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Knole Park

Knole Park photos (3 available)

Old photo of Knole Park

Knole Park maps (2 available)

Old map of Knole Park

Knole Park books (30 available)

Knole Park memories

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

Kent memories

Family connections.

Sevenoaks, St Johns 1959

One of my brothers worked at the fish shop 'Packman's' next to the greengrocers and the lady with the pushchair and small child is my sister-in-law and her children.
A memory of Sevenoaks contributed by Mr AR Norman

During WWII

I lived on Seal High Street (pretty well opposite the half timbered building & the horse trough in the photograph) from 1939 to 1951. My father was in the fire brigade. In those days you auditioned to become a choirboy. The Church music was very elaborate & mostly we enjoyed it - although we were discreetly naughty, especially during the vicar's deadly boring sermons. Wide knicker elastic & tiny black throat sweets provided excellent catapault material. We got paid - about 3/6 (17p) I week I think although most of got lost in 'fines'. Society weddings were very lucrative. Seal was a feudal kind of place with very wealthy people in big houses served by the 'village'.

Although the ...read more here
A memory of Seal contributed by Mike Turner

Our first home was in Robyns Way, Riverhead

Riverhead, the Church c1955

Elizabeth and I married in 1971 and moved into our first home which we bought together at 21 Robyns Way. From our house we could walk round Pontoise Close and along a path at the edge of a sandpit, past a ramshackle village hall and into this church which we attended frequently. We lived in Riverhead for more than four years and loved the town of Sevenoaks, the local Scout Troop and Cub Pack where we were both leaders, and the Bradbourne Lakes at the end of our back garden. Evntually business took us away from this lovely place and we went to live and work near Glasgow in 1975.
A memory of Riverhead contributed by John Howard Norfolk

Ivy Hatch Court

Ivy Hatch, the House 1901

These are the memories of my mother May born Ivy Hatch 1921.

The photo shows the gardens and rear elevation of Ivy Hatch Court. The house was owned by Colonel C.N.Watney and his wife Winifred from at least 1919 until approx 1945 when it was sold and converted into apartments/flats. There was a daughter Miss Patricia Watney and a son, name unknown.
Mrs Watney was a keen hunt supporter and rode to hounds with the West Kent Foxhounds
Colonel Watney is understood to have been a patron of St.Bartholomews Hospital, London
Household staff during the 1920s and '30s included:
Mr. Taylor - Butler
Mr Saunders - Chauffeur
Mr Ernie Cox - Head gardener (lived at The Lodge with wife and ...read more here
A memory of Ivy Hatch contributed by First name Last name

Extracts From Knole Park & Kent books

Knole Park, c1960

The ancestral seat of the Sackville family since 1603, and one of the largest baronial mansions in England, Knole was presented to the National Trust in 1946. This magnificent house, built of silver-grey Kentish ragstone, stands in one of the most extensive and beautiful parks in the country, reaching up to the Greensands Hills. It covers about a thousand acres and is nearly six miles in circumference.
An extract from from"Kent Living Memories".

Gillingham, Darland Banks c1960

In 1933, 70 acres of chalk downland were acquired by Chatham and Gillingham councils to create this beautiful open countryside nature reserve between the two towns. The local wildlife includes several species of orchids and butterflies. At the centre of this picture, we can see the horses of travellers whose mobile homes are among the trees.
An extract from from"Chatham and the Medway Towns Photographic Memories".

Rochester, the Red Lion, Star Hill Corner c1955

The bus advertises Fremlins’ ales outside the Red Lion, a Style & Winch house of flamboyant grandeur, but now no more, sad to say. There are now traffic lights and a great deal more traffic where this policeman stands on point duty at the junction of High Street with Corporation Street (left) and Star Hill (right).
An extract from from"Chatham and the Medway Towns Photographic Memories".

Chatham, Town Hall and Military Road c1955

The virtual absence of motor traffic suggests that this photograph may have been taken in 1956, during the Suez Crisis petrol rationing, which did not end until the following year. The restrained architecture of The Eagle Tavern contrasts with that of both the Town Hall and the Chatham Constitution Club on the right of this picture.
An extract from from"Chatham and the Medway Towns Photographic Memories".

Chatham, High Street c1955

This part of the High Street is very different today, with The Sun Hotel gone from its Medway Street corner site. The dome further down the street was on the old Empire Theatre, which could seat 2,500 people. It specialised in music hall-style entertainment before it closed during the 1960s.
An extract from from"Chatham and the Medway Towns Photographic Memories".