At the heart of the Hoo Peninsula - Village Voices for Stoke and St. Mary Hoo (Issue 10)

The latest edition of Village Voices for the parishes of Stoke and St. Mary Hoo is now available online. Click the image below, which will take you to the editions page on the Village Voices website - then click ‘Issue 10’.

This edition includes a couple of great old photos of the ‘muddies’, fundraising news from St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in Upper Stoke, the latest developments from Stoke Village Hall and huge amounts of other parish and community information.

Take a look at the Village Voices website by clicking here.

Visit the website for Stoke Parish Council here, and visit the website for St. Mary Hoo Parish Council here.

  

The new Vicar of Grain and Stoke

I was invited to attend St. James’ Church on the Isle of Grain on Thursday evening, to observe the Licensing and Installation service for the new Parish Priest for Grain and Stoke - the Reverend Glenn Ellsworth McWatt.

The Licensing was conducted by the Bishop of Tonbridge (The Rt. Rev. Dr. David Castle) and the Installation by the Archdeacon of Rochester (The Venerable Simon Burton-Jones).


The Bishop of Tonbridge with the Mayor and Mayoress of Medway and the Rev. Glenn Ellsworth McWatt.

Parishioners from Grain and Stoke gave Glenn, and his wife Irene, a warm welcome. Parish Council representatives and the Mayor and Mayoress of Medway (Ted and Sylvia Baker) were also present to welcome Glenn on behalf of the civic community.


Inside St. James' Church before the service.

 

Inside St. James' Church before the service.

After the Church service there was a good opportunity to catch up with many familiar faces from around the villages, and to enjoy the generous hospitality laid on by the Parish. They did a wonderful job and had clearly worked hard on all the preparations - greatly appreciated by all. Given the temperature outside (and inside the Church!) the nice hot tea and coffee was especially welcome!

Best wishes, and welcome, to Glenn and Irene.
 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Yesterday I wrote about my visit to northern France to visit the graves of my ancestors William Watson and Harry Stratford. I first learnt about their involvement in the Great War, and their deaths, when I visited the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Upper Stoke last year, as part of a local history walk led by Alan Marshall.

Both their names were listed, along with sixteen others, on a plaque (pictured below) commemorating those from the Parish who had given their lives in the service of King and country.

Wondering how I might go about locating their graves, I thought how impossible that was likely to be given the hundreds of thousands who died in northern France and Belgium between 1914-1918. But after a bit of digging on various genealogy websites, I managed to track down war records for both William and Harry, detailing personal information and their service history, including the date of their deaths.

I was then able to use the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to track down the location of William’s grave and the place where Harry’s name is listed amongst tens of thousands who have no known grave.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established by Royal Charter in 1917.  It pays tribute to the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars by maintaining graves and memorials across the world, the bulk of which are in northern France and Belgium.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website doesn’t just give the detail of servicemen’s graves, but also provides quite a lot of very specific information about the individual battles in which these young men died.

Take a look at the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission by clicking here. Be sure to navigate to the ‘debt of honour’ page where you can search for specific ancestors. You can also visit the very useful website of the War Graves Photographic Project by clicking here - another excellent resource!
 

An artistic view from Upper Stoke

I recently bought this old postcard (series no 5396), entitled ‘On the Medway’, showing the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Upper Stoke. It was produced by Siegmund Hildesheimer & Co. Ltd, of London and Manchester, although it says it was produced in Bavaria.

With a strong family connection to Upper Stoke, this postcard is one of my favourite images of the area. I can't identify the name of who painted the picture or when that was, but is shows three small children walking through the churchyard with a dog running behind, boats on the River Medway, birds flying overhead and a traditional house behind the church.

Siegmund Hildesheimer & Co. Ltd were active between 1830 and 1920 and originally published books, but later moved on to producing Christmas cards, advertising cards, comics, art reproductions and real photo portraits.

 

History Walk (Stoke), Saturday 26 June 2010

On Saturday morning (26 June - my birthday) I took part in a history walk around Stoke (Lower, Middle and Upper). The event was organised by Alan Marshall and, accompanying him, was Paul from the Wildlife Trust. At the start of the walk, I was given a leaflet, which was called ‘Marshes, Muddies & Hogarth’s Buddies’.

Starting in Lower Stoke, Alan went through the history of the village, which included the history of Stoke School, the Windmill, The Ship Inn, Forge House and The Nag’s Head pub – with particular reference to when William Hogarth stayed the night in May 1732 with four friends. The account of their stay suggests they had a reasonably good time. The Hogarth group went on to Grain and later boarded a boat to Sheerness.

