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Ash
Ash maps
Historic maps of Ash and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ash maps
Ash area books
Displaying 1 of 23 books about Ash and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Ash
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Ash by Sandwich 1789-1848
Ash is three miles west from Sandwich, a village lying 2 and a half miles south-westfrom Richborough Castle. The Church of St Nicholas has an interesting interior with monuments and effigies. Zachariah Pettman of Littlebourne married Sarah Jordan of Woodnesborough at Ash on 31 October 1789. They bore 8 children at Ash between 1790 and 1798. They were Edward, Sarah, Sophia, John, William, Thomas, James and Zachariah. Zachaiah Pettman senior died and was buried in Ash in 1819 leaving his wife Sarah a widow On 31 January 1826 it is possible that she is the widow Sarah Pettman who marries William Mummery (widower), a shoemaker of Woodnesborough, with witnesses John Bramford(signed) and Elizabeth Elgar. William's former wife was Mary Justing and his son William was also a shoemaker who lived in Upper Deal. His son Francis was a shoemaker in Margate A few years later persons "John Mummery and Abraham Mummery & Mrs Mummery of Manston" who could have be relations of William were occupying property at Ash and are mentioned in spinster Eleanor... Read more
Kent memories
Great Times
I lived with mum and dad, Len and Anita, younger sister Linda and baby brother Anthony in what was then Forstall Farm, Westmarsh from 1956 to 1962. Dad had a very small smallholding and a poultry farm next to what was then known as the Rose Inn. I went to school in Sandwich and worked for Stickles when I left, it was a five and a half day week then and all for 3 10. 00 (3.50). Those were the best times of my life. I used to go fishing, shooting, rafting on the main stream, and us lads used to have soapbox carts which the dog used to drag along, I loved walking across the field to Pluck's Gutter with my dog Rex. Rex used to love swimming and very often came home with fishing hooks still with line attached hooked into his body. I'm sure that there were very many angry anglers. Next door was Wilmshurst's the village shop which was also the post office and bakery, next was... Read more
Bligh Family
I have recently lost my uncle David James Bligh and I am trying to find some details with regard to his paternal family. I understand that his Grandfather William Frederick Bligh and his mother Elizabeth Rosey lived in Upper Stourmouth in the 1940s. David's father was James (Jim) Robert Bligh who died in North Africa during the Second World War on 26 April 1943 aged 24 yrs. If there are any descendants or anyone that knows or knew of the family I would be grateful for any information.
Toll Money
Sandwich Town relied on its toll money taken on the bridge, which was used purely for the town's benefit alone and it became wealthy over the years because of it. During the 1960s I think it was, Sandwich came under the jurisdiction of Dover and was asked to hand over the money in its coffers at the turnover.
The Town Councillors decided that this was not to be and put it to the townspeople what they wanted them to do with the money they had.
Everyone got very excited, us kids wanted an ice-rink, or a swimming pool and our parents duly put these suggestions along with theirs.
As was to be expected we got neither - we got a new Town Hall.
Sandwich Rope Walk
I used to visit my great uncles & aunts in Sandwich as a child. They lived at The Butts in those days (long dead now though). My grandmother would put me on the bus all alone at Upper Deal where we lived, (quite safe as the conductor used to look out for me), and my uncle would meet me at the Market Square in Sandwich. (I can still recall the smell of the abattoir in the summer). They had a dike at the bottom of their garden, which I used to be forbidden to go anywhere near - but they had fruit trees in the garden and the most wonderful flowerbeds that have given me a love of gardening ever since. To this day I love Sandwich - it is somehow ageless.
My Workplace in 1964
Worked here in the cocktail bar summer of 1964. Served Ian Fleming's wife.
The Happiest Days of my Life
My maternal grandfather, Archie Greatorex, was the licensee of the Anchor Inn from 1957 until his death in September 1974. Most of my family holidays, until the age of 10, were spent with him. My parents used to pack my sister and I up and we would catch either the coach or train from London's Victoria to Canterbury, thence by number 13 bus to Wingham, where we would be deposited right outside the front door. How did my parents manage with two small children, large suitcases and, if it was Christmas, reams of presents as well?
If it was summer, Archie, and his partner, Mill, would have a week away somewhere while my parents, Fred and Vera, looked after the pub, then, upon Archie's return, we would have a week of days-out by 'bus. Most-visited places were Ramsgate, Margate, Canterbury and Whitstable. I particularly loved the model village at Ramsgate and the boat-trips on the River Stour in Canterbury.
Lovely memories of blue sky days spent playing in the garden... Read more
