Isle Of Grain
Isle Of Grain photos (8 available)
Isle Of Grain 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!
Isle Of Grain books (12 available)
- 2 photos on Isle Of Grain appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Isle Of Grain
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Isle Of Grain and Kent
Isle Of Grain memories
Read and share memories of Isle Of Grain and Kent inspired by Frith photos
Childhood at Grain
After WW2 my father was posted to the firing range at Yantlet , Grain. When he left the army he was a caretaker at Grain Fort before working at the new oil refinery. My brother and I spent our pre teen years at Grain. It was a wonderful place for kids - forts, watch towers, the beach, ships on the Thames and Medway, the window shattering boom of the big guns firing at Yantlet, the marshes, strawberry picking. In 1956 we migrated to Australia.
It is sad to see so little of Grain's history preserved. The large WW1 naval air station has disappeared without a trace and no recorded history. The historic fort has been demolished and covered, lost for ...read more here
Contributed by Peter Peploe
Grain fort
After the war in 1946 my father, a sergeant in the MPSC, was transfered to Darland camp in Gillingham but as there were no married quarters available there we, as a family, were billeted in the Coastguards quarters on the Isle of Grain.
These were a row of houses with a bedroom in the attic from which we could see across the Medway to the Isle of Sheppy.
I went to the village school briefly for a year, and was also in the church choir but the best fun we had as children was playing in the deserted fort and wading out to the Tower when the tide was out, our parents would have died if they knew what we got ...read more here
Contributed by john gregory
Kent memories
Childhood at Grain
After WW2 my father was posted to the firing range at Yantlet , Grain. When he left the army he was a caretaker at Grain Fort before working at the new oil refinery. My brother and I spent our pre teen years at Grain. It was a wonderful place for kids - forts, watch towers, the beach, ships on the Thames and Medway, the window shattering boom of the big guns firing at Yantlet, the marshes, strawberry picking. In 1956 we migrated to Australia.
It is sad to see so little of Grain's history preserved. The large WW1 naval air station has disappeared without a trace and no recorded history. The historic fort has been demolished and covered, lost for ...read more here
A memory of Isle Of Grain contributed by Peter Peploe
Grain fort
After the war in 1946 my father, a sergeant in the MPSC, was transfered to Darland camp in Gillingham but as there were no married quarters available there we, as a family, were billeted in the Coastguards quarters on the Isle of Grain.
These were a row of houses with a bedroom in the attic from which we could see across the Medway to the Isle of Sheppy.
I went to the village school briefly for a year, and was also in the church choir but the best fun we had as children was playing in the deserted fort and wading out to the Tower when the tide was out, our parents would have died if they knew what we got ...read more here
A memory of Isle Of Grain contributed by john gregory
Extracts From Isle Of Grain & Kent books
The Cat and Cracker got its name in 1954, when the brewers Style & Winch Ltd of Maidstone named
it after the catalytic cracker, which breaks down crude oil, and was used by the nearby Anglo-
Iranian oil refinery. Note the toddler on the tricycle (centre).
An extract from from"Around the Kent Coast".
Here on the beach at the
Isle of Grain smugglers
would land their booty to
be transported to London.
Behind the beach are
concrete anti-tank defences,
left over from World War II.
An extract from from"Around the Kent Coast".
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".
Margate received its Charter of Incorporation in 1857.
Communal action and a progressive Town Council
aided development with the building of promenades,
bandstands, concert halls and the provision of a good
water supply and drainage. The resort spread eastwards
into Cliftonville, and later westwards to take over Westgate
and Birchington. The boarding houses of Margate became
the private guest houses and hotels of Cliftonville; dinner
was served in the evening and not midday, and amateur
landladies with old-fashioned rules were replaced by
professionally trained staff.
Frith’s Margate has now almost disappeared.
There has been a partial rejection of the traditional
bucket and spade family fortnight by the sea. With
competition from continental holidays in sunnier
climates and the mobility brought by package tours
and private car ownership, visitors are demanding a
higher standard of amenity and more sophisticated
entertainment. The town’s population is also increasing
with a larger number of permanent residents enjoying
their memories and pensions in their retirement years
by the sea.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".