From Lower Stoke the walk continued to Middle Stoke, where we went down Burrows Lane towards the site of Middle Stoke Halt. On crossing the railway line, we passed the airfield, which was buzzing with microlight activity. The small airfield is home to Medway Airsports Club, whose website contains good aerial photographs of the area.

 

 

 

 

  

The views of Stoke Saltings were excellent and Alan talked about the history of the Muddies who, from the 1850’s to the 1920’s, tirelessly dug clay from the Saltings for cement production. This is a fascinating part of our local history, so I was especially keen to hear about this.

 

 

 

Paul, from the Wildlife Trust, talked about different types of wildlife in the area and, particularly interesting, was his reference to the ‘marsh frog’. This frog only exists in certain parts of the Hoo Peninsula, as well as in Dungeness. Whilst on the Saltings, Paul spoke about different edible plants and I then tasted a few!

 

On leaving the Saltings, we passed through a boatyard and along Creek Lane into Upper Stoke. We headed for the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, where we were met by Church Warden, Ian Bett.

Ian handed out literature about the Church and, along with Alan, recounted aspects of its history. Although I have visited the Church many times, I had never been inside, so this was a real pleasure and I wasn’t disappointed. Whilst having a look around the Church, I came across a commemorative plaque with a list of local men killed during World War 1. I noticed that two of these men were ancestors of mine – William Stephen Watson and Harry Stratford (both nephews of my Great-Grandfather Herbert Watson).

Ian then led us up the narrow steps to the top of the Church tower. The views from the top stretched across Stoke and the surrounding landscape and River Medway. On our return back down, we had a look at the three bells, all of which vary in age.

Following our visit to the Church, the walk continued through Upper Stoke until we stopped at Court Lodge Farm (once occupied by Ian Bett). The house sits on the side of the road (on The Street). We then walked further along to look at a darkly coloured farmyard barn, which is said to be more than 300 years old.

The entire walk was fascinating and it was 3 hours well spent. My special thanks must go to Alan Marshall, whose knowledge and enthusiasm gave me a fantastic morning. Thanks also to Paul, from the Wildlife Trust, and to Ian Bett (Church Warden) at the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Upper Stoke.

Visit the website of the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul by clicking here, and visit the website of the Kent Wildlife Trust by clicking here.
 

Church of St. Peter & St. Paul (Photographs), Upper Stoke

The entrance to the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul is located on The Street in Upper Stoke. The structure has undergone many repairs over the centuries, but parts date back to 1175.  A major restoration was initiated in 1898. With views across the Stoke Saltings, the Church backs onto Stoke Road and Church Terrace.

There might be a number of my ancestors buried in the churchyard, but I have only found a couple of surviving headstones - they probably couldn't afford such things. In another post, I have already referred to one of these graves (belonging to Henry & Emma Spencer), but the other grave, which has been well hidden over the years, contains six of my Great-Grandfather's young siblings, who died between 1871 and 1882. I usually refer to these children as 'the Watson children', but their names and ages were:  Charles (19), John (14), William (2), Arthur (2), Ernest (1) and Clara (only weeks old). Perhaps in celebration of their lives, a tree has grown from their grave (first photograph below) - quite literally giving me a family tree!

All photographs were taken on the date of this blog.

Stoke Photos, Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre (MALSC)

Special thanks go to the Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre (MALSC), who have published these photographs on their website. Their site contains many historic images of Medway, but they have a particularly interesting batch for Stoke. To view all MALSC photographs, click this link.

The first photograph is of the Choir at the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Upper Stoke, taken in approximately 1905. Unfortunately, the names of those photographed are not known, but MALSC are keen to hear from anyone who may have any information (as indeed am I). MALSC can be emailed by clicking here.

The next photograph was taken in approximately 1900 and, as well as the Windmill in the background, shows Forge House on Cuckolds Green Road in Lower Stoke. I don't know if the 'forge' (as opposed to Forge House) is the wooden hut / building on the left but, according to the 1891 census, my Great-Grandfather (Herbert Watson) worked for a Blacksmith in Lower Stoke - he was just 16 years old at the time! The 1891 census lists Herbert and his parents living at School Hill. Their neighbours were the Stratford family (also related) and they had a lodger called Reginald Filmer.  

Again, many thanks to Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre for the use of these photographs.  Pleae visit their main website.