Horsmonden
Horsmonden photos (17 available)
Horsmonden maps (2 available)
Map of Kent
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Horsmonden books (30 available)
- 4 photos on Horsmonden appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Horsmonden
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Horsmonden and Kent
Horsmonden memories
Read and share memories of Horsmonden and Kent inspired by Frith photos
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
Contributed by Brian Long
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
Hop Picking
I too remember as a child visiting Paddock Wood with my nan, every year we would all pile into the back of a lorry and set of to the hop field. What wonderful memories, days I will never forget. We all came from Chiswick. Is there anybody else out there from the Chiswick area who went hop picking? If so, get in touch, thanks.
A memory of Paddock Wood contributed by brian faulkner
My road
The year i was born in this road. 119 Maidstone Road, the Woods residence. Side by side next to my granparents fish & chip shop. I always remember that the house to right of the phone box was always deralicet? Did something happen in that house?
A memory of Paddock Wood contributed by Patrick woods
Extracts From Horsmonden & Kent books
Once a major ironworking centre, this village also boasts the first Fuggle hops to be grown. It was also the birthplace of a useful invention: John Read of Horsmonden invented the stomach pump here, not the most glamorous association for a village! Bricks were made here in Victorian times, and there were several flour mills.
An extract from from"Villages of Kent Photographic Memories".
Horsmonden’s cottages and houses surround a spacious green. The village boasts a wealth of old buildings and timbered cottages. The curious building on the left, with the quaint bell tower and decorative geometric detailing is the Working Man’s Club. In the middle of the picture a customer is entering Harvey’s village shop.
An extract from from"Villages of Kent Photographic Memories".
A big part of the old Wealden Ironworks was based here, and a man-made furnace pond was dug. In the 17th century a feisty character named John Browne built cannons here, but the foundry closed in 1685 because of Browne's political allegiances. A pub called the Gun and Spitroast opened in 1750 in memory of those days. It is also home to the 'fuggle' hop.
An extract from from"Kent Revisited Photographic Memories".
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".
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".