News of Thames Estuary Airport proposals reach Switzerland

An unexpected package landed on my doormat yesterday, post marked Zurich. As I don’t know anyone in Switzerland, I wondered what on earth it could be!

It was from an organisation called SVS / BirdLife Switzerland and contained the latest edition of their magazine ‘Ornis’ - which reminded me of a request a couple of months ago from them to use one of the pictures from this website.

I don’t claim to be anything other than a keen amateur when it comes to photography, but it was nice to see one of my snaps actually published in a magazine. The image they selected shows a view of Hoo Flats, as seen from the Saxon Shore Way along the River Medway. The photo appears as part of an article about the Thames Estuary Airport proposals. Not speaking very good German, I’m afraid I can’t tell you ‘exactly’ what the article says.

Lots of interest in our little corner of the world. But not really a great surprise given that parts of our local area are internationally important to wildlife.

If you want to know more about why our local landscape is so important, visit the dedicated pages on the RSPB website here.

  

Think you’re tough?

The 'muddies' certainly were - they had to be!

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, gangs of men from local villages competed for the much sought after, though incredibly exhausting, job of digging clay or ‘mud’ from the marshes and saltings of the River Medway. The men were known as the 'muddies'.

The muddies had to load up to one hundred tonnes of clay, from sites including Hoo Flats and Stoke Saltings, onto barges for transportation up the river to one of the many cement works.

It was clearly a very tough job, and many of those men suffered unimaginable health problems as a result. Reports describe men suffering from chronic rheumatism, arthritis, sprained wrists and strained backs. Many also suffered from ’scaffleman’ - torn skin on parts of the back, as a result of continual lifting, turning and throwing. Calluses on hands, sometimes causing fingers to join together, were a common result of the constant use, and rubbing, of a spade.

Despite this, the men would only ever take a few days off work to repair serious damage to their bodies - no health and safety or 48 hour working week regulations around then!

The only consolation was that it was one of the best paid jobs around, paying much more than farm labourers earned. Muddies kept the work within a tight knit circle - with the work normally becoming a father and son tradition in many families.

At the height of this local industry, in the early 1900s, a barge load (100 tonnes) of clay would earn the men 35 shillings - shared out amongst a gang of about 10 muddies. They could often load two barges every low tide and, it is said, there would always be about 50 barges waiting to be loaded on the Stoke Marshes at any one time.

The income they earned was sufficient for many of the muddies to buy pubs once they had finally laid down their shovels. This is quite possibly the case with my great great grandfather, Henry Spencer. Described as a ‘Cement Labourer’ in several census documents, I can’t imagine how else he managed to land so firmly on his feet!

I have mentioned the muddies a couple of times before. Back in May 2010 Peter Cook from the Medway Messenger ran a special feature in the local paper - click here to take a look. And in August 2010, I mentioned a book by F. G. Willmott called ’Cement, Mud and Muddies’. Most of what I know about the 'muddie tradition’ comes from this excellent book, apart from the many chats I’ve had with ‘village elders‘ in Stoke and those from much further afield. Their tales certainly bring home to you what a tough existence it was - but one that came with much camaraderie and life long friendships. Click here to visit that item.

Stoke Saltings in more recent times.

The photos of the muddies appear courtesy of Dr. MacDonald of Stoke, whose long association with the Stoke Saltings is well known to many.

I will be mentioning the muddies again later this week, as former local resident Jill Warby (nee Mortley) has written a wonderful article about her great grandfather Sidney George Mortley, a well known local muddie, for the March edition of The Countryman magazine - available in all good newsagents!!!
 

Winter Walk - Hoo to Kingsnorth

Another day, another dog walk. This time from Hoo to Kingsnorth walking along the riverside. Beautiful views of the mud flats, even with the ever present power station dominating the skyline.

Sunset over the Medway

These photographs were taken earlier this week near Kingsnorth Power Station, looking across the River Medway towards Gillingham and Chatham. Although a very cold evening walking from Hoo to Kingsnorth, the sunset views made it worthwhile.

Saxon Shore Way, Hoo St. Werburgh

Having completed a small part of the walk along the Saxon Shore Way last week, between Upnor and Hoo St. Werburgh (described in another post), I completed another section today. This particular walk, centred around Hoo, is ideal for a Sunday morning stroll and takes less than a couple of hours to complete, especially if stopping to look at the views.

Information about walks on the Hoo Peninsula, including this one, can be obtained by clicking here.

I walked down Vicarage Lane to Hoo Marina and joined the clearly signed Saxon Shore Way path that runs along the River Medway to Kingsnorth. Soon after joining the path, you come across excellent views of Hoo Fort and Darnet Fort (in the middle of the River Medway). There are three WW2 pillboxes during the walk - an indication of how strategically important the area once was.

Altogether very enjoyable and a good mix of sights!