This post is not finished it has not been edited or checked
Albion Road
built upon what was known in the 18th century as East
India Field, the chartered company of that name using it as a site for a camp
for its soldiers when their ships were moored in the river off Gravesend. Forms
a thoroughfare to Milton Road. Much of this area was cleared for re-development
in 1972.
59 Albion Shades
9 Phoenix
Augustine Road
built upon what was known in the 18th century as East
India Field, the chartered company of that name using it as a site for a camp
for its soldiers when their ships were moored in the river off Gravesend. Forms
a thoroughfare to Milton Road. Much of this area was cleared for re-development
in 1972
36 Trafalgar
Shades
Brunswick Road
built upon what
was known in the 18th century as East India Field, the chartered company of
that name using it as a site for a camp for its soldiers when their ships were
moored in the river off Gravesend. Forms a thoroughfare to Milton Road. Much of
this area was cleared for re-development in 197236 Brunswick Arms
Christ Church Crescent
An open space enclosed within the 'close' of Christ Church
Crescent with Christ Church Road nearby. In the centre, some blocks of masonry
remain as a reminder that here stood for 80 years
from 1856 the former Christ church, which was built at a time when the
population of Gravesend was extending southward in this direction. The
architect was R. C. Carpenter, who died while it was being built, and it was
completed by William Slater. The church was for many years the 'parade' church
for troops occupying Milton barracks nearby. Deterioration of structure
necessitated the closing of the church on 3 December 1932. The church was taken
down and rebuilt in Old Road East
Christ Church
Gardens
Was Holmewoods
Cherry Orchard
Constitution Hill
Gravesend Water
Works initially 2 shafts 140' deep interconnected by an 80' lift tunnel; 1846
Gravesend and Milton Water Works. Act and got land on Windmill Hill for wells
Cumberland Avenue
Built in 1899
East Milton Road
St Peter and St Paul, Milton church approached by a long flagstone pathway, dates back to
the 14th century. A surviving remnant of
an earlier Saxon church is low down at the south-west corner, where a filled-in
arch is part of the present structure. War memorial lych-gate and further on a
wrought iron gate of handsome design, bearing a replica of Gravesend's first
coat of arms of date 1568. From here the churchyard wall is of different
construction because until the early 19th century the churchyard ended here but
in 1805 manorial waste ground was taken into the churchyard. Both the lych-gate
and the iron gate were erected in 1951. There is a sundial over what was from
the 16th century onward until 1819 the south porch with its motto, 'Trifle not,
your time's but short'. This sundial has recently been restored by the rector,
the Rev. Hilary Day. It was designed by James Giles, master of the Free school
in King Street. The porch was used as a vestry for many years and is now a
small chapel. The tower is probably a
little later date than the body of the church. It contains a peal of eight
bells and is topped by a crown and Prince of Wales's feathers. When this vane
was restored in 1954 by Mr. W. G. Harpum a strip of metal inside had the words
'G. Thomas 1842' on it. Five of the bells were hung in 1656, one in 1810, and
the other two in 1930. The clock was added in 1875. The base of the tower acts
as porch and in the left corner is the stairway to the ringing chamber and the
belfry. There is a rather narrow interior, there being no side aisles, with a
gallery on the north side and a west gallery largely occupied by the organ.
This was installed in 1829 as a barrel organ, was rebuilt in 1887, and
renovated in 1936. A door on the left leads to the vestries, built and
furnished in 1950. The interior is an interesting example of 18th-century
plastering and ceiling and dates from 1790 when the old lead roof was removed,
the walls were increased by two feet, and the present slated roof put on. The
work was done by Thos. Hall of Dartford, and the addition to the walls can
clearly be traced on the outside. There is no physical chancel, but there is a
sedila on the south side under the south-east window. The corbels of a previous
roof still exist, with grotesque heads and other carving. On the eastern wall
of the church is to be seen the outline of what was either a very large window
or, as has been suggested, a former chancel arch. There Might be a tile in the roof with markings on it, or not. Nothing
pre-14th century can be proved Eaves put up instead of battlements. Associated
with Milton Chantry. bricked up leper window.
the rectory built
in 1860
Prince of Wales public house, at the end of the 18th century, was a farmhouse.
