Time Passes - The Changing Face of Faversham

Time Passes

The Changing Face of Faversham

A Kent Creative Arts CIC publication for ‘A Year in the Life of Faversham’

Time Passes - The Changing Face of Faversham Foreword Part of the community project ‘A Year in the Life of Faversham’ A Photographic Record of the Town’s Everyday Life Project Manager: Nathalie Banaigs Book design and text edited by Bob Lamoon www.boblamoon.com Copyright

Kent Creative Arts CIC 2010

Photographs Copyright

the photographers 2010

Published by Kent Creative Arts CIC www.kentcreativearts.co.uk Printed by Quddos www.quddos.co.uk No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing from Kent Creative Arts CIC. Cover photographs: St Mary of Charity, Church Street Collection: Faversham Society & Robin Warren

First Edition 2010

Foreword Looking at a book of this kind, many people's first instinct is to feel nostalgia for the past. "So many things were so much better then." If you're one of them, put aside your rose-tinted spectacles now. Certainly some things were bettter, but others were a great deal worse.

Change has to happen if a town is to move with the times. Faversham, thanks to those who care for it, has changed more gracefully than most. And those whose role it is to care for it are not just local authorities and groups like the Faversham Society and Abbey Street Residents' Association, but everyone who owns a property or has a business or any other stake in the town. So take a modest bow if you have played your part in ensuring that change hasn't brought with it the debasement which has afflicted so many other UK towns and cities.

Some of the paired views are still cautionary. It's no good pretending that all change has been for the better. Here and there (for example in shop fronts and fascias) elegance has given way to vulgarity, though thankfully some of the damage has been undone by Swale Borough Council's recent Heritage Regeneration Scheme, which offered grants for the reinstatement of idiomatic shop fronts and fascias. Here and there - dare I say, just before the Faversham Society was formed, and the town was recognised as the treasure that it is? - perfecty sound buildings were destroyed in favour of crass replacements. But in this respect the town suffered far less than most in Kent.

As a busy commercial waterway the Creek, once the town's vital artery and reason for its very existence, has died. In place of its thriving industries, which helped to ensure that many local people could simply walk or cycle to work, are a series of recent residential developments, many of whose occupants perforce have jobs outside the town and need cars for transport. Only Standard Quay, with its wonderful assemblage of vintage vessels, reminds us of the days when waterborne trade thrived. Whether this is 'progress' is open to question. However such 'dormitorisation' is the common currency of our generation. One day it may be remembered with nostalgia; one day Creek freight traffic may be revived, and its banks re-industrialised. "Do you remember when people had a breath of invigorating salt air when their homes overlooked the Creek?�

Foreword continued This is essentially a picture book, though with informative captions. Photographs can't record how the town smelt or smells today, what were and are its pervasive sounds, or where there were and are pockets of privilege and deprivation. And though unless they're over-manipulated, photographs can't tell lies, they seldom give a complete picture. Early amateur photographers - and in Faversham almost all were amateurs tended to steer clear of comprehensive reportage, of slum quarters, of working conditions in farming, domestic service, retail, industry and shipping. In many cases they simply didn't have the technical resources - fast 21st century film, or its digital equivalent, for real-life action shots indoors. In others, they looked for the bright side, rather than the down-to-earth, and favoured idyllic posed shots. Hop-pickers, for example, wore their Sunday best.

This book is for enjoyment, but also for rumination and reflection. It's both evocative and provocative. What have past and present generations got right? What do present and future generations need to do to ensure that Faversham remains the distinctive, attractive, happy and (on the whole) prosperous place that it is? How will it need to adjust, as gracefully as it has in the past, to evolving national and global trends?

In its Museum Collection at the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre in Faversham the Faversham Society already has a fine visual photographic record of the town and surrounding area. But, like others of its kind, it's not fully representative, and it's not upto-date - it never can be. Everyone with an interest in the area will therefore be grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the generous support it has given to the 窶連 Year in the Life of Faversham' project underlying this book. Tribute is due to Nathalie Banaigs, the 'onelie true begetter' of this visionary project, which will ensure that the Collection will be much more representative of past and present. The Society's warmest thanks also go to all who have helped her, particularly Bob Lamoon and Tony Gostling; those who generously lent treasured old prints; and the scores or even hundreds of photographers, a few professional but mostly amateur, who have contributed presentday photographs. It's a remarkable town, and area, which can boast so many perceptive and creative photographers, and such willing 'donations' of time and skills.

