Ightham
Ightham maps (2 available)
Map of Kent
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Ightham books (30 available)
- 6 photos on Ightham appear in 5 Frith books - View photos of Ightham
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Ightham and Kent
Ightham memories
Read and share memories of Ightham and Kent inspired by Frith photos
Housemaid at Ightham Mote
This memory is not mine, but that of my mother in law, Beatrice, nee Head. She grew up in the Girls Training Home in Boxley Road Maidstone until she was 14 when she had to go 'into service'. One of her first jobs was as a housemaid at Ightham Mote where she also looked after the two little boys belonging to the family. Unfortunately she no longer remembers the family name but says they were very kind. She remembers that the house was 'very big' and that she had to cross a wooden bridge to get to the house. I wonder if anyone else remembers working there in the early 1930s, or if anyone can remember ...read more here
Contributed by Josie Gurnsey
The Village Square
This view was seen by me every day that I went to school at Judd School in Tonbridge. I caught the bus here. There were two bus routes through the village - Number 9 which ran from Maidstone to Sevenoaks and operated by Maidstone & District - and the number 122 which was operated by Southdown and ran from Gravesend to Brighton. Both buses arrived in the village on the hour. I lived at Cobtree Cottage at the top of the village next to the Village Hall and the builders yard of F & G King who were related to me. I was in the church choir for many years and joined the RAF in 1951 following in the footsteps of ...read more here
Contributed by George Morley
Ightham 1960s
Interesting to see this picture though I don't think that by the 1960s Ightham was ever this free of traffic except early in the morning.
The building in the centre of the picture was a petrol station and provider of all sorts of bits and pieces. Was it run by Mr Arthur? My father would drive down there (with me in tow) to find whatever he needed to keep the lawnmower and other garden equipment going as well as getting a can of two stroke fuel. Possibly our mini is in the picture (but not if this was taken early in the morning).
Mrs Cox ran the newsagents, just out of picture to the left and ...read more here
Contributed by Jonathan Green
Kent memories
Ightham 1960s
Interesting to see this picture though I don't think that by the 1960s Ightham was ever this free of traffic except early in the morning.
The building in the centre of the picture was a petrol station and provider of all sorts of bits and pieces. Was it run by Mr Arthur? My father would drive down there (with me in tow) to find whatever he needed to keep the lawnmower and other garden equipment going as well as getting a can of two stroke fuel. Possibly our mini is in the picture (but not if this was taken early in the morning).
Mrs Cox ran the newsagents, just out of picture to the left and ...read more here
A memory of Ightham contributed by Jonathan Green
Extracts From Ightham & Kent books
This 14th-century building with its 15 bedrooms and ancient halls boasts a fascinating list of owners including knights, MPs, sheriffs and businessmen. Mystery surrounded the old mote when a skeleton was discovered bricked up in a wall. In 1900 the house belonged to Sir Thomas Colyer-Ferguson. In 1953 it belonged to an American, Charles Henry Robinson, who bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1985.
An extract from from"Kent Revisited Photographic Memories".
This beautiful collection of 15th- and 16th-century half-timbered houses includes the hotel and public house the George and Dragon, shown on the right, a fine example of Tudor architecture in an historic village setting. Local legend has it that the Duke of Northumberland was imprisoned here after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. It is also believed that Guy Fawkes stayed here the night before the attempted plot was carried out.
An extract from from"Villages of Kent Photographic Memories".
The half-timbered frontage of the George and Dragon inn (on the left of the photograph) dates from 1515. Next door the village grocer’s shop was formerly run by the noted local archaeologist Benjamin Harrison (1837- 1921), who was responsible for the discovery of numerous early flint tools in the vicinity.
An extract from from"Kent Living Memories".
This village was anciently known as Eightham, and was once a market town, with a Whit-Wednesday fair called Cockscomb Fair. At Ightham Mote, which stands in a ravine in the Weald, is a celebrated fortified mansion, with a moat refreshed by natural springs. Here we see the village square, surrounded with black and white houses and clogged with randomly-parked cars.
An extract from from"Villages of Kent 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".