Milton Road Primary School was opened on 18 October 1884 by the Mayor, George Hubert Edmonds
and closed at the end of the Summer term 1976.
Milton Church School opened in 1860 and closed in 1938 is now used as the Parish Hall. It
was always known as "The Duck Pond School" from the pond which
adjoined the site to the North.
Railway to All
Hallows, 7.79, Hundred of Hoo Railway
Gravesend School for Boys. formerly the Grammar school, and prior to 1944 the County
school. The school is a modern building,
the first block, then known as 'the workshop block' being erected in 1931. The land
had been acquired from Bernard Arnold, the son of George Matthews Arnold, in
1924, for use as a playing field for the Junior Technical school in Darnley
Road, out of which the present school developed. A pavilion was erected on the
playing field and between 1931 and 1938 work proceeded on additional buildings,
the school moving in to the new buildings in the latter year. The official
opening took place on 12 October 1938, the then chairman of the Kent County
Council, Edward Hardy, Esq., performing the opening ceremony. Seventeen
classrooms are provided, an assembly hall, with stage, laboratories and
workshops, headmaster's and staff rooms, offices, etc. There are also hutments
to Provide room for activities for which convenient rooms in the main building
are not available. Extensive playing fields stretch eastwards towards Denton. A
heated swimming bath also has been recently added. Bombed.
A Hawker Biplane was parked for the air cadets instruction.
480 bus terminus
once the terminus of the Gravesend tramway and the eastern limit of Milton
parish, which was for many years the boundary of the borough of Gravesend and
the limit of the built-up areas.
36 Milton Shades
Echo Square
Pocock records a four-went way where there are now six.
and Old Road joined Cross Lane at the western end of Einathan Cottages prior to
1795, when the turnpike commissioners altered the road to its present course
and later sold the 'sandbank' between the roads and the cottages were built in
1884. so called because of a remarkable echo to be heard there before much
building altered acoustic response
The Echo
denehole have been found in this
area, including a
large one at the rear of the Echo public house, on a site now
occupied by garages.
The old 'Byre House'
Parrock Manor. whose owner in 1268,
Robert de la Parrock, was granted a market and fair which is referred to in an
inscription at the entrance
to Gravesend market. the Corporation of Gravesend bought the manor of Parrock
from George Etkins in 1694. The de Gravesend family, members of which became
Bishops of Lincoln and
of London, were lords of the manor of Parrock in the 14th century
and may have resided there in the manor house of that time. The
Manor is approached from Echo Square and its south front encases a timber-framed block of two
storeys with attics built 1620-1630. There is a brick chimney at each end and a fine
chimney-piece with shouldered
arch, floral spandrils and a lintel ornamented with paterae and halved Tudor
roses. That at the other end was the kitchen. On the first floor is a similar fireplace
of simpler
type. The present false front was added about 1775. In 1830 a large new block,
now known as Parrock Manor
or 'North House' was added. It has a porch with Tuscan columns and a low slate
roof with deep eaves.
The old 'Byre House' is now two residences, and until 1952
there existed a barn, relic of the days when the property was known as Parrock
farm. In the 16th century the old manor
house of Parrock was
known as 'Spryvers Hache', a name that has an echo of a deed of 1456 which refers
to the house of John Sprever which stood where now the old town hall stands in High Street,
with the market behind. The manor of Parrock does not appear to have
possessed a continuous area of landed property, its holdings being scattered in the parish of
Milton.. Did Barham of Ingoldsby Legends, live there?
Underground roads - they are believed to have run from Cobham Hall in the south-east to Parrock Manor or
Parrock
Granary An
interesting detached weather-boarded
building in the grounds of the old manor may be a granary.
North House
Edwin Street
another commemoration of City of London association.
Alderman Edwin, who was interred in St. George's churchyard also
a City Corporation member.
The Lit¬tle Wonder. In the apex of a smaller
triangle. more colloquially known as 'the flat iron' because of its
wedge shape
Medical Hall a
low-built structure which has been in the course of years the town's post
office, a Y.M.C.A. club, the offices of the Gravesend and Dart ford Reporter, and
the 'Medical Hall' —so-called from its being part of a
chemist's premises used as a hall for meetings, concerts, parties, etc.
