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Southborough
Southborough photos
Displaying the first of 2 old photos of Southborough. View all Southborough photos
Southborough maps
Historic maps of Southborough and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Southborough maps
Southborough area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Southborough and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Southborough
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Southborough.
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Pondlife
From the 1930s, when I first saw it from a pram to about the 1960's, Holden Pond was a wonderful place for wildlife. Each March hundreds, maybe thousands, of frogs and toads, hopped and crawled there to breed. The water was clear, and from the roadside you could see them swimming about on the bottom among Canadian pondweed, along with smooth and palmate newts. Weeks late,r the water would be black with shimmying tadpoles. Once, I also saw a grass snake and lizard basking close to each other on a grassy bank, above the pond. The only downside, was the many toads run over crossing the road. There were fishes too, of course, but the pond was not overstocked with the large carp whose foraging, now annihilates aquatic plants and by stirring up mud and detritus has turned what was once clear water into an opaque, unhealthy-looking soup. Nor, I believe, were there so many ducks as there are now. No wonder few frogs and toads still survive. ... Read more
Duck Pond
In the sixties my inlaws (Mr & Mrs F King) used to keep ducks on the pond and in the evenings would drive them home, to bed them down in a duck house in their back garden of 27, Holden Corner. In latter years the Council built a house for the ducks in the middle of the pond.
The corner shop that Michael Willcocks refers to, where he bought his Tizer was owned and run by Mrs Petty.
Richard Stronghill.
Holden Pond Fishing
Southborough, Holden Corner 1896 (ref: 37896)
Year: 1940s Fishing
This is the Fish Pond at Holden Corner, Southborough. This was one of the two accessible and popular places for boys to go fishing in Southborough - the other was the Great Bounds Lake, near Bidborough.
As a boy in the 1940s and early 50s my Dad, Jack, bought me a fishing rod and my Dad and I would go down to the pond to go fishing.
As I recall there was very little change from when the photo was taken.
For a time in the late 40s and early 50s the cottage in the top corner was a small corner shop which was handy for snacks, ice cream or bottle of Tizer!
For some reason the bigger boys fished from the bank on the other side of the pond, whilst we always fished from this side, over the railing, pretty well from where the photo was taken. We always used a float with a small ball... Read more
Greater London memories
4 Prospect Cottages Pratts Bottom
I was conceived in 4 Prospect Cottages, in 1931, the Clutterbuck family home. The cottages are still there I think and are just to the right in the photo of the cross roads. The land opposite the cottages was a council tip in the 1930s. I was actually born in Farnborough Hospital and we lived variously in farm cottages between Pratts Bottom and Green St Green, STG itself and later in Orpington. The view is along the main road towards Knockholt Station, Pol Hill, etc. The hill to the left led up past a duck-pond to Old Chelsfield and the church, where many of my family are buried. One of my father's sisters married Doug Parkes, one-time landlord of The Five Bells. Another of his sisters married Percy Kerridge and that family lived further up past Prospect Cottages, a few doors along from a Primary School. That road led to Halstead. Also to the left of Chelsfield Hill, there was a petrol station. This was some sort of factory during... Read more
My Birthplace
I was born in Norheads Lane before ww2 but sadly had to leave at the outbreak of war. The bungalow I was born in was called Burghill and my grandparents lived nearby at a house called Sheridan which has now been replaced by townhouses as far as I know. I also had relatives further down Norheads Lane. I haven't been down there again for many years and even the last time in 1980's it had changed beyond recognition. I remember the shop called Temple's and the greengages we used to pick on our way home from this shop. Happy Days !!!
Childhood in Worlds End Lane
I am almost certain that this photo shows my great-grandfather walking from Chelsfield village to our house. He did this every week with a sack of vegetables over his shoulder. He would never get in a car, and walked everywhere. He lived in the village and had 2 allotments behind the recreation ground where he grew everything from potatoes to soft fruits. You name it, he grew it. He died in 1953.
The Shops I Remember
I think the photo must have been taken in 1961 or 1962, as the "new" or "top" shops are there; the original parade from the 1930s are taller than the later ones which can be seen at the top of the hill.
From left to right, and as far as I can remember were:
Out of shot to the left Walker's grocers, to which I referred in an earlier memory; W Haselden the chemist, Maison Calypso (ladies hairdressers at rear, mens' barbers at front), Hardware and Domestic Store (I went to school with the son of the owner), White's Greengrocer, Bon Marche (sub Post Office, wool, toys and stationery amongst others), Lakers shoe shop, can't remember the next, Lucille (haberdashers), can't remember, Pearks Grocery, Coop Grocery, Coop Butcher, and the end shop (of the original parade) was always changing hands but was an electrical store for some time.
On the new parade, there was Guys and Dolls (clothing), Hayletts (confectioner and tobacconist) a pet... Read more