Arthur Percival

Honorary Director, for the Faversham Society.

Introduction

This book has been published as part of the 2010 'A Year in the Life of Faversham' exhibition, a community photographic project recording the life of the town in pictures, day by day, throughout 2009.

Looking through the many images taken for the first project between July 2007 to June 2008, the changes that have taken place since then were very noticeable. We realised it was important to show how the town has changed over the years.

Many buildings have been demolished, the town has been re-designed but most landmarks remain the same. As an old market town, Faversham has thrived during modern times without losing its historical identity.

We intended to show old pictures of the town alongside contemporary photographs, presenting opportunities to visitors to learn about the history of Faversham. People are curious about what happened and photography is a great medium to display these changes.

That is how this book came about. In the following pages, to demonstrate with precision how some places have changed (or not) we have presented 50 old pictures of Faversham alongside contemporary photographs from the same spot exactly, taken in 2010.

Each set of photographs is accompanied by a text about the featured location so these images tell a bit of the history of Faversham.

Introduction continued

I would like to thank the following for their contribution: - Bob Lamoon for the excellent look he has given to the book’s design and for the work of editing the texts; - Arthur Percival and the Faversham Society, whose knowledge of the history of Faversham has been invaluable when making this book, supplying images and information helping to get the facts right; - the town’s people and local organisations who kindly supplied old photographs and information about featured locations; - local photographers who have taken the present day photographs; - Tony Gostling whose commitment helping collect old photographs has been fantastic; - and of course the Heritage Lottery Fund, without which this project wouldn't have existed.

Nathalie Banaigs Project Manager

A Note About the Picture Texts

Of course the town will change to meet demands, roads will be built, and some buildings will have reached their use by date and need to be removed. We cannot and do not want to live in the past. Do we want to live in a museum or have a town full of replica buildings of a past age? All we really ask is for changes to be sensitive to the needs of the people, to be aesthetically right for the town and be of a scale that one can live with. Quite often new buildings in a small town like Faversham display a style of architecture that is rather inappropriate. There is a lot of good and great modern architecture out there. Travel around the big cities and you are knocked out by the exciting buildings being constructed. New townscapes can be wonderfully thoughtful and inspirational places. New buildings must show good craftsmanship and skill at all stage of design and construction and use materials that are right for the situation.

Whilst compiling the texts for the pictures in this book I have taken a closer look at Faversham. We have a really lovely town and must be proud of it. We must stand up against poor development and support the Faversham Society and others in their efforts to preserve the best the town and its heritage.

This book is not a place for lengthy prose but we hope that we can just give you a few interesting facts that may spur further investigation and research. We plan to produce further volumes of this book in the future and so we would love to see any photographs that you might have and hear your memories that serve to bring life to the history of our town.

Bob Lamoon Co-organiser A Year in the Life of Faversham Acknowledgements Old photographs kindly supplied by: Graham Gilbert, Mary Henderson, Julie Holbrook, Peter Holness, Peter Kennett, John Owen - Shepherd Neame Archive, Dennis Parrett and Catriona Cuthbert - St Mary of Charity Parish Church, Arthur Percival - Faversham Society, Christine Rayner - the Faversham Times, Stephen Rayner, Robert Riddle, Robin Warren.

Matching contemporary photographs taken by: Jane Bowell, Philip Bull, Genevieve Ellis, Richard Jones, Bob Lamoon and members of the Faversham and District Camera Club: Nathalie Banaigs, Richard Cornelius, Greg Cullen, Samantha Jones, Trevor Martin, Rex Piles, Kevin Rook and Robin Warren.

Pre-edited text supplied by: Julie Holbrook, Peter Kennett, Bob Lamoon, The Maison Dieu Charity, Arthur Percival, Christine Rayner, Stephen Rayner and Eric Swain.