Glen View
cul-de-sac Running south from Leigh Park Road this road opposite the
waterworks which commands a view over the western countryside towards
Swanscombe Woods and beyond.
Site of Milton Mount new estate, and town houses and the new houses of the Southwark
Rescue Society cover much of this side of the hill. At
Three Tree Hill site of a brick-built tower
windmill, which was pulled down at the end of the 18th
century for the bricks.
Joy Road
Milton Manor House. Meadowland stretched from
Parrock Road, guarded by
an iron fence down to a large house, which in the 1890s was
known as 'The Home Boys', it being the hostel of an organisation connected with the
Homes for Little Boys at
Farningham, elder lads being employed upon the farm and a
dairy business carried on with the house as centre. Actually, 'The Home Boys' was
the manor house of the
manor of Milton, and it still stands, a large 18th-century house
let out into flats, still preserving some of the features which graced it
when it was built in 1761 by Peter Moulson, then lord of the manor of Milton. Milton Manor
House was known at various times as 'Figges', 'Sir Thomas Wyatt's Place', 'Milton
Place', and, quite erroneously as 'Lower Parrock'. In the early 19th century the present house
was the property of, and was occupied by, Thomas Dalton, a colonel in the West
Kent Militia, and Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester, who was
commander of the regiment. It was' here that Col. Dalton entertained
the Duke, his officers and men when the regiment returned from service on the
Continent after the Napoleonic
Wars. Col. Dalton (who died in 1827, and to whom there is a tablet in Milton
church) was the last lord of the manor to reside in the manor house, the manor becoming
the property on his death of members of the Raphael family (although the
house was sold elsewhere). Richard Barham, author of Ingoldsby Legends, frequently stayed
here with Col. Dalton, of whose property he was an executor, and it was during
his visits that he wrote some of the poems which have a local reference.
Leigh Park Road
Waterworks pumping station Gravesend pumping station built in 1846 to replace the original
pumping station in Parrock Road, and demolished in 1973. The square chimney was
a well-known landmark. Until about 1890 water was only
pumped at certain hours of the day and most of the older houses in the town had
large storage tanks which were a source of trouble in frosty weather
Love Lane
a wide passage that in earlier years justified its title
of Love Lane. With open country views over sloping ground towards the river on
one side and the aspect of the town on the other, it ran between low hedges
from Milton Road to the base of Windmill Hill, and was much
favoured by youth of both sexes for sociable perambulation. The title of Love
Lane was bestowed upon it as a nickname, it being first known as Gurnett's
Walk, from having been a public gift in perpetuity to the town of Gravesend by
Thomas Gurnett 'to provide a pleasant walk to Windmill Hill from Milton Place'.
In addition to the previously-mentioned names, it was also known as Pennywick
Lane, Pennycoat Lane (a variant of Petticoat Lane), and as Melancholy Walk.
Milton Barracks,
1863 garrison, 1973 given up, TAVR. built on land
purchased from the South Eastern Railway Company in 1860. It was occupied by
various regiments, and in summertime was the quarters of troops undergoing
musketry training, who marched in columns of four to the butts at Shorne Mead. It
was finally closed in 1971.
Milton Hall
Estate
Milton Road
Start of Roman
route between Gravesend Ferry and Rochester Bridge
Bridge was a
level crossing
The first dispensary in the town was opened on 2 December 1850 at 89
(later 133) Milton Road, at the comer of Wellington Street, its object being
'to assist the really destitute poor of Gravesend and Milton and vicinities . .
. unable to pay for medical aid
Milton Road
Post Office, on the
corner of The Grove since 1869. With the
expansion of post office functions and payment of pensions, it has outgrown the
premises of the 1890s, ousted the postmaster from his apartments and absorbed a
dwelling-house in The Grove. The conveyance of letters and parcels now
performed mainly by rail had one lingering connection with pre-rail days when,
in the closing years of the 19th century a four-horse coach drew up just before
midnight at the post office from Rochester, unloaded bags of mail, and loaded
others before departing for Dartford, where horses were changed and the coach
proceeded to London, the London coach returning to Rochester with its load
drawn by the changed horses. This coach service was the result of a dispute
between the post office and the railways when the former began to carry
parcels, and to protect their own parcel services the railways charged the post
office a high price for this traffic. In 1887 the post office started running
coaches to Brighton, and a number of other services followed, including one to
Chatham which served Gravesend. The last of these coaches finished running in
1909.
wheelwright's yard and shop. Here iron tyres were shrunk on to wooden cart wheels by placing
the red-hot tyre around the wheel and binding it on by applications of a
quantity of cold water poured from spouted cans.
corn, hay and straw dealer, in the days when feed and bedding for horses were essentials as
important as the petrol supply of the present day.
