New Books
Haddow, Life, Land & People in a Wealden Parish: 1460-1600, by Joan Thirsk, Bridget Jones, Alison Williams, Anne Hughes and Caroline Wotton. Edited by Joan Thirsk. O-906746-70-1. Card, A4, 212pp.
The Weald of Kent has a distinctive history, and deserves to be better studied. This book prints (in English translation) a newly-discovered survey of the main manor of Haddow, dated 1460, copied and revised in 1581. In 15 chapters it discusses what can be learned about this place, lying between Tonbridge and Maling, next to an ancient entrance from the River Medway into the Wealden forest. It maps farms, meadows and hunting park, sheds light on the livelihoods and family histories of its people, and identifies far-reaching change in the 16th century. Iron forging began locally, river improvement was needed, and young gentry spied opportunities for gain through forfeiture, under Henry VIII, of the Duke of Buckingham's great estates, including Haddow.
A SPECIAL OFFER price of £14.95 (normally £19.95) is available to KAS members. An order form flyer is enclosed with this Newsletter.
Seaside Story – Whitstable & Tankerton-on-Sea, by Geoffrey Pike. Published by the Whitstable Improvement Trust.
Whitstable’s focus today is a working harbour, with fish and seafood on sale and the smell of whelks in the air. Its waterfront character is markedly different to that of neighbour Herne Bay, yet numerous photographs from the past show its beaches crowded with seaside visitors. This book traces the story of how the enjoyment of the seaside did come to the local shore, grew in its particular way, flourished giving pleasure to many thousands of visitors, and then later vanished leaving little evidence except the regimented lines of beach huts along the higher ground at Tankerton. The book is fully illustrated with old photographs, maps and prints.
Price is £4.95. Available from bookshops in Whitstable, or from the Whitstable Improvement Trust, Harbour Street, Whitstable CT5 1AJ (please add £1.50 P&P).
The Place to Spend a Happy Day – A History of Rosherville Gardens, by Lynda Smith. Published by the Gravesend Historical Society. O-9548137-4-X. 50 pages, 2 maps, 35 illus.
Rosherville Gardens was a major Victorian pleasure garden, which existed from 1837 until the First World War. It lay in a disused chalk pit near the Thames at Rosherville in Northfleet. Started as a mixture of London Zoo and Kew Gardens, it failed to attract wealthy subscribers and soon became a favourite destination for crowds of ordinary Londoners who travelled there by steamboat. In the 1840’s and 50’s the gardens were all the rage. They were mentioned in Punch, pictured in The Illustrated London News and written about in novels. The amusements there included two theatres, dancing, tightrope walking, firework displays, a maze, a gipsy fortune teller and a fairground. Many famous Victorian entertainers appeared there. In the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign the gardens began to lose their popularity, but it was not until 1914 that they closed forever. This book describes their rise and fall in a lively, readable way.
Price £6.50 including P&P (cheque payable to Gravesend historical Society). Available from Mrs S. Soder, Hon. Sec. of G.H.S., 58 Vicarage Lane, Chalk, Gravesend DA12 4TE.