Picture Locations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Market Place Market Place Market Place Market Place Market Place Market Street West Street West Street West Street West Street Flood Lane Tanners Street North Lane 47 Court Street Court Street 10-11A Court Street Court Street 1-2 Abbey Street Church Street St Mary of Charity Abbey Street Standard Quay Faversham Creek Faversham Creek Faversham Creek

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

1 Preston Street East Street East Street Newton Road East Street Whitstable Road 8 Market Street 2 Preston Street 84-85 Preston Street Preston Street Jacob Yard Preston Street Stone Street Preston Street Railway Station Athelstan Road South Road The Mall Ospringe Ospringe Water Lane Oare Oare Hollowshore Cricket Teams

Location Map

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A2 London Road Ashford Road

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Love Lane

39

Park Road

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St Johns Road

41

St Marys Road

Newton Road

44-46

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14-17 1-6 31 Market 32 27,28,30 W East Street Place Whitstable Road 12 est Street 7-10 26 29 33 34 42 35-37 38 11

Macknade

50

M2 Not to scale

1960s

Collection: Robin Warren

Market Place

Part of this building dates back to the 16th century or possibly earlier. Over time it has undergone major facelifts. In the 1800s it was 'Georgianised' and made very plain.

Barclays Bank acquired it around 1925, before it was Peter Head's, reinstating the 'Tudorbethan' style to good effect.

Robin Warren

1

Market Place

c1940

Collection: Faversham Society

There aren't many old photographs of the market but this of the 40's shows a much smaller market than we have today. Between the wars it was fashionable to paint timber framed buildings black and white and here we see The Guildhall looking quite funereal. In the late 60's a scheme was implemented to give Faversham a 'facelift'. A range of authentic, co-ordinating colours was used on a number of buildings with spectacular results and transforming the area.

Nathalie Banaigs

2

Market Place

c1916

Collection: Peter Kennett

What is now the NatWest bank was then the National Provincial Bank of England. Not long after this picture was taken, the entrance door was moved from the right to the left.

A very good job was made of the work and you would be hard pressed to see the alterations.

Nathalie Banaigs

3

c1890

Collection: Faversham Society

Market Place

The Bear has been a public house since the 13th century. Very little of the interior has changed but the facade was totally rebuilt in about 1898 to give us the building we have today. The dedication of the pub suggests that bear-baiting went on nearby.

4

Nathalie Banaigs

Market Place

1980s

Collection: Teresa Owen

The public had great affection for the trees in front of the Guildhall but they were removed to some outcry. However, few seemed to worry about the demise of the old K6 telephone box, maybe because being outside of a pub it had a secondary use to telephoning.

Nathalie Banaigs

5

Corner of Market Street

c1895

Collection: Faversham Society

This quite grand three storey building, sporting the famous White Horse of Kent emblem declaring they were agents for Kent Fire and Life, was removed just after the war for unknown reasons. For a long time nothing was built on the site and it remained vacant. At last, in this very important position, two rather ordinary buildings were erected that are quite out-of-scale with their immediate surroundings.

Nathalie Banaigs

6

1968

Collection: Faversham Times

West Street

It’s interesting to note how big Tesco was in those days. This photograph was taken to illustrate the traffic problems that existed in West Street. The Faversham Society made the suggestion of pedestrianisation and given the support of the then Town Clerk, Fred Bishop. This was made possible once rear access for deliveries to most of the shops had been provided.

7

Nathalie Banaigs

West Street

c1919

Collection: Peter Kennett

Mr Bertrand Clemetson proudly stands outside his ’practical’ tailoring business.

Although not on public display in the present shop, his original work table with tailor’s measure can still be seen in one of the backrooms.

Bob Lamoon

8

West Street

1900s

Collection: Rayner/Faversham Times

Around 1905 these three finely detailed Elizabethan timber framed houses were the very first vernacular buildings to be restored in Faversham and a very good job was done for the time. However, the gas works and Agrigano, grain-processing plant in West Street continued to grow and eventually the buildings got in the way. Probably just before the last war these grand houses were demolished. If they had existed in 1949, when the first Faversham 'list' of buildings of architectural interest was drawn up by the Government, they would have been protected and would be still here today.

Richard Jones

It's easy to forget how close the Creek comes to 'lower' West Street. With the deindustrialisation of the Creek in the 1970s and 1980s the Agrigano plant closed. Its site and that of the gas works is now occupied by the Morrison supermarket.

9

West Street

1980s

Collection: Peter Holness

Invicta Motors of Canterbury used some of the buildings of the very successful Seager Foundry. Thomas Seager was a great Faversham character and you can still spot his name on cast iron street-furniture around the town. If you do come across his name, take a photograph and submit it for a future ‘A Year in the Life of Faversham’ project.

(Hint: Go to Quay Lane.)