25, now only a
one-storey building, was before 1894 a grocer's shop, kept by George Newman,
who also aspired to poetry, he having had conferred upon him the bardic
title of Lloegryn
Handsome Methodist church architect Derek Buckler and Partners which was erected in 1906 on
the site of the first Wesleyan chapel, whose foundation stone was laid in 1819
by the Rev. Joseph Benson, a close friend of John Wesley, whose evangelistic
zeal led to the world-wide extension of the Methodist movement. The old
building was very plain of structure, but in 1841 it was enlarged and a new
front designed, having arched windows and a pediment above in the classical
style, within which the words 'Wesleyan Chapel' were incised. Iron railings
enclosed a narrow space in which bodies of deceased members of the church were
interred. Opportunity was taken both in 1906 and 1956 to extend the site and
provide space for the many activities connected with the church. Here were held
the concerts of the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Association, usually known as the
P.S.A., and later the Gravesend Philharmonic Society gave choral concerts here.
timber yard on
the site which was later the Co-op. This was engulfed in a huge fire in 1928.
Before that time there stood on the site Cumberland House, a day and
boarding school for boys, kept by James Mallinson, who had removed the school
from Park House opposite in 1893.
15 British Tar. Old,
timber-framed building, under a Dutch-style pointed roof, predating the
adjoining Georgian colonnade. This basic two-bar former watermen's pub bears a
nautical theme, where little has changed in generations.
Cumberland Terrace, the row of tall buildings farther east, dates back to the very
early years of the 19th century, and was in 1830 the only building on the south
side of Milton Road.
Milton Road entrance to the former
barracks. Within this roadway, just outside the barrack
gates was a small conventicle of a group of Baptists. In 1962 when Trinity
schools were burnt down the school was moved to a site
just inside this entrance to the barracks and it is rebuilt on the barracks
site.
Milton Road Halt. opened August 1906. closed 1st May 1915 . Milton Road
veers to the right over a railway bridge before turning back towards Milton
church. This deviation was made in the late 1860s. Before this time the
road continued along what is now Prospect Grove to a level
crossing, the old crossing-keeper's cottage having recently been pulled down.
There was a halt here known as Milton Road between 1906 and 1915.
wall which
guards the length of railway line laid down in the mid-19th century to connect
the systems of the Gravesend
and Rochester railway and the North Kent railway
Iron hall a
building largely of corrugated iron used as a recruiting centre and drill hall.
This building formerly stood in Wrotham Road near the junction with Essex Road,
where it was The Pavilion, a theatre of Gravesend's holiday resort days. very
pleasantly-laid-out gardens bordering the road
next to it
Imperial Paper mills bowling green with
its clubhouse
Houses pleasant
row of mock Georgian houses screening the railway
Taylor's house
150 Shakespeare
Ale Shades
Milton Ale Shades
Park Place occupied
the north side of Milton Road; in the 19th century was an impressive row of
semi-detached houses with stucco fronts by Amon Henry Wilds, with its own
accommodation road behind a park-fenced shrubbery. With a clear
view of the Thames and its shipping at the rear of the houses, it was a popular
place of residence by the gentry of the town. It also attracted a number of
proprietors of private schools, one of which, Park House, later occupied as an
office of the Associated Portland Cement Co., Ltd., and later still as the
head-quarters of the Gravesend Conservative party. The houses were pulled down at the end of
1957 and flats built on part of the site. The remaining part was used for the
new telephone exchange. One house at the extreme east end of Park Place
survived until 1971, but this has now gone.
