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Pratts Bottom
Pratts Bottom photos
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Pratts Bottom maps
Historic maps of Pratts Bottom and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Pratts Bottom maps
Pratts Bottom area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Pratts Bottom and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Pratts Bottom
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4 Prospect Cottages Pratts Bottom
I was conceived in 4 Prospect Cottages, in 1931, the Clutterbuck family home. The cottages are still there I think and are just to the right in the photo of the cross roads. The land opposite the cottages was a council tip in the 1930s. I was actually born in Farnborough Hospital and we lived variously in farm cottages between Pratts Bottom and Green St Green, STG itself and later in Orpington. The view is along the main road towards Knockholt Station, Pol Hill, etc. The hill to the left led up past a duck-pond to Old Chelsfield and the church, where many of my family are buried. One of my father's sisters married Doug Parkes, one-time landlord of The Five Bells. Another of his sisters married Percy Kerridge and that family lived further up past Prospect Cottages, a few doors along from a Primary School. That road led to Halstead. Also to the left of Chelsfield Hill, there was a petrol station. This was some sort of factory during... Read more
Kent memories
Childhood in Worlds End Lane
I am almost certain that this photo shows my great-grandfather walking from Chelsfield village to our house. He did this every week with a sack of vegetables over his shoulder. He would never get in a car, and walked everywhere. He lived in the village and had 2 allotments behind the recreation ground where he grew everything from potatoes to soft fruits. You name it, he grew it. He died in 1953.
The Shops I Remember
I think the photo must have been taken in 1961 or 1962, as the "new" or "top" shops are there; the original parade from the 1930s are taller than the later ones which can be seen at the top of the hill.
From left to right, and as far as I can remember were:
Out of shot to the left Walker's grocers, to which I referred in an earlier memory; W Haselden the chemist, Maison Calypso (ladies hairdressers at rear, mens' barbers at front), Hardware and Domestic Store (I went to school with the son of the owner), White's Greengrocer, Bon Marche (sub Post Office, wool, toys and stationery amongst others), Lakers shoe shop, can't remember the next, Lucille (haberdashers), can't remember, Pearks Grocery, Coop Grocery, Coop Butcher, and the end shop (of the original parade) was always changing hands but was an electrical store for some time.
On the new parade, there was Guys and Dolls (clothing), Hayletts (confectioner and tobacconist) a pet... Read more
The Shops
I think the shop next to Bon Marche was Hoddinots (butchers) and the last 'old' shop was Stanley Marks (bakers) and then a record/electrical shop run by Don Skinner - then a betting shop? In 1966 I lived for a while in the flat above Centra supermarket, one of the 'new' shops. Other new shops I remember: Hayletts, Harlins (hardware) and a hairdressers on the end. Happy days.
Very Early Memories!
I was born in Chelsfield in March 1945 at The Bunglaow, Crown Rd/Warren Rd. I was born on the day that the last doodle bug bomb was sent over by the Germans and it dropped not far from where I was born. I have been told that the midwife attending my birth grabbed me and dived under the bed and left my poor mother lying there! We were, however, all quite safe.
I was 3 when we moved from The Bungalow on the death of my father aged 40. But I do remember The Bungalow with the railway running at the bottom of the garden and remember The Golden Arrow going along the track.
I also remember a shop in the village called The Hot Cross Bun Shop which was located on the way to the station. I have only been back to Chelsfield a few times since 1948 so perhaps this memory was collected on a visit there.
I seem to... Read more
Woodside
I was born in May 1945, in Green Street Green - Highfield Avenue, and moved to Woodside, Chelsfield in 1949. I lived there until I married in 1966, so I have clear memories of Crown Road. Two roads led off Warren Road up to Crown Road, they were Edith Road and Albert Road. I have a clear memory of the house on the corner of Edith and Crown, owned by a family called Liberter? Mr Liberter had green houses where he grew tomatoes and huge chrysanthemums. If I smell 'real' tomatoes now, it takes me back to those days when I would ride my bike down to Edith Road and buy the tomatoes. Chelsfield was an idyllic place to grow up; there was very little traffic then and we had as a playground the road, to play cricket, skipping etc, the 'rec' woods -which had a huge crater made by a bomb dropping there, a corn field at the corner of Woodside and Warren Road and two 'dumps', one now... Read more
Crown Road And Warren Road
I was born in Farnborough Hospital in May 1949, and lived at No. 1, Crown Villas, Crown Road (later 18, Crown Road) from then until 1968. This house was one of the original set built when the roads were built early in the 20th Century. I later lived at 11, Crown Road (built in the 1960s next to The Bungalow) from 1980 to 1986. My parents lived at 18 Crown Road until they died in 1990. When I was a child, The Bungalow was occupied by the Marsh family; I was friendly with the son, Alan.
I also drove the local bus (route 493) between 1974 and 1978, so I have strong memories of the area.
I remember Mr. Libbiter and his nursery well; he had a fierce Alsatian dog. Like the other nurserymen (Wells' Nursery was where Crown Close now stands) he sold his land for housing in the late 1950s, early 1960s. The three roads - Crown Road, Albert Road and Edith Road, were... Read more