Nathalie Banaigs

10

Flood Lane

1962

Collection: Arthur Percival

West Street is in the distance and these derelict houses were somewhere on the present greensward on the town side of Flood Lane. They were cleared, being declared as 'unfit for human habitation' soon after this photograph was taken.

There was a lot of sub-standard housing close to the town centre, and in the 1930’s a start was made on their clearance. A few were actually quite well built, and would have been enthusiastically restored today, had they survived.

Nathalie Banaigs

11

Tanners Street

1929

Collection: Peter Kennett

The Friendship was a beer house rather than a public house meaning that it only had a licence to sell beer. It closed in 1935 after Faversham Magistrates at the Brewster Sessions decided that there were too many pubs in Faversham. Around this time a Covent Garden Market company called Bakers had established a fruit transport depot in Oare. As lorries grew in number and size they found it difficult to negotiate the Tanners Street corner and so these buildings, including the Friendship, were demolished in the 60’s to create the present day road filter.

Richard Jones

In those days there was no Western Link. Had there been so, The Friendship and the houses alongside would probably have been retained and restored.

12

North Lane

1897

Collection: Shepherd Neame Archive

North Lane is only just above sea level and is always under threat of flooding during abnormally high spring tides. This is particularly so when certain weather conditions in the North Sea forces more water up Faversham Creek. The Prince of Wales public house was renamed in 1908 as the Queen of Hearts and finally demolished in the 1960’s to allow the Shepherd Neame brewery to expand.

Nathalie Banaigs

13

Court Street

c1920

Collection: Peter Kennett

Hatchards was a men's outfitters - the kind of clothing and haberdashery shop celebrated in the 1970s BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? (but decidedly more tweedy and more camp beds than camp). A team of polite, slightly serious male staff waited to meet the customer's every need, efficiently and speedily skimming through a series of wooden drawers behind the counter, which contained a cornucopia of accessories required by the well-dressed gent, including collar studs, cravats, cufflinks, socks and ties. Even into the 1980s, it was possible to buy an old-fashioned nightshirt, complete with matching tasselled hat. This was never retro, always original.

Bob Lamoon

14

Court Street

1897

Collection: Faversham Times

This picture can be dated to this era because Court Street still has gas lamps.

Therefore the decorations would be in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Faversham street lights ‘went electric’ very early. The local gas company, having a monopoly, set its charges very high. With the cost of street lighting and customers' complaints in mind the Borough Council decided to provide for an alternative and cheaper source of power. Hence it built a generating station in Westgate Road. This is why until 1947 the local power station was run by the council, not by private enterprise.

Nathalie Banaigs

You can still see some of the sockets in the kerb-stones of Court Street that were used for the posts that originally supported the shop awnings.

15

Court Street

c1930

Collection: Faversham Times

This attractive medieval building owes its survival to the Faversham Society. In 1966 Kent County Council wanted to demolish the building as it stood in the way of an inner ring road that they thought the town needed. Later KCC bought it for this purpose. The Society fought the ring road scheme and proposed a Western Link instead. This suggestion was ultimately adopted. Meantime the building had gone to rack and ruin.

Eventually the Society persuaded KCC to part with the building and it was bought by Shepherd Neame who restored and converted it.

Nathalie Banaigs

16

Court Street

1852

Collection: Faversham Society

This is the earliest known photograph of Faversham and although some buildings have gone due to road building, many have survived to this day. Little is known of the group of five men but it is possible that the gentleman on the right is Henry Shepherd Senior.

He was renowned for wearing knee breeches even if they were considered to be very much out of fashion for the time. It was his brewing business that has become Shepherd Neame.

Nathalie Banaigs

17

Abbey Street

pre 1892

Collection: Peter Kennett

In 1892 the medieval timber framed buildings that were 1 & 2 Abbey Street had to be demolished for the widening of Quay Lane. Quay Lane was an important route from the very busy creek but had become a bottleneck due to being so narrow.

Part of the site was used by Rigden’s Brewery to build a new bottling plant. Beer came from the brewery, on the other side of the road, via a tunnel. The tunnel is still there although it is sealed off at the Tesco end. The joinery company, Frank and Whittome, used the building from 1973 until 2006. It was then sold and leased to Creek Creative Art and Design Studios.

