We’ve recently been alerted to footage of Cobham from 1944. The film can be found on Screen Archive South East’s website and shows village life in Cobham. The film follows villagers as they walk through the quiet streets and lanes, head into shops and pubs and wander past the church and almshouses. It also features the film maker’s children as they walk and ride through the village.
Click here to watch the film: http://screenarchive.brighton.ac.uk/detail/5269/
Enjoy.
The Cobham Landscape Detectives booklet is out soon.
If you would like a copy please contact Andrew at andrew.mayfield@kent.gov.uk
Some notes taken in discussion with Alan Hills about the workings of the clay pits at Shorne Woods. Alan worked in the Clay Pit from 1959 – 1963.
Navvy Driver load clay into hopper which had a screw blades rotating, breaking clay into workable size for running it through to the conveyor belt from the pit face to the main belts running down to the washmill. When the mill had got its quota, the Millers Mate would switch over to the lorry hopper and fill it to transport to the Crown & Quarry Works at Strood. 2 lorries would shuttle clay day & night. About 16 to 20 over 24 hrs. depending on the quality of the clay.
Wash out were done when the rocks and debris clogged up the tynes, preventing the mill from turning. The wagons are shunted under the mill through a tunnel and trapdoor is opened and the Miller puts the mill in low gear to allow the debris to fall into the wagons and the Loco pulls wagons up to the wash-out road tipped out.
The Navvy crews would check the belts and get any equipment ready for extending the face belt e.g. trays, new belt, belt ratchet, timbers.
All workers were supplied thigh wellington boots, gloves (industrial) and duffle coats.
Make our billycans were made from baby milk tins and our water cans were made from sweet tins, as they were larger by punching two holes near the top and putting a piece of wire through for handles.
Alan worked at the site between 1959 and 1963. Had been on the Tilbury beforehand. The money at the site was relatively good. His father had worked there too. Mr Hills went off to work at ? after the site closed in 1964 or 5.
The site operated 7 days a week, continuously. Shifts were from 6am – 2pm, 2 – 10pm and then 10pm – 6am. Sometimes those working on the dry clay did 12-hour shifts.
The clay was sent off site as dry or wet clay.
The clay hoppers were about 10 ft square.
Used a small diesel loco onsite – gauge unknown.
Dry clay was put into the lorry hopper to be taken away off site.
Chap nicknamed Mutton – belt had blown off the conveyor, so he stood on it to tie it back onto the rollers. A gust of wind caught the belt, somersaulted Mutton who landed badly & dislocated his shoulder. But it could have been a lot worse because he landed in a pile of clay which cushioned him!!
Spud Taylor manned the pumping station at Tollgate. The workers rang him when the clay was coming through.
Len Jarrett was a navvy driver.
Roles on site included: Shift workers, Day workers, General Foreman, Foreman, Miller, Miller’s Mate, Navvy driver, Hopper attendant, Electrician (from Fitter Crown & Quarry), Main Belt attendant, Belt attendant, General duties man, contract labourers
Dear all,
It will come as no great surprise to hear that I am going to suspend all on the ground volunteering activities for the immediate future.
You are all, whether occasional supporters or hardcore regulars dearly important to me and for the moment, we need to think about the health of us all.
I know this will frustrate some of you and could put others off, but things will return to ?normal? in due course and volunteering will resume.
I have held off completing on the insurance so that we can make the most of the year’s cover, when we can use it!
In the meantime, we can and will continue to interact in the virtual world! There are a mountain of tasks that could be completed remotely, from research (everything from finds to sites to online research at archives), catalogue digitising (of our many sites investigated during Cobham landscapes), report writing, tree record collation and LiDAR groundtruthing! (especially when the Darent data goes live…)
If you are climbing up the walls and would like something to do, please email me and we can chat!
Likewise, if you are stuck at home and just want to chat, or need help…please get in touch!
Most importantly however, do keep an eye on all the latest government information, which applies to many of us, irrespective of age.
See https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance for the latest guidance.
Over the years at Shorne we have built and developed a caring, passionate community of individuals and friends, and we will come together in person once more, later in the summer, to continue with the laughter, madness and some serious archaeology.
Keep well, keep in touch and wash those hands!
Andrew.