32 Duke of York
became The Globe
Ingress Tavern
89 Dispensary On
2nd December, 1850 a dispensary was opened whereby the poor could procure
medicines and treatment largely free of charge. This first
establishment was at 89 (later 133) and was a shop on the corner of Wellington
Street which was demolished in the late 1950's. The venture was financed by
voluntary contributions and was under the presidency of John, 6th Earl of
Darnley (1827-96). In addition, many prominent local people were involved such
as C.A. Becket (brewer), W. Gladdish (chalk merchant), J. Harmer (after whom
Harmer Street was named), G. Rosher (of Rosherville fame)and Edward Lacey
(Mayor), A name associated with this
establishment was one to have a connection with the hospital for ninety-two
years - that of Pinching, as C.J. Pinching was a vice-president and on the
medical council. It was soon realised that many patients needed to stay in
hospital, and it was decided to establish an infirmary in the town so as to
provide "gratuitous medical treatment and advice o the destitute poor of
Gravesend and Milton, and their vicinities".
Norfolk Road
old pillar box,
Victorian. On the corner t. John's Road
one of the earliest in the country, dating from 1855.
1 Norfolk Arms
Old Road East
Line of footpath
from Roman potteries to Watling Street
High wall built
with a type of hexagonal artificial brick made up of granite chippings set in a
brick surround with cement. It has not been possible to
identify this type of material, but it is believed to have been imported from
France
Milton Court, or Simpson's Folly. Long flight of stone steps lead to Milton Court (now demolished;
the site was excavated, 1974/75), built high on the south slope of the hill.
This house, known for many years as 'Simpson's Folly', was built by William
Simpson after he had vacated a house at Rosherville, known as
'Chiltern Lodge', following a dispute with the Gardens authorities whose London
Road tower, so he alleged, invaded the privacy of his garden. The architects
were Parr and Strong. . Milton Court also had a garden on the south side of Old
Road enclosed with a wall of similar material to that on the north side.
'Glenthorne' at
the junction of Spring Grove with Old Road East stood there until 1971. Latterly used as the Convent Grammar school.
It was at one time the residence of John Russell, alderman and brewer of
the town, and had a tunnel under Old Road which connected with extensive
gardens running down to Cross Lane.
Milton Mount United Reformed church. Was 'Glendillon',
built on the garden of Glenthorne. It was opened as a Congregational church in
1953, when Princes Street and Clarence Place churches closed
Park Place
Parrock Avenue.
Most of the houses here are modern, and had been pastureland or farmland
Parrock Road
Line of footpath from Gravesend to Henhurst Lane. Open
view to the north-east over Harmsworth's sports ground, with Milton church in
the middle distance to the lower part of Gravesend Reach, the Lower Hope, and
the head of Sea Reach. Attractive and stimulating at all times except when
weather conditions limit vision, this wide scene is at its best in the evening
of a summer day when it is bathed in sunshine and the long shadows of houses in
the background fall across the nearer ground. Formerly, the Road was narrow
with barely two carriage-widths between Southill Road and Old Road East, large
elm trees bordering it on the eastern side. These were left in the centre when
a second roadway was constructed about 1910, but they were all felled in the
1930s and flowering trees planted
Southill Bank
Club,
Prospect Tavern
Harmsworth's
Field
Bronte Villas.
Those who built the houses set high above the road saw the great advantage of
their site at a time when in the early- and mid-19th century fleets of sailing
ships filled the river's tideway. Some of these houses
built about 1840 were named Bronte Villas, probably from Nelson, who was
Viscount Nelson and Bronte
Rowland Lodge,
at constitution Hill, it may be noted that it was at the point where it joins
Parrock Road that the first pumping works of the Gravesend and Milton
waterworks, built in 1833, stood, before their removal to the
site on the south of Windmill Hill.
Echo Cottage, it
is said that Louis Napoleon (L'Aiglon) stayed here under the name
of 'Mr. Smith' when he was in living in
England prior to the revolution of 1848
Milton Mount School, there until 1972 on a high bank a building known for many years as
Milton Mount College. It was founded as an educational institution for the
daughters of Congregational ministers, although
other pupils were accepted from an early date. The foundation stone was laid in
1871. It remained as such until the 1914-18 war, when it moved to Crawley,
where it continued until after the 1939-45 war. When the school left the
building was used first as a hostel for Vickers' munitions workers, and later
for a time as a hospital for invalid soldiers. In 1921 it was sold for an
orphan school run by Roman Catholic educational authorities, and continued as
part of the Southwark Rescue Society. During the 1939-45 war it was occupied by
the Auxiliary (later National) Fire Service and the Women's Voluntary Service
as a canteen. After the war the Southwark Rescue Society returned, but carried
on their work in new buildings and houses built in the grounds which stretched
to Leith Park Road. After remaining empty for some time it was demolished in
1972 and the site developed for housing.
