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Kilndown
Kilndown maps
Historic maps of Kilndown and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Kilndown maps
Kilndown area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Kilndown and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Kilndown
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Kent memories
Those Were The Days
I can still remember the times I spent sitting in the dumb waiter lift to go to the staff storeroom to liberate theres a few people id like to catch up with any alcohol they had...those were the days my friends.ive grown up alot since then but it was a beautiful school and they taught me alot
Village 'Bobby'
As village 'Bobby' in the late 1960's early 70's, we, my wife and two daughters, lived in the Police House in Furnace Lane. Sometime about 1970 I called into the village shop (I think it was Fuller's) and the lady there asked me if I would take a gun off her! She said that they had recently gone into the roof space when having a clear out and found a pearl handled revolver with belt and holster. She went on to explain that during World War II they had American troops billeted in the village and some in her mothers shop. She recalls that at the time there was an armed robbery at a bank in Tunbridge Wells and she seems to think the Yanks billeted at the shop may have been responsible. The gun appears to have been hidden in the roof in case they should be searched. They obviously moved on, probably for D-Day and did not have the opportunity to remove... Read more
Land Army Memories.
The white weatherboarded house was the farmhouse of the farm where my mother, Joyce Clark, worked along with another 3 girls in the Land Army during the Second World War. It was called Cogger's Farm. She was there whilst the Battle of Britain was fought overhead. They grew hops, wheat, barley, oats and enough vegetables to supply the local school. The oast houses behind the house belonged to the farm. The hops were picked each year by families from the east end of London who came down and made a holiday of it. They slept in stone outhouses in the farmyard on straw pallets. My mother was billeted with Miss Parrot (along with another Land Girl called Lot) in a house off the photo on the first road to the left (shown as a weatherboarded house on the right of photo L323039). Every Sunday Lot and my mother had to sing hymns around the piano and if they went to a Saturday night dance they had to be in by... Read more
Car-Number-Plate Collecting
Brings back memories of hot Sunday afternoons sitting on the bridge with my mates collecting car number-plates. I was nine years old and lived at 1 Workhouse Cottages, in Brewer Street with Miss Mabel Alice Ranger. I was a little tyke with short long trousers. I also remember swinging on the pendulum of the school clock and getting the cane for it. I was not at school often as I tended to play truant. I remember all the shops in the village: Curtis the newsagents, Avards the Bakers and the old hairdressers shop on the corner. There was also a confectioners called Fullers - opposite The Chequers - where I used to get ice-cream and fizzy pop. As lads we would always be golf-balling to earn money. Hope to visit old haunts one day soon.
THOSE LONG LOST DAYS IN LAMBERHURST
It was indeed interesting reading Roger Barden's account of Lamberhurst, but feel he has left out a few salient points. Of course Curtis the newsagents and Avards the bakers with the ever inquisitive Mrs Avards were selling that delicious bread and sweets for the children going to school. But of course there was just up the hill Gurr's the butcher's complete with pony & trap to deliver his meat together with a very young Peter Sands who went on to have and maintain his own business in the village. Along from Avards, Fred Ashdown briefly had a barber's shop, and next to him was Reeve's the grocers and where the post office is now sat this little lady, whose name I never knew, who sold various materials and balls of wool. Next to that was Avard's Garage, selling petrol at four shillings and seven pence per gallon, and next to that was the Redman garage, which whilst also selling petrol was mainly concerned with the repair of vehicles. Next to... Read more
Shop Owner
My husband's great-grandfather was the Rayner on the shop in the photo. We like the name so much that both our eldest son and eldest granddaughter have Rayner as their middle name. We are hoping to keep the tradition going. If anyone knows any more about the Rayners I would be please to know.
Forge Farm
Just found this site while looking for Chinley which I believe is close by.
Forge Farm memories of the fun times we had as children hop picking with nan and gran-dad, dad and mum, aunts and uncles and of course my siblings. At that time the farm supplied student teachers for the children's education, no one went as we were all too busy playing or fishing in the pond in the middle of the common.
Home was a corrugated iron hut, very basic, the bed was made from timber poles with slats laid across. I remember we always took a large cotton mattress case with us and it was our job to fill this with straw supplied by the farmer, if you have never slept on a straw mattress it was always warm. Because there were so many of us the farmer allowed us to take away a section of the joining iron sheet to make two huts into one and put in real glass windows.
Cooking was over... Read more
