Registered Charity No. 1070698
Last Updated 16/1/13
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| About our town | Local History Study Group | ||
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History Study Group All welcome ! - Our history discussion group meets monthly. It centres mainly on local history and is very informal. We may, occasionally, invite a guest speaker with a special interest. We will be meeting on the (normally) second tuesday of each month. Dates arranged are: *19 Feb, 12 March, 16 April, 14 May, 4 June, 17 Sept, 15 Oct, 19 Nov, 10 Dec Those marked * are at Phoenix House, otherwise they are at the Avenue Theatre. So far we have researched the pubs and Inns of the town, the 1841 census returns for the High Street, marriage register for Holy Trinity Church, the East Kent Gazette archives and the Milton Workhouse records. We often publish the results of our research. So if you have an interest in local history and would like to pursue that with others who share your interest, please contact us. |
Social Events Please ring Joyce on 01622 884497 - if there is sufficient demand, we will organise !
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Long Standing Businesses of Sittingbourne & Milton Another area we are preparing to study is a history of some of the business names which have been familiar to residents and the workforce of the town over the years. Names such as Peter Birch (newsagent) Parretts (Print) Opies (Food) Bowaters (paper) Bishop & Son (builders) Featherstones (shop) Doldings (outfitters) E.P.S. (logistics) Michelsons (clothing) Pullens (garage) High (Undertakers) Freshbake (foodstuffs) Odds (timber) Shell Research Bugges (insectecide) Wills & Packham (bricks) Coop bakery Queen's Laundry and many more will be studied ! Our first book has now been published on this subject covering Butcher's, Tett's, Wraights, Lowe's, Hulburds, J Thomsett, Dean's Jam factory, and Freegard Press. |
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Defences of the last century WW1, WW2, Cold War Do you remember what measures or defences were taken during that last war ? What evidence remains ? Do you have photographs ? Memories ?  see more... |
The Corner Shops Have you memories or these shops ? Who ran them ? Where were they ? When did they close ? What did they sell ? Photographs ? .JPG) see more... |
What's in a Name ? We have another project in the writing of a Lexicon of Place Names in the town which will be produced in text and pictures explaining how places got their names. Our list of names is largely taken from the 1908 Directory. We find, for example, Rock Road and Does Alley but why are they so called ? The results from some of our research are given below. Sometimes we simply don't know and at others, the evidence may not be conclusive. If you can help us to fill gaps or to offer alternative explanations, we would very much like to hear from you. Please feel free to nominate other roads with a suggested origin for the name.
Arthur Street - a family name Addington Rd ? Albany Rd ? Bassett Road ? Bell Road - after the Bell Inn Burley Rd - After brickmaker, Mr Burley Crescent Street - original shape Chilton Ave - form. Chilton Estate Cockleshell Walk - shells on the road Cowper Rd ? Does Alley - shoe merchant Flushing St - allowing water to flush mud out of the creek Howard Ave - breezeblock manuf. Key St - Roman name Lloyd St - Paper mill owner Pear Tree Alley - there was a tree Rock Rd - a large rock was there Riddles Rd - family name Snipes Hill - After the bird - Snipe Ufton Lane - led to Ufton Court |
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Inns and Pubs - book
The local history study group spent months researching this book. We initially produced a hundred produced which gave us a chance to add to and change later editions. We have now revised the book, added more pictures and information, so the improved edition has been printed and is now for sale.
One thing which struck me was the role of the Rev George Simpson in
developing Sittingbourne when the railway arrived. He was the vicar of
Bobbing, and a large landowner. He did very well by selling what had been
agricultural land for building. No less than eleven pubs, as well as
numerous houses, were built on the plots of land he sold near the station.
Generally these pubs were erected with a couple of houses beside them in the
plot. It was a time when Another interesting discovery was the extent to which in Victorian times, the pubs of Milton served as boarding houses for young single men from further afield who worked as casual labour in the neighbouring brickfields and on the creek. The landlady would have cooked them hearty breakfasts and teas and done their washing for extra money. In our group we had
several members with family connections to pubs and they were able to add
those invaluable personal touches to our history. So we know of the landlord
who played the bugle, the parrot who imitated the customers, the regular who
came straight to the bar from emptying the cess-pits accompanied by his own
special smell! Helen Allinson |
Did you receive one of these ? Who printed them ? Any ideas ? |
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