Kevin Rook

18

c1890s

Collection: Faversham Society

Church Street

These attractive Elizabethan houses were demolished in about 1900 to make room for an extension of the Rigden (later Whitbread Fremlin) brewery. The corner property is said to have been the birthplace of John Wilson (1595-1674), often described as first Master of the King's Musick, in the time of Charles II. He was certainly born in Faversham and in his youth is said have known Shakespeare and written songs for his plays.

19

Robin Warren

St Mary of Charity

1875

Collection: St Mary of Charity Church

This is an interesting photograph, because as Samantha Jones has discovered, you can't take the same view today because so many trees in the churchyard have since grown to maturity. Taken with a wide-angle lens, which was unusual at the time, it does show how very big the church is. It shows the building after completion of the restoration which started in the 1850s.

Samantha Jones

20

Abbey Street

1980s

Collection: Julie Holbrook

The Kent flint wall was removed when new houses were built. The flint was reused in the construction of the present properties, which at the time were described as in-fill or the so called new build.

Greg Cullen

21

Standard Quay

1982

Collection: Robert Riddle

Denne's, animal feed suppliers, owned Standard Quay at this time. This was where the raw materials were discharged from coasters and barges so that they could be blended to meet individual farmers requirements. The quay goes back many hundred years and with the rest of the Creek wharves and quays furnished the town's life-blood. Without them, there would have been no port and no Faversham. Now the quay is a vital, lively and picturesque place where, with the help of specialist craftsmen working there, sailing vessels are lovingly maintained and restored.

Samantha Jones

22

Town Quay

1980s

Collection: Peter Holness

This is the sailing barge "Decima", whose owner and skipper at the time was the late Dennis 'Beefy' Wildish, who as a mariner had followed in his father's shoes. He had skippered barges when they were still in regular commercial use and had many wry tales to tell. This type of vessel was the 'artic' of its day, loading cargoes for and from London, the east and south coast ports, and even nearby continental ports. As it relied only on wind and tide, it was energy frugal in a way that lorries are not. It was also manpower frugal with a crew usually of just of a skipper and mate.

Nathalie Banaigs

23

Standard Quay

c1904

Collection: Peter Kennett

The Creek once teemed with picturesque sailing vessels - oyster smacks, barges, schooners and brigantines, trading in timber, bricks, cement, flints, fruit, hops and other commodities. Some remained in commercial service after the last war. One of the barges, the 'Cambria', is now being restored at Standard Quay. Many Faversham lads went to sea securing the town’s proud place in the Cinque Ports Confederation.

Robin Warren

24

Faversham Creek

1960s

Collection: Faversham Times

A ship being launched sideways, due to the narrowness of Faversham Creek, from Pollocks Shipyard. The shipyard was established in Faversham at the request of Lord Fisher, the First Lord of The Admiralty in 1916. From that time until 1969 over 1200 ships were built, with many being constructed of concrete. Launches were quite an event in the town and people would gather to watch and be splashed. Health and safety would not allow this today.

Greg Cullen

25

1 Preston Street

1906

Collection: Peter Kennett

Standing on the corner of East Street and Preston Street this 18/19th century building is in a prime position. For many years it served the people of Faversham as an independent grocer before becoming part of the International Stores chain. Post war it had a new life as a television and radio shop run by a Mr Ken Rogers.

Nathalie Banaigs

26

c1890

Collection: Faversham Society

East Street

This imposing building from1886 displaced a large and very ancient medieval house.

The architect/builder of this new building was from the Isle of Thanet and gave it a socalled Dutch gable as was popular in that area. Some of the original stone Tudor fireplace arches and jambs were salvaged when the old building was demolished and re-used at Sharsted Court, Doddington, as arches in garden gateways. From the 1880s to the 1930s Faversham was something of a ‘quarry' for the architectural salvage merchants.

27

Jane Bowell

East Street

1880

Collection: Peter Kennett

A number of buildings have been lost from this area for the construction of the post office and Crescent Road. On the left is the large Faversham Institute building lost in 1979. The jetted, three gabled, timber framed house further down the road was even older belonging to the 16th century and stood where the post office is now. The pub on the right continued to be known as the Recreation Tavern for some time after it closed in 1961 and became an Indian restaurant. It is now known as the India Royal.