Andrew Mayfield | Community Archaeologist
Environment, Planning and Enforcement | Heritage Conservation Group
Kent County Council | Invicta House 1st Floor | County Hall | Maidstone, ME14 1XX | 03000 413416 | Mobile: 07920 548906 |
www.facebook.com/ArchaeologyinKent | @ArchaeologyKent
www.shornewoodsarchaeology.co.uk
‘Supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund’
Chatham Observer – Friday July 30th 1943
PLANE RIPS TOPS OFF FARM COTTAGES: Several Injured in Crash Near Cobham
Three of crew killed
OCCUPANTS of two farm cottages at Henhurst were injured-three seriously – when a plane crashed into the cottages early on Sunday July 4th.
After severing a telegraph pole the plane, which had been heard flying low, struck the roof of the cottages and completely demolished the front bedrooms.
The force of the impact broke the plane in two, half remaining on the roof of the cottages and the engines and wings dropping into the gardens.
Only floors left
Only the floors of the bedrooms remained. The walls were shattered and furniture was scattered over a wide area.
The occupants of the cottages were all in bed at the time. Mr. and Mrs. D. Danes were thrown into the garden and their bed was found under part of the plane.
Mr. and Mrs. W. Epps were left on part of their bed, the foot of which was wrenched off.
Mr. Epps shouted to his son, Peter, aged 13, who was in a back bedroom.
Peter bravely climbed through the fuselage of the plane to join his parents who were unhurt.
Richard Dines, who was sleeping in a back bedroom was also unharmed.
The injured
Frank, another son, who was in a middle bedroom, received facial injuries. Mr. and Mrs. Dines were removed to Gravesend Hospital in a serious condition. Mrs. Epps was also detained with a fractured skull.
Mr. Epps and Frank Dines were taken to hospital but were not detained.
Neighbours were quickly on the scene and rendered assistance. These included War Reserve Constable A. Russell. Special Constable B Parrish and E. V. Down, and Mr. R. Wood.
One wing of the plane caught fire, but fortunately the wind blew the flames away from the cottages. This outbreak was soon extinguished.
Ambulances soon arrived to take the injured to hospital.
Mr. V. Russell, farm bailiff, described how he saw the plane as it flew low over his house, which is about three-quarters of a mile from the cottages.
Heard a crash
“A moment or so later”, he said, “I heard a crash. I got on my bicycle and rode to the cottages as quickly as I could.”
Peter Epps was relieved to find his pet kitten safe amid the wreckage and one of his first acts was to see that it was cared for at a neighbour’s house.
The cottages stand on their own. They are owned by Mr. J. W. Pye of Jeskyns Farm, Cobham, who is chairman of Strood Rural Council.
Three members of the wrecked plane were killed and two were injured.
Another plane crashed on Cobham golf course. The crew baled out and there were no casualties.
Both planes were on their way home after a raid on enemy territory. It is believed that they were seeking to land but were unable to find the airdrome owing to a ground mist.
RAF 432 Squadron
03/04-07-1943 N0. 432 Squadron Wellington X HE630 QO-B
Base: RAF Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire
Crash Site: Henhurst Lane, Gravesend, Kent
Pilot: Sgt. Johial William Baker J/17766 RCAF age 22, Killed
Fl/Eng: P/O EW Bovard RAFVR, survived – injured
Air/Bmr/Obs: Sgt. Glen Edwin Lewis R/133341 RCAF age25, Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Jack Holmes 1091687 RAFVR age 21. Killed
Air/Gnr. Sgt. D.K. Ryan RAFVR survived – injured
432 Squadron was formed at Skipton-on-Swale on 1st May, 1943. The squadron crest displays a cougar leaping down in front of a full moon, symbolizing the many night-bombing operations and the fight for the “light of freedom against the darkness of oppression.” Beneath the crest sits the motto “Saeviter ad lucem.” (“Ferociously towards the light”)
Flying as part of No. 6 (R.C.A.F.) Group, the unit was initially equipped with the Wellington bomber. The aircraft code “QO” signified the plane belonged to 432 Squadron. In September of 1943, East Moor became the new base for the unit. A month later, the group began to convert to the Lancaster. In February, 1944, the Halifax replaced the Lancaster as the squadron’s aircraft. The Halifax served the unit for the remainder of the Second World War. The last operational mission occurred on 25th April, 1945, when 19 Halifaxes bombed gun batteries on the island of Wangerooge. Among the 144 decorations awarded to the aircrew were over a hundred Distinguished Flying Crosse
Sources:
http://aircrewremembered.com/baker-jonial.html
http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/squadron_432.html
Don Blackburn Aug. 2018
