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Goudhurst

Goudhurst photos (51 available)

Old photo of Goudhurst

Goudhurst maps (2 available)

Old map of Goudhurst

Goudhurst books (30 available)

Goudhurst memories

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You can also read memories of nearby places in Kent below.

Kent memories

Hop fields

  
Horsmonden - the end of my hop picking days.  I was born in east London 1939 and hop picking was four weeks in the country, camp fire cooking in the evening, a sing along and down to the Gun or the Town House on Saturday evening.  Then came 1960 and I was called up for National Service spending two years away.  
I have now retired and acquired a PC. I have found the internet to which I am
new to and found your site.  Lots of memories came flooding back and I can
find a use for some spare time.  Thank you for a new interest.
    Brian
A memory of Horsmonden contributed by Brian Long

Car-number-plate collecting

Lamberhurst, the Broadway from the Bridge c1960

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 ...read more here
A memory of Lamberhurst contributed by Roger Barden

Land Army memories.

Lamberhurst, Hastings Road c1955

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 ...read more here
A memory of Lamberhurst contributed by Anne Allan

My home hawkhurst

I grew up in hawkhurst , i lived in gills green in hawkhurst , hawkhurst has a close community everybody knew everybody , most familys that lived there had lived there for years even generations . my dads family had lived there for many years . i have very fond memorys of hawkhurst while i was growing up , the tractors going up and down the road all day . where i lived there were farms all around us. I could smell fresh wood from the wood factory just up the road , i would wake up to the sound of sheep barring in the fields just across the road and birds singing . The kind of thing you would see ...read more here
A memory of Hawkhurst contributed by susanne jones

Extracts From Goudhurst & Kent books

Goudhurst, Village 1901

This beautiful village is set up on a hilltop, surrounded by orchards and hopfields. The High Street has attractive tile-hung and weatherboarded cottages tumbling down the hill.
An extract from from"English Villages".

Goudhurst, Village 1901

This fine study of Goudhurst looks up the High Street. The Vine Hotel stands on the left, whilst halfway up the hill is a horse-drawn wagon.
An extract from from"Kent Photographic Memories".

Goudhurst, Village 1901

This scene was snapped from the church and faces down the hill. On the right is the Goudhurst Coffee House, and it looks as if a shop is next door. Eedes the chemist sits behind the trees (centre). I wonder if the horse and cart, left, was on its way to collect the hops recently picked in the fields nearby.
An extract from from"Kent Revisited Photographic Memories".

Goudhurst, Village 1901

The village of Goudhurst has always ranked as one of the most graceful of the Kentish Weald. This view shows the hilly nature of the place, perched over 400 ft up.
An extract from from"Kent Photographic Memories".

Goudhurst, the Village and St Mary's Church 1901

This beautiful village is set up on a hilltop, surrounded by orchards and hopfields. St Mary’s Church was founded in the 14th century, with its tower built in 1640. It crowns the hill, and has many monuments to the Culpeper family.
An extract from from"50 Classics - Beautiful Villages".