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Burham
Burham maps
Historic maps of Burham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Burham maps
Burham area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Burham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Burham
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Burham.
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Evenden Family
I know it's a long time ago, but does anyone remember hearing any memories of my grandmother Alice Evenden? She lived at 9 Scarborough Terrace and came from a large family. Her father, Stephen, worked at the chalk quarry and her mother's name was Ada. My grandmother was born in 1905 - she had quite a few brothers and sisters, Ethel, Dora, Fred, Jim etc .
The Buss Family
My dad was born in Burham in the 1920s. His mum was born there as well. My dad's name was Raymond Jesse Buss and his mum and dad were George and Audrey. I believe they lived at 3 the High Street. My nan lived at Marlborough Place when she was young. I have been to look for it but have had no luck so I assume that it no longer exists. I can't believe that when I was a teenager my friends and I used to walk out to Burham from the Tideway Rochester. We never had any problems either. We used to go down to the Burham lakes and then walk back. You couldn't do that nowadays. It never seemed to rain much back then either. I love the countryside of Burham. Wide open fields with views over the river Medway and the lovely little church St. Mary the Virgin. I don't think it's used for services any more but it is so sweet to look at, inside and... Read more
The Late 1950s
I remember the baker's van coming down to Church Street in the summer, we could choose a cake, the baker would open the back of the little van and pull out the drawers, out would come a thousand wasps. No one ran for cover and the cakes were lovely. I remember that I had to wear an apron over my dress everyday to keep my dress clean.
Kent memories
Growing up in Eccles, 1951 to 1968
I lived in the Red Bull from age 6 to 23. I have so many good memories, from playing in the surrounding countryside - the chalk pits, the clayhole reservoir, the woods, the ruined cement works etc. The village infants school down Eccles Row ('Ticklebelly road' - there's a story to that), and I think it was called Sears, a shop on the corner of Eccles Row. The pub used to have a small third bar for off sales, and every Sunday the Winkle van would turn up so you could buy a pint of winkles. It had an Air raid siren on a tower at the edge of the car park and we used to fire catapults at it to get the blades to turn so it would start wailing! I remember the Furniture (?) shop, Reids, Coggers and Southwells farms, fighting Maybugs with cricket bats on the Rec (recreation ground) and so much more. As I grew up, I helped with the pub work, and I remember a... Read more
Wouldham 1946-49
Hi, I was born in Wouldham, 3 Castle Street, in 1946 and my family moved away in 1949 but I had a memory of the house that stayed with me all my life. The memory is of a tree in the garden that had a swing that my dad used to push me on, and of all things I also have a memory of an outside toilet with a wooden seat at the end of the garden. This year (2010) I returned to Wouldham for a look around and to see the house that I was born in. I found it and could not resist, I just had to knock on the door and a lovely lady opened the door and I asked if I could take a picture of the house. She said yes, and would I like to come in and have a look around - there was no stopping me. I told her of my two memories and when we went out to the garden, true enough... Read more
Gills Cottages
My memory of Wouldham is my uncle and aunt Sid and Shirley Buss used to live at 3 Gills Cottages. I was working up at Thorn AEI at Rochester airport in the Payroll Department. A woman worked there called Margaret and she came into work one day all excited saying that she had won a Food Hamper. She then told us that she was really shocked because she hadnt entered any competitions. Imagine my surprise when I found out where Margaret lived? She lived at 3 Gills Cottages, Rochester. What a coincidence? That I should be working in the same office that Margaret worked in. Needless to say she was a bit peeved to think she hadn't won the hamper. She was kind enough to let me get in touch with my aunt and uncle and give them the good news.
Where I Lived in 1960
We moved into the flat above Snodland station on 9th January 1960 (my 8th birthday) and the extreme left upstairs window was the view from our lounge (or, rather - sitting room). I attended Brook Street CoE Primary school from then until 1963, when I moved to the "top school", known then as Snodland County Secondary School. The name change to Holmesdale was fairly soon after that as I recollect.
The lamps on Snodland station in 1960 were gas lit, with a pole to pull down the chain which in turn fired the gas onto the pilot light. Each lamp had to be lit individually - and took a fair time. My father was the Station Master, so I used to get to help the porters on the station.