Peacock Street
a name not associated in any way with the bird of splendid
plumage, but again preserving the name of another director of the building
company, Mr. Deputy Peacock of the City Corporation,
a Bishopsgate baker.
78 The Peacock A public house with the title
Strict Baptist
Church
Milton British School. at one time a school where a good-class commercial and general
education for boys was obtainable, known as Smith's Modern School. it was
originally opened as Milton British School, an elementary school for Nonconformist
children. It was after it was taken over by Mr. C. Hooper Smith, who had been
appointed headmaster about 1874, that its reputation rose so rapidly and so
justifiably, and tuition at the school was eagerly sought by parents for their
sons. after 'Gaffer' Smith had relinquished his interest in the Middle Class
school, which was later conducted by H. Waldegrave, it was closed and became
for a time a dancing academy run by Mr. and Mrs. Freeborn. Then for a time it
was a repertory theatre and survived the Second World War as The Playhouse, but
its fortunes fluctuated and it was closed in 1950 and was later occupied by
Lewis and Sons, printers.
Plum Pudding Walk
From Parrock Road
to Church Walk
The Home Boys
railings
Pine Avenue
The drive which
lead to Milton Hall
Milton Hall. where now
Pine Avenue and Milton Hall Road are built, there stood from 1863 to 1930 the
mansion built by George
Matthews Arnold, solicitor and mayor of Gravesend eight times,
bearing the name of Milton Hall, architect, Geo. Summers Clarke. In its extensive
grounds Mr. Arnold established
a museum of antiquities in which were housed objects of local interest,
including prehistoric flint implements excavated from chalk quarries in the
neighbourhood, fossils,
Roman remains from Springhead and Higham, and various articles with local
historical associations. These, after Mr. Arnold's death in 1908, were dispersed, some finding
a place in the Maidstone museum, others in Gravesend public library, in whose
reference library some of the documents are housed. Mr. Arnold was also the donor of two
statues of Queen Victoria to the town, and of land near the river for the extension of
Gravesend promenade and the Gordon Memorial gardens
Lodge to Milton Hall. The
first house on the west side, now much altered
30 folly in the back garden are the columns
of the old Gravesend market, presented to G. M. Arnold in 1898 when the present
market hall was erected
Plum
Pudding Lane
A pathway leading from Parrock Road to Church
Walk on the north side of Parrock Avenue. This was as much sought after 50 years ago by
courting couples as was Love Lane 80 years earlier
Portland Avenue
V2 12.44. In
addition, Milton Place.
Prospect Place
Norfolk Arms
Railway Greenwich and Rochester Railway, 1845 following a row with the
Canal Company, track laid by Canal Company through the tunnel, taken over by SE
and extension to North Kent line
Saddington Street
name was not given to it
until late in the 19th century. Before this it was Farringdon
Street, and was so named became James Harmer, a leading figure in the
development of Gravesend was Alderman of Farringdon Ward in the City of London.
Its later name connects it with another City. alderman, a clothier named
Saddington.
Raphael Road
Built on the site of
a field called Miller's field, and it is
probable that the mill mentioned in the Domesday Survey was a tide-mill near
here. The river would have flowed up to this area before the river walls
were built, and the marshes drained. It was for this mill that William Morton
paid pence rent in 1393, and from which 'Milton' probably obtained its name.
Shrubbery Road
Leads to the east side of Windmill Hill
The Windmill Tavern was originally a farmhouse dating from the 18th century, and is
mentioned in Pocock's History as the farm to the north of Windmill Hill.
The Miller's Cottage, was once the residence of the miller when milling activities were
conducted at the mill. It was considerably extended in 1973.
Primrose Terrace set high on the side of the hill, the back entrances to these houses
being in Southill Road, which descends into Parrock Road.
