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Leigh
Leigh maps
Historic maps of Leigh and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Leigh maps
Leigh area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Leigh and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Leigh
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Leigh.
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Also From Tonbridge
I also came from Tonbridge, went to the Slade in the 1960s and then on to Hugh Christie in the late 1960s and left in 1976. I also live in Australia. During the 1970s I was a Teddyboy, I still am today. I used to go to the teen and twenty, we were always in the Star cafe, we pretty much turned it into a Teddyboy cafe, always good to see others who come from the same town who have also moved to Australia, I'm in Queensland....
Game Keeper
My Grandfather's name was Gerald Arthur Seale, his father was game keeper at Halls Place in the late 1800's and early 1900's and his name was Gerald Walter Seale, I beleive that he lived in the Keeper's Cottage on the estate.
My mother Violet Henson nee Seale remembered visiting Keeper's Cottage when she was young.
The Green Leigh.
I am unsure of the date my sister Grace married Bill Hallett and lived on the Green Leigh Village. My name is Daphne Russell, nee Hooker. My sister also being Grace Hooker before marriage. My nephews still live in the area. I am in Australia and have wonderful memories. We came from Tonbridge. I was a telephone operator at Tunbridge Wells.
Kent memories
Www.worldofcolin.co.uk
See biography on my website - all stories of my childhood days at Charcott including photos.
Hilden Manor
In 1971 I was a lad of 15 and had made friends with some people living behind the Hilden Manor. The owner wanted needed help to dig out a large pond in his back garden, so I volunteered with his two sons to hand dig this pond in the hot summer sunshine. We had not got very far when we hit concrete! We could not understand why concrete would be in a back garden of a relatively newly built house? It turned out to be the old swimming pool that belonged to Hilden Manor back in the old days, and after breaking through some of the large area of concrete, the finished article was really a show piece. This was in Stacey Road and I lived in Correnden Road just behind the Hilden Manor. I went on to have a part-time job in the manor, helping in the kitchen, peeling and chopping the veg for pocket money and looking on at those who could afford to dine there. Happy memories.... Read more
Memories of The Forgotten School
Around 1950 there was a boarding school established in the castle. A great feature for me were the routine supervised strolls around the local countryside including trips to the sugar white sandstone quarry, the subterranean hideaway of Dick Turpin and his horse, hidden in a copse located in a nearby meadow, the chiddingstone itself with metal handcuffs where wayward wives would be left outside for several days to suffer indignities, some apparently even left to die. Also the pheasants and other wildlife and the frequent plainclothed, horseback hunting parties from a nearby US base that charged through the grounds blowing their hunting horns. These are just memories now, except for this they are gone.
Mabledon Estate.
My mother, Joyce Clark (formerly Smith) born in 1924, recognises this photograph of Quarry Hill. Her father William Smith was the sawyer for Mabledon Estate (on the right) and was responsible for felling the trees on the right of the photograph. Mabledon Estate (the gates are just off the photograph) was owned by the Deacon family who were London bankers. Mum's Uncle Charlie (Charles Eastwood) was the bailiff for the estate alongside William. Mum's grandfather (Charles Smith) was a sawyer before William took over.
