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Weald
Weald maps
Historic maps of Weald and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Weald maps
Weald photos
We have no photos of Weald, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Ide Hill| Hildenborough| Sevenoaks| Leigh| Riverhead| Chiddingstone| Chipstead| Toy's Hill| Seal| Four Elms| Ivy Hatch| Shipbourne| Brasted| Seal Chart| Tonbridge| Penshurst| Hever| Kemsing| Bidborough| Otford| Plaxtol| Ightham| Crockham Hill| Westerham| Edenbridge| Speldhurst| Woodlands| Southborough| Southborough| Borough Green
Weald area books
Displaying 1 of 23 books about Weald and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Weald
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Kent memories
Www.worldofcolin.co.uk
See biography on my website - all stories of my childhood days at Charcott including photos.
Early Years
My father was born in Ide Hill and, when he left school, worked as delivery boy for Pierce's shop. That's how he met my mother, delivery goods to the large house Emmets, where she was a housemaid. When, eventually, I was born we lived about a mile outside the village, beside Sundridge Hospital, or The Union as it was known as then. In the autumn of 1945 I took my first, faltering, steps in my education at Ide Hill C of E school. Stayed there until moving to Westerham Secondary Modern School in 1951. After that I joined the Navy, then in 1967 came to Northern Ireland where I have lived since. It has been many years since I was home but the memories of growing up in that lovely area of Kent stay with me.
Hilden Manor
In 1971 I was a lad of 15 and had made friends with some people living behind the Hilden Manor. The owner wanted needed help to dig out a large pond in his back garden, so I volunteered with his two sons to hand dig this pond in the hot summer sunshine. We had not got very far when we hit concrete! We could not understand why concrete would be in a back garden of a relatively newly built house? It turned out to be the old swimming pool that belonged to Hilden Manor back in the old days, and after breaking through some of the large area of concrete, the finished article was really a show piece. This was in Stacey Road and I lived in Correnden Road just behind the Hilden Manor. I went on to have a part-time job in the manor, helping in the kitchen, peeling and chopping the veg for pocket money and looking on at those who could afford to dine there. Happy memories.... Read more
Family Connections.
One of my brothers worked at the fish shop 'Packman's' next to the greengrocers and the lady with the pushchair and small child is my sister-in-law and her children.
Bat And Ball Railway Station Near Sevenoaks
My wife, Elizabeth, and I bought a house in Sevenoaks when we married in 1971 and had nearly five happy years living just to the north of the town, close to Bradbourne Park lakes before business forced us to move away. I remember my daily commute by train to work at the Bank of England in the City and having experienced awful crowded and late trains from Sevenoaks station, I decided to travel on the other line from the Bat and Ball station not far from the cricket ground! This took me to Blackfriars or Holborn Viaduct stations in London and the journey was a lot more comfortable. Elizabeth had an easier journey to work as she started a new job with the planning department of Sevenoaks council. We enjoyed our time in Sevenoaks and I well remember the cricket on "The Vine" which I always associated with my commuting from Bat and Ball station!
Walking to Lunch
When I first started school we would walk up the High Street in a "crocodile" to a cafe were we had our lunch. We then walked back to school for the afternoon lessons.
Woodlands Holiday Camp Swimming Pool
I was brought up in Kemsing at the foot of the Downs and we children would walk up to Woodlands Holiday Camp to swim for a shilling or so. On a fine weekend you could take your swimming things and some refreshments and stay up there for several hours. The pool was generally freezing and by today's standards pretty unhygenic and often with green slime on the walls and bottom and dead flies on the surface - but we did not worry too much. On the way to and from the pool we had to cross a field which usually had an old grey horse in and I was always glad to get through there.
