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Halling
Halling maps
Historic maps of Halling and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Halling maps
Halling area books
Displaying 1 of 23 books about Halling and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Halling
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Halling.
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My Grandparents
I visited Halling frequently as a child, as my grandparents, Bill and Ethel King, ran the public house The Plough. I spent hours at the front window over the pub looking at the River Medway as it curved around the bend.
Burr Family
My great-grandmother, Mrs Clara Burr, had the Supply Store in Halling Road for many years from the early 1900s. She had been widowed in 1903 when her two sons, my grandfather Rowland and his brother Norman, were babies. When Rowland married Nellie Dale of Snodland in 1925, the couple bought a block of land in North Halling and built a bungalow (single story home) on it for 425 pounds. They named the house 'Kalamara', the name of a Greek town where Rowland had been stationed during his army days. It was on the high side of the street and looked over the marshes to the River Medway and its traffic of barges. They sold the home and moved to Sidcup around 1933. Rowland's brother Norman and his wife, Doris Monk, bought a house in Halling Road not far from the shop. Norman and Doris (better known as Queenie) had one son, Brian Burr born in Halling in 1929. Rowland and Nellie's only children, my mother Joyce and her twin brother, John Burr,... Read more
The 1940s.
Hi all. My name is John Potter. I have found out the last address of my Gran and Grandad Hollands, at 78 High Street, Halling. I remember going across a bridge past the graves in a wood on the right to the allotments to help my grandfather, I remember the Michells and the policeman's son, we played together. I also remember going down to the air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden at nights, also remember a lot more. If anybody remembers me or my gran and grandad please get in touch and we can talk. I lived in Halling in the early 1940s. Now I also remember the Fun Fair that was on the green at the back of the policeman's, myself and the Mitchell twins got banished from it one year 'by our local policeman', I cannot remember what we did, but we had to watch everybody else enjoying themselves inside the area.
Kent memories
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.
'Jossrega', 22 Bush Road, Cuxton, Near Rochester
Cuxton is the village my wife lived in before our marriage, after I married her we used to spend weekends here with her parents. I really loved spending time together, just us and Mr Benny B, our dog. I wish I could go back to those happy days together, she was lovely to love.
James G Brown
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.