Genevieve Ellis

28

Newton Road

1960s

Collection: Robin Warren

As times change so does the use of buildings. It may be considered a tragedy that the Congregational Church was demolished to make way for Dane Court which has nowhere near the presence. Falling congregation numbers meant that the church became redundant. Although the Faversham Society fought hard to save the building, there was no real viable use and so down it came for redevelopment. Today things might have been very different with the likes of the Heritage Lottery Fund and one could see it being used as a theatre.

Collection: Robin Warren

29

Queen’s Parade, East Street

1895

Collection: Faversham Society

Here we see Cooksditch Meadow, the remnant of the large Cooksditch Estate which extended from Preston Street out to Love Lane. When the railway came to Faversham in the late 1850’s the estate become very valuable and was sold for development.

Eventually the meadow was sold in 1901 and became Queen’s Parade, named after Queen Victoria who was still on the throne.

Genevieve Ellis

30

Whitstable Road

1960s

Collection: Robin Warren

Another structure which became redundant. After the closure of the creek railway line, which ran right down to Standard Quay, the bridge was demolished in the early 1980’s.

You can still see some of the original tracks on Standard Quay. With some foresight it could have been saved and the line might have become a tourist attraction and Abbey Farm developed into a heritage museum.

Robin Warren

31

Market Street

c1910

Collection: Peter Kennett

If you go into John High's, the opticians, take a look at the pillar in the shop window just to the right of the door. A small gap has been left open in the recent 'boxing-in' and one can glimpse a mirror covered column from a previous era.

Bob Lamoon

32

2 Preston Street

1906

Collection: Peter Kennett

Whilst Ossie was renovating his fish and chip shop, Victorian ceramic tiles were uncovered on the walls. The builders were all for removing them but Ossie insisted that they were to be saved in-situ. The tiles have been covered but they are still there for posterity.

Bob Lamoon

33

Preston Street

c1910

Collection: Peter Kennett

Surely at no period in time could it have been thought right to demolish these lovely town buildings and replace with this modern monstrosity? But in the sixties Finefare Supermarkets assured the Faversham Society that they had taken particular care to integrate the new building with the town. Townspeople were aghast at what had been done to their much loved town. Consequently more power was given the Faversham Society when it was formed in 1962. As an exact copy of this building was spotted around that time in Liverpool you can only wonder what integration means.

Genevieve Ellis

34

Preston Street

1900s

Collection: Peter Kennett

Very little has changed in this view of Preston Street except for the terrible loss of the building that was Knowles. After the much loved, great local character and town councillor, Harry Knowles retired in the early 1960’s, the owner of the building was of the opinion that it was of no use as a shop. He argued that people had to live in the 20th century and not the 16th. He won his case and the shop was demolished.

Thankfully that sort of argument would be dismissed today.

Jane Bowell

35

Jacob Yard, off Preston Street

1960s

Collection: Robin Warren

Although nothing actually to do with him, Jacob Yard was named after Edward Jacob who lived nearby in a house that is now The Spice Lounge. Not only a GP and surgeon, Edward Jacob wrote the first history of the town in 1774 and was a distinguished amateur botanist and geologist. One of his many descendants, Sir Ian Jacob, became Director-General of the BBC in 1952. The end building belonging to Pordage & Son, undertakers, housed their coffin making workshop. Jacob Yard is proof that sympathetic restoration is possible and new life can be breathed into an area.

Robin Warren

36

Preston Street

c1900

Collection: Faversham Society

Here one can see the Flemish influence on vernacular architecture but by 1900 the characteristic ‘curly’ gable had been shaved off as was common at that time in east Kent. Further destruction took place in about 1960 when the frontage was ‘attacked’ and further down-graded. Unfortunately that was par for the course in the sixties. The little building on the left was demolished in 1976 to make way for the bus garage.

Nathalie Banaigs

37

Stone Street

1918

Collection: Peter Kennett

Stone Street was laid out in the 1880’s to link South Road with Preston Street. Unlike the busy road it is today very little traffic used it. Most of the buildings remain except for the Bible Christian Methodist Church on the left which was removed to make way for an extension to the Cottage Hospital.

Rex Piles

38

Preston Street

1894

Collection: Peter Kennett

Faversham was given a new railway station in 1897 and the level crossing was replaced with a subway. In 2009 the subway was closed for a supposedly short time for the old subway to be replaced with a completely new version. This was necessary for the station platform to be extended in order that the high speed trains could stop at Faversham. By mid 2010 the subway is still closed.

