing up in old Rainham. I wouldn’t change them for the world.
Yours faithfully,
Colin MacGregor
I have posted these articles from Colin MacGregor taken from the Action Forum of December 1996 and January 1997. Hope they bring back many fond memories for readers of this site.
This article is taken from the Action Forum December 1996 Number 307. Part 2 is available here
Memories of Rainham
Reading the letters and articles on bygone Rainham caused me to reflect on my own childhood in the fifties. Although I am talking only 35-40 years ago it was indeed a very different Rainham. I was brought up in Quinnell Street and most of my friends were children from that area together with Brown and Holding Street. Many of these friends still live in the Rainham or surrounding areas now with families of their own. Most will recall the long hot summer holidays (they always seemed that way) spent playing at the Chalk Pit in Berengrave Lane (now the Nature Reserve) or by the river at Motney Hill where most of us learnt to swim ( holiday by the sea or even a day trip to Margate was a rare occurrence for most of us).
We will all remember such as ‘The House of Many Windows’ (a tall structure in the old Cement Works at Motney by the silos), ‘Gunpowder Island’ (in the Chalk Pit) and many more. These nicknames passed on through generations of children. We used to catch newts and tadpoles every year in the ‘Boola’ (the water in the Chalk Pit). We would walk to these places passing old Nellie Hunter’s little shop in Berengrave Lane. She would have rows of jars full of sweets such as Humbugs, Cough Candy, Pear Drops, etc. You could buy them by the ounce and she would weigh them on her brass scales. I won’t mention the childhood pranks that we would play on dear Nellie, but those who participated will well remember. We would go scrumping in the surrounding orchards for apples, pears, cherries, plums, etc. sadly many of the orchards no longer exist. Other favourite play areas were ‘The Den & Woods’ (now Parkwood Housing Estate), ‘The Darland Banks’ (which thankfully still exist), the banks at the top of Berengrave Lane and Rainham Cricket Field. Games such as Rounders, Hop Scotch, Chase Around the Houses. And then of course were our ‘Seasons’ – not the Spring and summer type – but things like the Barrow Season when tens of soap boxes would be seen trundling up and down our road. (Indeed a pair of pram or pushchair wheels on an axle were a valuable commodity in those days).
Then we had the Marble Season, the Bow and Arrow Season, the Conker Season. I remember a certain tree opposite Nellie Hunter’s shop being stripped of conkers every September. The conkers would be soaked in vinegar or baked in the oven – anything to try to harden them. Some of them would go on to become forty-niners or even higher! Sometime in October we would make ‘Guys’ to be burnt on the bonfire on November the 5th. Rainham High Street would be full of children (myself included) ‘Penny for the Guying’. I can remember building massive bonfires on the land behind Brown Street which is now Northumberland Avenue. (Sometimes these would be mysteriously lit well before bonfire night). Many of the families in the area would have their own bonfires and fireworks. Penny Bangers, Jumping Jacks, Roman Candles, Rockets and many more. Guy Fawkes Night was a night we truly looked forward to. Most weekends there would be a football or cricket match on the Playing Field behind Quinnell Street. Some of these games would be up to twenty a side. I’ll always remember the tireless Mr Veral who would come out and referee the games and teach us the rules. Sadly the Playing Field now is only half of what it was, as to what I consider to be the ugliest building in Rainham (the Telephone Exchange) has been built on our beloved football pitch. I often wonder if Planning Permission would have been granted had this not been a Council Estate (as it was in those days).
Living in Rainham Aged 8 in 1955 by Colin Macgregor
In 1955 I would have been 8 years old. I lived in Quinnell Street in Rainham and on many a Sunday I was asked by my father to “run an errand” with one of my brothers or sisters (there were ten of us then) to the farm at the bottom end of Mierscourt Road to buy a pint of milk. There were very few shops open in Rainham on a Sunday in those days, in fact, the only two that I remember being open was Nellie Hunters in Berengrave Lane and Smiths sweet shop that was opposite what is now the Rainham Precinct, but then The Church of England School (St Margaret’s), and anyway, shops didn’t sell fresh milk then it was always either tinned condensed sweet milk or sterilised.
We would begin our journey by walking the short distance from our house No 2 Quinnell Street to the A2.. The traffic would have been quite busy in those days as this was the main link to the coast and long before the M2 motorway had been built.
The first building that we would come to was Mr Osborne’s house and business; it is the white building with the flat roof on the corner of The High Street and Quinnell Street. Now used as a commercial premises it was an empty shop in those days and Mr and Mrs Osborne lived above it. I’m told that in earlier years he ran a newsagents here. I can always remember his two Persian cats sitting in the empty shop window. Mr Osborne later had a large bungalow built opposite this building on the Southern side of the A2.
If we had looked right at that point towards Gillingham and at which is now Hidson’s Car Sales, we would have seen Rainham Motor Cycles ( I believe this was how Mr Hidson started his company)), next to this, The Blue Bowl Café and then The Midland Bank on the corner of Berengrave Lane where in 1968 my young brother was hit a killed by a bus that was turning into Berengrave Lane, The top of the road was later blocked off.
