Lower Street And Up To The Village From Dover

A Memory of Eastry.

I believe this is called Lower Street and behind us is Dover Road, and a turn to the east to Northbourne and Deal or a walk to the cricket ground at Updown. Behind, to the left, is Buttsole Pond where some people broke the ice when winter sliding. It is a wetland area and the sort of place where today it would have to be on a preservation list. At 45 degrees to the left and across the fields was the Workhouse/Hospital. In front of us to the left are a few cottages before coming to the Coach and Horses. It is worth repeating many times that this is a Roman Road and we just can't imagine how many people have passed along this road, no doubt Caesar or the Duke of Wellington. To the right lived Mr and Mrs Tommy Hambrook; he was Eastry's umpire for many many years and his wife dutifully made the teas. Behind us and to the right were the Children's Cottage homes where lots of children were sent for various reasons. Even then in 1958, we had a boy in our Primary school from Afghanistan and he enjoyed football a lot when he wasn't spitting. In those days we didn't need a counsellor or child psychiatrist, we just got on with it and played football. Mrs Ireland at the Children's Homes ran the cubs and possibly some scouts activities. What with a mental asylum on one side, and a children's home on the other, and falling in the pond, we would all need a counsellor each these days. But we were surrounded by adults who just got on with life and showed us how to too. The children could sometimes take the scenic route to school across the Lynch. Nothing much happened while being so daring. Also in Lower Street was a chapel and we attended Sunday School in the afternoons where Mr Butcher used his best and sternest scowl to make us keep quiet and listen up! Not far from there was the bakery and this was important on Good Friday mornings for the fantastic smell of hot-cross buns. Those were the days when nothing moved on Good Friday. And if you did then Mr Thompson the policeman would scowl at us even worse than Mr Butcher. Be afraid, very afraid. And so Eastry is clearly set on the hill top and in a prominent position fitting for a palace for the King of East Kent. The horses would struggle up the hill and then welcome the rest as they were changed at the Cross at a public Inn, the Coach and Horses or the Bull or the Plough or the Five Bells. Next stop right.... Sandwich. Along to the left the Roman road led to Woodensborough named after the Norse god Woden. There's quite a lot of history here and with a gold cup being found nearby then dates refer to 200 or 300 BC.