Gravel Pits And Woods
A Memory of Shorne.
I lived on River View Park estate and by the age of 10 would cycle to the woods near Shorne village. There was an abandoned gravel workings and the area was a great place to play. We found a crane we could climb on and other machinery left amongst ponds which were full of newts! I remember sandy bottomed pools surrounded by bull rushes; we would hide our bikes in the woods, climb up a favourite tree and watch people walk underneath unaware they were being spied on. The area now would have been protected as a nature reserve. Unfortunately, for us kids, we found to our horror the whole place filled in and levelled - the crane gone and in its place a flat field. Looking on the Google earth I can now see that this was a tiny area, but it seemed huge to us. I now see also that this must have been part of what is now a country park near Laughing Waters.
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Just found this memory, it brings back good times when things were a lot simpler !. I grew up in Gravesend (Old Road East-near the junction with Valley Drive) and used to explore the "Clay Quarries" as we called them, which is indeed now Shorne Woods Country Park. As you say it seemed a huge area at the time and you had to keep a look out because it was private land belonging to A.P,C.M (then Blue Circle Cement now Lafarge), We used to cut through the woods at Thong then over a small brook then into the Quarries - happy times. The family moved to Shorne when I was 17in 1976 and I spent 10 years there before getting married. What about Shornemead Fort by the river, another favourite ?. I could go on and on about that place .Best wishes .