Rainham
Rainham maps (2 available)
Map of Essex
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Rainham books (6 available)
Rainham memories
Read and share memories of Rainham and Essex inspired by Frith photos
Mimi and Grandad's sweet shop
My grandparents owned the sweet shop at the end of this parade. They were Harry and Gladys Godwin. My mother grew up there, as did my Uncle Paul. My brother and I have hundreds of fantastic memories from the 1970s. I now live in Highgate, North London. Last year I was driving past the shop and decided to go in, it seemed tiny now and I couldn’t work out if it had been altered in any way, I remember it being quite a big shop with the fag counter up one side and sweets on the other. It also had a post office at the end of the shop which was run by Roy Firbanks.
Contributed by jonathon cooke
THe Nurden Family History Book.
My name is Dennis Nurden, I have a twin sister Valerie, we lived in Sunningdale Ave when Murex sports ground was there. Though not born there we did all our schooling there and left when we were about 18yrs old. At school I did paper rounds and worked on Saturdays in Castle Sports, the shop left in photo. My father Sydney Edward Nurden and his family were from Rainham and some are still living there today. My father was in the army and died in 1944 (injured in France). His name is on the War Memorial at The Clock Tower in Rainham, both my parents(mother Lucy Maud Nurden) are buried in the cemetary in Upminster Rd, as are others from the ...read more here
Contributed by dennis nurden
Born in the house directly across from the shops shown.
I was born in Dec. 1941, in the house, 241(?) directly across from the butcher shop (where the lorry is parked) , only my mother and a 15 yr old aunt were present. Nurse Chalk, on her trusty bike, showed up a little later. My father was serving in Hornchurch Aerodrome and one of my earliest memories were spending nights in the air-raid shelter in our backyard. That street was my playground, Rainham Hall my nursery, the old Infant's school and Primary School nearly to the clocktower (the other picture must surely show a number 87 bus). The hardware store was at this end of the row, and from it we bought our bike innertubes, as well as the ...read more here
Contributed by John Homans
Essex memories
Mimi and Grandad's sweet shop
My grandparents owned the sweet shop at the end of this parade. They were Harry and Gladys Godwin. My mother grew up there, as did my Uncle Paul. My brother and I have hundreds of fantastic memories from the 1970s. I now live in Highgate, North London. Last year I was driving past the shop and decided to go in, it seemed tiny now and I couldn’t work out if it had been altered in any way, I remember it being quite a big shop with the fag counter up one side and sweets on the other. It also had a post office at the end of the shop which was run by Roy Firbanks.
A memory of Rainham contributed by jonathon cooke
Extracts From Rainham & Essex books
Nestled in the rear slopes of the North Downs, the village derives its ancient name from the Saxon word ‘wudmeresthorn’, meaning ‘thornbush by the boundary of the wood’, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. This 1930s mock-Tudor shopping parade still stands on Rectory Lane as it winds its way south to the junction with the Chipstead Valley Road, where the buildings of the Woodmansterne Treatment Works, belonging to the Sutton and East Surrey Water Company, are just visible.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".
Much of Banstead High Street was rebuilt during the 1920s with a series of shopping parades. The leafless lime tree in the middle distance occupies the spot where the village pond once existed, while All Saints’ churchyard is concealed behind the trees on the extreme right.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".
The station, on the branch line from Sutton to Epsom Downs, opened in 1865, and the white stuccoed house, now a builder’s offices, dates from around the same time. The small confectionery kiosk was one of a trio servicing the requirements of commuters, with other branches at Sutton and Epsom. The roof of the station no longer bears the white lettering, and the building is almost a mile from the town centre itself. The road almost immediately makes another sharp bend over the railway line below, before passing the Cuddington Golf Clubhouse and continuing on to East Ewell.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".
Originally founded for ladies in the autumn of 1890, the club admitted gentlemen to membership within a year, and from a tin hut close to Banstead Railway Station it moved to this site in Burdon Lane nine years later. A putting green was added in 1923, and further major development took place in the years after this photograph was taken.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".
Situated on the corner of Sandy Lane, these courts, flanked by suburban houses, now form part of Cheam Fields Club. The pavilion in the background, although substantially altered, has also survived to the present day.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".