We would turn east at Mr Osborne’s place towards Sittingbourne on the North side of the High Street. We would then pass Mr Durell's house which is now Mann’s Estate Agents. Mr Durell owned the small garage that used to be on the corner of Maidstone Road opposite the building which was the Gas Show Rooms and now The Manor Farm.
After Mr Durells house there were three more houses where Miss Wallis, Mr Hewes, and Mr Goldup lived. The houses had long cultivated gardens with lawns and fruit trees, all these gardens backed on to the side of our garden now sadly these gardens have been flattened and covered with tarmac and used as a car park and the houses are now converted into commercial premises and the front gardens which were walled or fenced are now open forecourts.
Next to these houses we would pass The Chatham and District Water company building which is now Wards Estate Agents and next to this another private residence where Mr Manktelow lived and again now a commercial premises.
Next was The Telephone Exchange the building which is still there but behind it in what was our playing field is the ugly modern building that houses the new exchange. After this we would walk past Mr Ransley’s house, he was a local coal merchant, again his house and the one next door where Mrs Naylor lived are used for commercial purposes these days.
Then we come to Beveridges The Chemist and the house that went with it, this is all John Morley’s building now. I can remember the forecourt in front of the shop once collapsing and revealing what I believe was a Dene hole or something like that.
The next building was The South Eastern Electricity .show room this was on the corner of Holding Street and now an Estate Agents the garden backed on to the clinic. .
Crossing Holding Street we would come to a wooden building which was Mrs Barbara Kitchingham’s sweet shop Mrs Kitchingham went on to become Mayor of Gillingham . Next to the shop and part of the same wooden building was a house where mr Branchett lived. This building is now Harrisons Estate Agents
Passing this building, we came to Stuarts Express Dyers and Cleaners and next to this, one of the few existing businesses, Poulton and Sons the Ironmongers. After this we walked by shops such as Guthries, Corals, Ward & Partners before coming to another row of wooden houses where my friend Sheila Hook lived and another gentleman next door whose name I don’t recall. Also part of the wooden buildings was Nicholsons sweet shop. These buildings have now been replaced by Lloyds TSB Bank.
Next was The Rainham Library a tiny shop compared to the new one that was later built in Berling Avenue., After to the library we came to Josephine’s the hairdressers where my mum used to get her hair done and at the end of this block was Holdings the Greengrocer. I clearly remember when old Mr Holding used to weigh out the vegetables on his old brass scales.
Moving past Holdings we came to a slight recess where Frank Rose and Son Grocers shop was and next to this Frank Rule Stationers and then Greens Cycles this is where Patrick Duffs Opticians is today. There was a big house next to Greens which has long been demolished and Grey Fox Estate Agents building has since replaced it.
There was small farm next and, the farm house was set back off the High Street. Mr and Mrs French lived here and they must have kept chickens because Mrs French use to sit at her front gate selling eggs.
Past the farm was Barretts Motor Cars and then The Forge Garage all these buildings were demolished to make way for the entrance to Rainham Shopping Precinct.
We would then come to Barlow’s The Cobbler and next to him was Rainham Radio. My friend from school, Roger Rouse lived with his parents in the flat above the shop.
After Rainham Radio was the Reed Brothers Barbers shop and then Cremers the cake shop where, on a Monday they used to sell out of date cakes for a penny this was probably the only chance I got to get a cake in those days.
Passing Cremers, we would then come to The International Stores this was quite a big grocery store probably what we would call a small Supermarket today. Looking opposite here across the High Street we would see The Royal Cinema or the Bug Hutch as we called it. This building is now Lukehursts furniture store now but you can still see the roof of the old cinema.
After The International Stores was Guthries ( I think they sold carpets), Ward & Partners and then another of our existing businesses, Barclays Bank on the corner of Station Road.
We would cross Station Road and walk past The White Horse public house. It would have been closed at this time of the day as the licensing hours on a Sunday lunch time were 12 noon til 2pm. Although the pub is still there, it has seen many changes inside since 1955. .
After The White Horse, we came to the Co op stores which have since been demolished and The Rainham Healthy Living Centre constructed on the land. I can remember that there was a hall above the Co op stores where a couple of years earlier in 1953 they held a big party for us kids for the coronation. Its nice to see that the old Palm tree is still at the side of the new building. I can recall looking at this tree from my school in Station Road from when I was five years old.
Passing The Co op we came to Bardens this was a Greengrocers shop which is now The Olive Tree restaurant.
Mr Bridges big house The Old Parsonage was next and I can still remember him and his children riding their horses out of the stables there. This building is now a fitness centre.
We walked on past The Old Parsonage to the Post Office, I believe that there were some buildings before this that later became The Post Office Sorting Office which itself has been demolished to make way for Apple Tree Court.
Passing the Post Office we would walk by Cross the Jewellers, Webbs the Drapers and Mills Outfitters coming to Mountains solicitors on the corner of Ivy Street.
We would cross Ivy Street and pass Oldlands Florists which is now a Tattooist and then to Greens Newsagents. Although this is now a Hairdresser you can still see the old Newsagents sign sticking out from the wall above the window.