Constitution Crescent, at the very top of the hill. A row of four stucco-fronted houses,
some of which have recently been restored and which form a
landmark visible for many miles.
Southill Road
Town Houses. In
the triangle they occupy were a number
of buildings in 'rustic' brick at one time 'The Shrubbery' tea gardens. The
house, known as 'The Shrubbery', was in the early years of
the 20th century occupied by Charles Cobham, a local architect and collector of
local histories and guide-books. He was also one of Gravesend's pioneer
motorists. This area before the erection of houses, was rough ground with sand
and gravel pits, and in a hovel composed of boughs and odd timber dwelt an old
fortune-teller, whose clients were the visitors to the Hill.
Thames
Cuts into
formations which vary from the flood plain terrace to sedimentary rock as old
as the chalk and alluvium is absent at the southernmost point of the meanders,
bluff separates the alluvium from the flood plain terraces
The Grove
was first called Harmer Street South, or Upper Harmer
Street, it being the original intention of its planners to continue the
architectural treatment of Harmer Street to the south of Milton Road .
When it was re-planned as a series of semi-detached villas, it was for a time a
private road with gates at each end. Changes which have taken place since their
erection have introduced office and business premises to The Grove, the post
office having brought within its area the lower houses on the east side
Stephenson House large office block.
built in 1965, housed the Inspector of Taxes office moved from Lynton House in
1969 and the offices of the Department of National Health and Social Security
moved from Ravenscourt in Pelham Road at the end of 1972
Hedgers School became a laundry. Large house just
beyond Saddington Street, which was throughout the 19th century a large day and
boarding school for boys, 'Hedger's'. After remaining empty for some time it
was taken over by a laundry company.
St.Andrew's Church on a site immediately to the south of St. Andrew's Road stood a
Presbyterian Church of England, established in 1870 from a congregation which
worshipped for a time in the town hall. It was built at a
cost of £5,000 and had twin spires at the west end when built. It was
demolished in 1965, but some of the stained glass was removed to St. Paul's
church, its successor in Singlewell Road.
Butcher’s shop at
the junction with Parrock Street.
Designed by John Johnson, who was also responsible for some the clock
tower
The Mount,
George Sturge
lived while cement works being built
Wellington Street
10 Walker's Wellington Brewery For many years until the early part of the 20th century
this stood on the east side just north of the railway. It was acquired by
Charrington's, who continued brewing there, but this was
discontinued about 1928, and later the building was demolished and the site
used as part of The Jolly Drayman, better known as the 'Brewery Tap', or
colloquially as 'the Coke Oven' in Love Lane. Charrington's still have their
offices on the west side of Wellington Street opposite the old brewery site. J.
Kendall Jnr. ran a brewery here for one or two years in the early 1850's, and then this was taken
over by L. Lastett. He too did not stay
very long as
by 1854 the firm is listed under the name of Alexander Walker. The brewery traded under
this name until 1893 when
it became Walker and Son's Wellington Brewery.
In 1905
it was purchased by Charringtons. Another building on the opposite side of the
road was later used
as a warehouse for a tool shop.
Ravenscourt
11 Wellington
Arms
55 Brewer's Arms
also Waterloo Tavern
99 Duke of
Wellington
Windmill Hill
Dunkin thought
that the druids used it as a sacrificial hill – no evidence of this! Also
called Rouge or Ruggen Hill.
Fourteenth
century warning beacons. Later on Tudor ones
wall of cement house. The inventor of Portland Cement, William Aspdin, planned to build a
grand concrete house - Portland Hall. The Architects were John Morris & Son
of Poplar. In the Leith Park Road - Windmill Hill area of Gravesend a considerable area was
enclosed for this purpose but unfortunately Aspdin ran into financial
difficulties and the house never got much beyond its foundations. The remains
became known as Aspdin's Folly and a good deal of these have since gone but
part was incorporated into a private house. Twenty years ago the wall
surrounding the property was still in existence. It featured pilasters with
elaborate capitals. Probably built 1855-1860 the wall, pilasters and capitals
were constructed of brick with a thick coating of aggregate and cement.
Denehole. South
east slope.
Dene Hole. Twin
chamber on the brow of the hill. Roman tile in it.
War memorial.
Bombed in the Second World War
Windmill Street
Tivoli House
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