For those who had an ancestor or ancestors who served during WWI, and are commemorated on either the War Memorial in the Chapel of St George in Wateringbury church, or the old School War Memorial now in the vestry of Wateringbury church, you may be able to help me complete a personal project, for which I would be very grateful.
For more information, please go to:
www.wateringbury-revisited.net/wwi.html
Thank you
Dail Whiting
A photo from Kent Messenger - KentOnline Classic Pictures from the 1970's
All three names that were so familiar to me growing up in Wateringbury during the 1950/60's
The Original Kings Head Hotel
The corner of Tonbridge Road and Bow Road.
Also showing Amos Bakers.
The only recognisable building today is that on the far right which is now the Hair Dressers in Bow Road
Hi, If you wrote to me via Facebook regarding Hop Huts between Pizien Well and Cannon Lane could you send me your note again via my email John.gilham@mail.com. I was in the middle of replying when your message disappeared and I cannot find it again.
Thanks once again to Dail Whiting for this publication on the Whitbread Inn Sign Miniatures relating to Wateringbury.
I still call this lovely county The Garden of England though its not the garden it was when I was a kid in the 1950's and 60's. Wateringbury was surrounded by Plumb, Cherry, Pear, Apple orchards and Hop Gardens.
Wateringbury was on the AA and RAC sign posted Blossom Route encouraging drivers to visit our countryside and see the Fruit Blossom that was everywhere.
This is a Southern Railway and Maidstone and District day out that bought visitors from London into Kent to see our spectacular Fruit Blossom. The Train from London came to Tonbridge then a Maidstone and District Coach went through the countryside and through Wateringbury to Goudhurst. This timetable was for April and May 1963.
Amazing how in 1855 a letter would get to someone if simply addressed to a Town,
a Village and the the persons name
Ruth and Terry kindly sent us a photo of what looks like a Shive Hole Collar from Jude and Co the Brewer of Wateringbury.
(Dale kindly advises that it’s spelt Shive and dated around 1872
from Jude & Co Brewery which was The Kent’s Brewery situated just below the South East corner of the Crossroads. Where Hanbury Close now stands)
The Collar was used in a Beer Barrel where the Bung is fitted and the Tap then goes.
It was found in a field in Wateringbury.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shive
Late 2021 Peter Baker Left a comment against a posting relating to The Harrow Public House in Old Road and more recently he kindly added to it and included some photos of the Tankards.
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Hi I am not sure I have ever been to
Wateringbury but there's a good chance I flew over it a number of times decades
ago at 2,300 feet whilst training for a PPL Night Rating out of Biggin Hill and
down to Lydd and back! Apologies if I disturbed the peace.
However, I've stumbled upon the website today as yesterday, in Denmark of all
places, I picked up a nice pair of quart tankards inscribed as owned by George
Martin, the landlord of the Harrow, Wateringbury, around 140 years ago.
Naturally Google soon brought me here! The tankards have stamps inside showing
they were made by Gerardin & Watson (London pewterers 1805-1854) and were
certified as good measure with a VR362 (Kent) stamp. What these were doing in
Denmark, I have no idea!
Peter
A Postcard of Wateringbury War Memorial and the Old Village Hall on the corner of Bow Road and Tonbridge Road.
Not sure of the age but it is a postcard posted with a 7p stamp.
Photo Courtesy of Dail Whiting from her Personal Collection
A little outside the village but a great photograph courtesy of Dail Whiting of Teston School Children from 1920. Not sure what the N.05 on the board means, maybe someone can help with its meaning.
The two little boys on the left in the front row are brothers John and Douglas Weeks.
Can anyone help with other names?
Photo Courtesy of Dail Whiting from her Private collection
Can we help Mike who asks:
“I would like to see any photographs of the public house called the Good Intent in Pizen Well. Pub used to be opposite house where I was born.Cheers.”
Regards,
Mike Shepherd
Dail Whiting kindly responded with this link confirming:
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1200469
Unveiling Ceremony of the War Memorial in its original position on the western corner of the Tonbridge Road / Bow Road at the Cross Roads.
A Reminder of Dail Whitings Book
Wateringbury In the Steps of George Newman and Beyond
Thanks to Brad Waters from Australia who sent some family photos from around 1956 when his Grandfather Ian and Grandmother Vee Waters were landlord and landlady of The North Pole Inn.
The photos show his grandparents and locals in the bar and a great photo of a fancy dress ball held in the bar.
I thank Paul Skelton of 'Dover Kent Archives' website for putting us in touch.
http://www.dover-kent.com/2014-project/North-Pole-Wateringbury.html
We are once again grateful to Dail Whiting who kindly shares with us the following.
We are grateful once again to Dail Whiting who kindly shares with us an entry from her future publication.
Dail Whiting with her extreme knowledge of the village once again kindly sends us a very interesting note as below:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpEZOMVyAY&list=RDWRpEZOMVyAY&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BvBcHQz4sw
I thought you might be interested in the connection between the composer Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett to Wateringbury. The top YouTube Video is the song Leanin', written and sung by the composer Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett. The second YouTube video is another version sung by Stanley Holloway. There were also other versions sung by various singers as It was quite popular in the early 1950's, would you believe. Thomas was inspired to write the song on one of his many visits to Wateringbury to see his brother, John Sterndale Bennett, who lived at Oakenwood on Red Hill, as well as his relatives the Flints, who lived in the Thatched Cottage at the top of Mill Lane. It seems likely that he also visited, or at least knew very well, Richard Fremlin who lived at May Lodge by the upper mill pond. The brewer and hop farmer Richard Fremlin was a brother of Frances Flint.
