Gravesend
Gravesend maps (2 available)
Map of Kent
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Gravesend books (12 available)
- 3 photos on Gravesend appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Gravesend
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Gravesend and Kent
Gravesend memories
Read and share memories of Gravesend and Kent inspired by Frith photos
Milton Barracks
I arrived in Gravesend in mid 1947 as advance party to re-open "Milton Barracks".
Our first night out was a walk around King St to see what we could find.
It didn't take us long to find the pubs in Gravesend or to find the Prom. We spent a lot of time on the Prom watching the boats and the birds.
That's how I met a girl called Eileen Mockett. We were married in Milton Church on the 21 August 1948. I stayed in the town for 25 years before returning to Doncaster in Yorkshire. We still visit Gravesend but how it's changed. I'm not sure I like it now.. No Prom (as it used to be), No Ships? No ...read more here
Contributed by Verdun Lowe
The Royal Daffodil
I can still remember waiting on this pier for the 'Royal Daffodil' or the 'Royal Sovereign' during the my childhood, for our day trip up the river. We would do this trip regularly whilst on holiday with my Grandparents in Northfleet. It was one of my favourite days out. Julia (Weekes)
Contributed by Julia Banks
My First glimpse of Gravesend.
I arrived in Gravesend in 1958 on the back of my boyfriend's motorbike, we had travelled from Colchester in Essex. My father, who was in the army, had been posted to Gravesend so we all had to move. We crossed the river Thames on the Tilbury to Gravesend Ferry and so landed and rode off the ferry and up the High Street to find the house where my parents had moved into.
Contributed by Mary Back
Happy Summers
I was born and bred in Gravesend. This photo brings back many memories of summer days down the prom! We always came here with my mum. She used to leave us and our cousins in the park behind the cafe whilst they went shopping in town. We used to have a lovely time. As I got older I used to know Fort Gardens like the back of my hand and especially the concrete steps that led up to the lookout that was probably the highest point along the promenade. It was always a safe place to be and it was always warm and sunny. There were always lots of families sitting on the grass having picnics and boats going by. Also, ...read more here
Contributed by Trudie Grant
National Sea Training College at Gravesend
I spent the academic year 1987/88 in Kent training to become a Careers Adviser on a post-graduate course run by Kent College for the Careers Service.
During my course I had to visit businesses, universities, schools and colleges all around the county (and beyond) but the visit that sticks in my memory more than any other is the day I visited the National Sea Training College at Gravesend.
Along with a handful of other students I spent a well organised day in Gravesend carefully taking notes form the instructors in Seamanship, Engineering and Catering. We watched Physical Education drills and inspected the premises and interviewed some of the college's young students. However, what we were really looking ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Extracts From Gravesend & Kent books
We are keeping to the Kent bank of the Thames Estuary as the river reaches Gravesend, beyond the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford. The town is now greatly expanded inland, but the core of this ancient port is still recognisable around the two piers and the Georgian parish church. Here, in a view now much changed, the photographer looks east towards the town piers and jetties.
An extract from from"Down the Thames Photographic Memories".
Anchored off Gravesend is the torpedo gunboat HMS ‘Gleaner’, built at Sheerness Dockyard in 1890 and sold off in 1905; by that time the faster torpedo boat destroyer, later abbreviated to destroyer, had superceded it. Sheerness, founded in 1665, closed in 1960, and Chatham Dockyards, founded in the 16th century, in 1984, finally severing the Royal Navy’s connection with the Thames Estuary.
An extract from from"Down the Thames Photographic Memories".
Gravesend has two Victorian piers: the Royal Terrace Pier of 1843 lies to the east of the slightly earlier Town Pier we see in this view. Reached via a cobbled yard in front of The Three Daws pub, and visually obstructed by the high sea wall, the pier is somewhat run down, unlike the Royal Terrace Pier. The Wealdway long distance footpath now starts here.
An extract from from"Down the Thames Photographic Memories".
The impressive facade of the Hotel Metropole, with the Ship Hotel next door, faced the end
of the Jetty to greet the thousands of holidaymakers
who travelled down on the paddle steamers. In the
foreground is a ‘guess your weight’ machine, where
you only paid if the proprietor guessed your weight
correctly. He could do this by cleverly adjusting
the weights to his advantage. Six houses to the left
was the lodging house of Mrs Sophia Booth, where
J M W Turner stayed between 1827 and 1851. From
here he painted watercolours of golden sunsets over the
sea to the west and the misty dawns to the east.
Between 1939 and 1945 the Hotel Metropole and
surrounding properties were demolished as part of
the town’s Fort Road Improvement Scheme. The area
as it was before demolition can be seen in the aerial
photograph on pages 8-9.
Three acres of rundown cafes, souvenir shops and a
wooden arcade were cleared, and a new dual-carriageway
swept down the hill offering a clear panoramic view of the
sands and bay.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".
The list of `Fashionables` taking rooms in the Cliftonville Hotel would be published weekly in the local newspaper, again emphasising the separation of the social classes.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".