We would then cross Pudding Road coming to Jelly’s Outfitters I think this is now Hons Chinese Restaurant. Walking on we would pass Tuckers Watch Repair then a sweet shop and then come to Mr Quinnell’s beautiful mansion in its grounds. The house has sadly long been demolished to make way for town houses and flats. The road that I lived in was named after Mr Quinnell who I believe was a local councillor
Following on from Mr Quinnell’s house we would reach Scott Avenue, many of my school friends lived in this road in the pre fabricated flat roofed houses that have since been replaced by modern homes. Although, in those days the original houses were only a few years old.
We crossed the entrance to Scott Avenue passing Gilberts Builders and Panda Press coming to The British Legion now called The United Services Club. Then we would pass a few more shops the last one being The Chocolate Box.
We would cross the road here to Mierscourt road and the farm was just a short way up the road on the right.
It was now time to walk back home with the milk but that journey is to be told another time.
I’m sure many of you who read this article will remember some of the people and places that I have mentioned and I am sure that I will have missed a few and apologise in advance. I hope you enjoyed my trip down MemoryLlane in old Rainham.
Colin Macgregor
The list of shops in High Street Rainham in 1953 from Kellys Directory many of which are mentioned in Colin's article above
Roger Green was incredibly accurate with his memories. Assuming my copying and pasting works, here is his list updated by reference to my 1951 Kellys:
Starting at Orchard Street there was:
70 John Woolley
72 Ernest Wellard
74 Mrs Atkins
76 "Parker's" Sweet shop and Tobacconist
78 & 80 Pullen's seed shop
82 the "Bug Hutch" That we all have so many fond memories of !! :) Bug Hutch Rainham - Royal Cinema
Does anyone remember the lady that worked there in the kiosk where you paid, I think her name was Joyce ? Real dark hair and always very heavily made up.
84 Gray's cycle shop
86 Dennis's Off License
88 The Cricketers Pub
St Margarets Church - At the Church path I seem to remember there being a big old house with lots of broken windows.
From there on with numbers where known....
90 Mrs Evans
90 Raymond Wall Chiropodist
90 Winch, Greensted & Winch
92 Langton & Young
96 Moseley's Bakery, Later Walklyn's Bakery
98 Albert Simmonds
98a Edward Russell
100 Ronald Tapsell
102 Alfred Nobbs
104 Green Lion Pub
106 & 108 Vyes Grocers (Now Hidsons)
112 Rainham Pet Shop (Now Hidsons)
114 Stan's Cafe Later the Orion Cafe (Now Hidsons)
116 Ron Smiths Barbers (Now Hidsons)
118 Watt's residence (Still there)
120 Watt's Chemist shop (WATTS THE CHEMIST )
122 "Halrose" Hodson's tobacconist
124 The Wool shop
126 Fred's cafe
128 Pilcher's Greengrocers
130 Filmer's Builders merchants
132 Mrs Ada Swindell General stores
134 Abbott's Shoe repair
136 R McKerns Upholsterer
138 Mary Watts Outfitter
140 Rodwells Bicycle shop
142 Albert Connelly The Sweet shop
144 Strevens Wallpaper shop
146 The Fish & Chip shop owned by the Cracknell's & the Ropers
148
150 Private house. Dave Ward lived here for anyone that remembers him.
152 Albert Barden
154 John Evans
156 Longley Nurseries
158
160 Large house with pond behind Henry Bell
162 Durells Repairs (Garage)
164 Walklyn Ltd Bakers
166 Kemsley's Butcher"s
168 Joseph Holloway
170 Leonard Deed
172 Cecil Adams
174 Dr Longford's Building
184 George Naylor
186 Granville Henthorne
188 Bertie Strevens
190 William Fraser
then Miers Court Lane as it was then known.
I used my bus pass again yesterday and I took the bus from Hempstead valley Shopping Centre to Medway Hospital in Gillingham. I noticed two things whilst on the bus. The first thing is, there is still a small patch of woodland on the Park Wood Estate off Deanwood Drive across to Mierscourt Road called Foxborough Woods, It It seems to me that this is the only remaining patch of what we used to just call The Woods. It makes you realise just how big " The Woods" were before Parkwood and other areas were built. The Maidstone Road entrance was a track opposite The Queens head pub which is now where Deanwood Drive starts. The woods stretched all the way to the top of Maidstone Road behind all the houses on the left going towards Bredhurst right to where the M2 Motorway cuts through. They then stretched right across the valley to Mierscourt Road at Farthing Corner (The Motorway Cafe), down nearly as far as Arthur Road. Our bottom entrance was up the Church Path in Rainham past the end of Tudor Grove, Broadview Avenue, Herbert Road and Arthur Road. All these roads had dead ends at where Lonsdale Drive is today, and all that is left is this little patch called Foxborough Woods. How many woodland animals and birds must have been driven out to make way for houses?
The second thing I noticed from the bus, is that they are now building houses on the area of land where Orchard Street school canteen buildings used to be, across the athletics and football field at the Maidstone Road entrance. A lot of the kids hated school dinners but I loved them and it was probably the only good meal I got in the week.
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