The words to the song 'Leanin':
Sewin's pretty good
Reapin' ain't so bad
Scarin' off the crows
Suits a farmer's lad
But if you ask's me
The thing that suits a fellow
Is a little bit of straw to suck
To keep your fancies mellow
When you're leanin' on the gate beside
The pond that lies beside the side
Of farmer's stacks of new mown hay
It's just atwix the ricks
Beside the barn where farmers sticks inside
The chicks he only hatch'd today
Leanin', leanin'
I'm champion down our way, they say
At leanin' on the gate beside the pond that lies beside
The side of farmer's stacks of new mown hay
That he's been gleanin'
While I've been leanin' ..... all day
Had a lurcher once
Better than a gal
Poacher? Well, a bit
But 'e was a pal
Now there's just a mound
Underneath the el-lum
Reckon folks would laugh at I
If I was to tell 'em...
Why I'm leanin' on the gate beside the pond that lies beside
The side the hedge where my old dog would play
It's just a'cos from there I see the sunlight
Glintin' through the tree
Upon the grave where 'e do lie
Sleepin', sleepin'
Goodbye is hard to say
That's why
I'm leanin' on the gate beside the pond that lies beside
The side of farmer's stacks of new-mown hay
And at the gleanin'
He'll find me leanin' ..... all day
It is said that the gate on which Thomas was leaning was on the farm track towards the Warden House end, and the pond was the lower mill pond which was clear and free running back then. The field with the hay stacks was apparently what is now the Glebe Meadow housing estate.
One of the Sterndale Bennetts, of course, owned land which is now the pear orchard in that area.
Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett was the grandson of the composer Sir William Sterndale Bennett, who was born in Sheffield in1816 and educated at the Royal Academy of Music from 1826 to1836. From 1856 to 1875 he was a Professor of Music at Cambridge University, and from 1866 to 1875 he was the Principal of the Royal Academy of music in London. He died on 1st Feb, 1875 at St Johns Wood Road, London, aged 58, and was buried 6th Feb 1875 in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey. He was recognised as one of the great British composers of the 19th century, and was knighted 24th March 1871. His wife was Mary Anne, formerly Wood, who he had married in Apr 1844 in Southampton.
Sir William Sterndale Bennett had a number of children. His second child, was James Robert Sterndale Bennett. who was born in 1847 in London and educated at Kensington School and St Johns, Cambridge. He later became Mathematics Lecturer at Kings College, and from 1889 to 1898 he was the Headmaster of Derby School. He died on 4th June 1928 in Dymchurch Kent, aged 80, and was buried 7th June 1928 in Dymchurch.
His wife was Mabel Agnes, formerly Gaskell, who he had married in June 1876 in Hampstead.
James Robert Sterndale Bennettt also had a number of children. His third child was John Sterndale Bennett who lived in Wateringbury.
John Sterndale Bennett, titled Colonel, was born 10th Sep 1879 in Highgate, Middlesex, and educated at Derby School and St John's, Cambridge. In 1901 he was a Second Lieutenant, Infantry - Worcester Regt., served in Somaliland 1902 to 1904. In 1912 he was Captain 107th Pioneers, Indian Army - Instructor, School of Musketry, Satara, and promoted to Major 1915, awarded OBE in 1919,and retired in 1923. He was JP for Kent in 1930. John Sterndale Bennett lived at Oaken Wood, on Red Hill, Wateringbury.
He died on 16th June 1962.
His wife was Honor Fremlin, formerly Flint, who he had married in the district of Malling in 1913.
The Flints lived in the Thatched Cottage. Honor Fremlin Flint was the daughter of George Gilham Flint and Frances, nee Fremlin. Frances Fremlin was the sister of Richard Fremlin from May Lodge/Broomsdown.
Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett was the fifth child of James Robert Sterndale Bennett and a younger brother of John Sterndale Bennett above, who lived at Oaken Wood on Red Hill. Wateringbury.
It was Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett, the composer, who wrote the song 'Leanin'.
Thomas was born 10 Aug 1882 in Highgate Middlesex and educated at Derby School. In 1901 he was living in Fulham an described as a Music Student. He later became a composer and entertainer.
He died in London on 16th May, 1944, and was cremated privately.
Thomas had married twice. First to Christine Bywater and second to Mary Maskelyne.
Two early postcards of the lower mill pond. The pond was really quite lovely in the early 1900's. The postcards show the pond looking north. Note the grazing cows.
The little wall is right in the foreground so the photo
was taken looking north. These early
coloured postcards were published in about 1905 by Young and Cooper of
Maidstone.
Dail Whiting kindly shares the following with us. If there is anything you can add to this event then please let us know….
Whilst this video is not yet a memory hopefully in many years to come it will be great to look back upon as the photos on this website are today.
View in 4k Ultra High Definition for the best experience.
I thought it would be good for the future to look at two old photos we have on the website with two I took 27th May 2021 from a similar position.
The Cross Roads.
The Bridge over the river and Railway area.
We have an answer to John’s question below from Dail Whiting.
Just spotted a question from John Packham.,,, Frederick Leney lived at the Orpines an old house now demolised. Other Leneys lived in various places in Wateringbury. There is a good comprehensive history of the Phoenix Brewery and the family of Leney in my book, which also includes maps and a photo of the Orpines. My book is entitled 'Wateringbury, in the Steps of George Newman and Beyond' by Dail Whiting, Bargain at £10 plus P&P from Ebay or online. Or he can check your site for details.
Warmest
Dail
Dail Whiting kindly sent the below photo asking if I recognised the house as New Cottages on Bow Road as it is a photo of her Grandfather, Grandmother and five of their youngest children taken around 1917.