Richard Cornelius

39

Railway Station

pre 1897

Collection: Peter Kennett

The Granville Express ran from London Victoria to Ramsgate. Here it can be seen ‘running through’ Faversham’s old station full tilt to Ramsgate. In 1897 they started on the rebuilding of the station and some of the surrounding roads because the original layout couldn’t accommodate the traffic. Horseshoe Road was built, later to be called Forbes Road, after the chairman of the railway company, putting to an end the bottlenecks. The two storey station building was at the top of Newton Road built after the station as a prestige route for the prosperous business people of the town.

Samantha Jones

40

Athelstan Road

1905

Collection: Peter Kennett

Little has changed in Athelstan Road apart from the ability to stand in the middle of it to have your photograph taken. It would be interesting to see this view today without cars being parked making the road look very much narrower.

Philip Bull

41

South Road

1890s

Collection: Peter Kennett

South Road remains largely unchanged even though it is part of a main route into the town from the A2 at Ospringe. It has probably been saved because of the low railway bridge in Ospringe making it unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles. Much of the iron fencing would have removed as part of the War Effort of WWII.

Rex Piles

42

The Mall

Great Storm, October 1987

Collection: Mary Henderson

Fortunately the peak of the storm, with hurricane force winds, was in the early hours of the 16th of October when most people were in their beds otherwise the death toll of 18 across the south of UK might have been higher. The Met Office was severely criticised for failing to forecast the storm correctly. The BBC’s Michael Fish famously told viewers not to worry after a woman had phoned in saying she had heard a hurricane was on it’s way.

Bob Lamoon

43

Ospringe

March 1963

Collection: Arthur Percival

The once popular Anchor has gone the way of most of the shops and facilities of Ospringe and has been converted into a dwelling. Originally it was a coaching inn serving the traffic of the London to Dover trunk road. The Anchor had its own bowling green and the Faversham & District Camera Club used to meet in its clubhouse.

Richard Cornelius

In medieval times Ospringe would have had a higher status than Faversham.

Considerable archaeological work is ongoing in Ospringe to ascertain its real history.

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Maison Dieu, Ospringe

c1935

Collection: Graham Gilbert

It is interesting to visit the Maison Dieu (God’s House) in Ospringe to see how it has been changed over the years. Here we see it with a shop frontage. This has been completely removed and restored to how it looked as a medieval building. It is owned

by English Heritage and is open weekend afternoons, March to October. Ospringe was a traditional stopping place for pilgrims on the final night of their journey to St Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral.

Nathalie Banaigs

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Water Lane, Ospringe

late 1950s

Collection: Faversham Times

Water Lane was quite unique really in that you usually drive through a ford at right angles to the water flow but here the stream flowed down the middle of the road. In the 1970’s the stream was culverted and runs in a pipe underground. This was partly done to take water from the motorway during heavy storms. However, if you go further up the valley there is little sign of a stream because it has been piped away to help meet our insatiable demand for water.

Richard Cornelius

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Three Mariners, Oare

pre 1924

Collection: Peter Kennett

In September 1973 a press report stated that the Three Mariners was emerging as one of the best folk music venues in north Kent, booking top stars and drawing crowds from afar. On one occasion Nisbet Easton, the landlord, was forced to close the doors as the pub was packed out. An annual event at the Three Mariners is the mOARE Music Festival held in the garden, serving as a natural amphitheatre.

Nathalie Banaigs

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Oare

1923

Collection: Peter Kennett

Sam Townsin was a cheery soul and ran the ever popular village stores on the corner of Church Road and The Street. The sign above the door reads: 'Seamen supplied at any time day or night'.

Nathalie Banaigs

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Shipwrights Arms, Hollowshore c1900

Collection: Peter Kennett

Barges were once built by a family called Madams in the building that is now the sailing club. The pub probably started as quite an informal business, serving the workers, fishermen and sailors awaiting a fair wind and tide, gradually developing into the public licenced house that it is today. It has been an inn for over 300 years with its existence being legalised in 1738 when it was given its first licence.

Richard Cornelius

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Davington Priory CC

1930

Collection: Peter Kennett

Not only do fashions change but so do the sitters poses. In 1930 they looked a dour lot with only the glimmer of a smile on a couple. I put this down to the length of time it took to make a photographic exposure and holding a smile for that time turns into something of a grimace.

Macknade CC

Trevor Martin

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