A Little History of Snodland.

If you know of or have a website with good information about Snodland's history please e-mail me and let me know where it is, I'm sure there's plenty of history that could go onto this page!!!  If you want a more in depth lesson in Snodland's history you'll find www.snodlandhistory.org.uk  a good place to start!!

I've had an e-mail from Dave Shepherd which I've printed below.  The pictures he sent are shown here, if you would like to see the pictures full size just click on them.

Malling Road		Holborough Road

My name is Dave Shepherd from West Sussex. We have found that my late aunt had two post cards of Snodland, 1920's or early 30's I would guess.

One showing Holboro' Road. The other a T junction or maybe a cross road junction with a bakers on one corner and an electrical shop on the other (the name looks like Dennant. I have made copies. If they are of any interest to you let me know and I will post them. My Grandmother came from Gravesend with relatives in the Snodland area, I believe which would account for the postcards.

My grandmother was the daughter of a pub landlord in Gravesend over the turn of the last century (Woodhams family) - there were still relatives in Snodland in 1995, I wrote when my aunt died earlier this year but got no reply so I guess they may have passed on.

regards

Dave Shepherd

I've been asked a couple of times where Snodland got its name from and I hope that this little snippet from Neil Perretts website will help clear things up......

"The parish has been inhabited since earliest times: A Bronze-Age circle, a Roman villa and burials, and Saxon cemetery all testify to this. The name probably derives from a person -'Snod'- perhaps one of the Saxons buried on the hill. The earliest charter, dated 838, gives 'Snoddingland' to the Bishop of Rochester, but experts now believe this is a forgery, made around 975 by the monks at Rochester as part of a dispute with the Saxon family who had owned the parish until then. The monks got away with it and Snodland became part of the Bishop's possessions. Until the nineteenth century we imagine it as a quite agricultural village, growing to a population of just 312 in 1801."

The following article was taken from John Haversons website www.historic-kent.co.uk it's a very good website where you can find the history of many Kent villages.

The Village of Snodland

Members of the Stevens family ferried travelers across the river Medway between Snodland and Burham and also between Halling and Wouldham for centuries, keeping up a tradition that went back to the time when pilgrims heading for Canterbury would have had to use the ferry, all of five hundred years ago. Some sort of ferry may have been in use even before that.

The last man to ply the service was ferryman Ron Stevens who surrendered the job willingly enough in 1960 saying he was very happy about not having to man the boat eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, rain or shine. Now, the only way across the river is by the old bridge at Aylesford or the great concrete one that carries the M2 over the river at Rochester.

Anyone who thinks villages are invariably picturesque should see Snodland, which is one of the more utilitarian variety. Until the 19th century the village was wholly agricultural. Then, quite suddenly, the local land became worth more for making things from than for growing things in, and, very soon job-seekers from all over Britain were arriving in the Medway villages to work in the new cement, brick and paper-making industries. Some of them came to Snodland.

Barges, many of them built locally, came from London loaded with rubbish with which to feed the kilns of the new factories. They returned, equally loaded with bricks and cement for the building work that was sending London sprawling out in all directions.

Between 1840 and 1857 Snodland's population doubled. After the Maidstone-Rochester railway arrived in 1859, the village trebled in size between 1861 and 1881.

One of the earliest of the new industries was a silk factory near The Brook, which opened in 1866. That failed, however, and the premises was taken over to become a printing works. The paper mill of Charles Townsend Hook, next to the church, became one of the biggest employers in the whole Lower Medway Valley, though today, no longer in production.

Major William Lee Henry Roberts opened his Holborough Cement works at the edge of the village in 1923. It began with two kilns but a third was added in 1928 and in 1931 the works were acquired by the present owners Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers.

During the 19th century, the Hook family lived in The Veles, the old manor house that perpetuated the name of Richard Vele who farmed at Snodland early in the 13th century, now remembered only by the modern homes in Veles Garden.

More than a century ago, in 1873, Snodland hit the headlines in a big way when the local policeman, PC Israel May, was murdered one summers day, battered to death with his own truncheon. Apparently the constable found a man sleeping off a drinking bout beside the stream and when he tried to waken him the drunk reacted by attacking the constable and killing him, leaving him lying where he fell while he made off to hide in neighbouring woods.

But there was no escape. He left evidence at the scene of the crime that led to his arrest the next day. The man, called Thomas Atkins, was brought to justice and sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude for manslaughter.

The constable was a popular man and Snodland's church was packed with villagers and floral tributes for his funeral on August 28, 1873. A small memorial stone was placed on the spot where he died and the centenary of the tragedy in 1973 was marked by having the stone refaced. A year later, however, it was found to have been broken and was taken to the cemetery to protect it from further damage.

Now the main street through the village, the A228, runs at right angles to the older High Street, which has been severed by the much-needed by-pass. The new road has certainly taken much of the traffic out of the village, but it has also cut a great divide between most of the villagers and their riverside church, which is now reached by a bridge.

I've been contacted by the Guildhall Museum in Rochester about a watercolour painting of the Snodland Ferry.  The picture can be seen by clicking on the thumbnail below.  We can display this picture courtesy of the Guildhall Museum, Rochester.  

I thought you would be interested to hear that the Guildhall Museum in Rochester has recently been gifted a watercolour painting by the Tate Gallery in London. The painting, by Rochester-born artist Charles Spencelayh is labeled 'The Snodland Ferry'. Spencelayh (1865-1958) was a very prolific artist. The Guildhall Museum at Rochester houses over thirty paintings by this Kent artist. Spencelayh's paintings are becoming increasingly collectable and are well represented in art galleries throughout Britain.


Unfortunately it is not dated, and the brown stain will have to removed by conservators some time in the future when funds are available!

The painting, along with 9 others is being re-framed at the moment. We hope to display the 10 paintings probably towards the end of the year (2004).

You are most welcome to put the image on the history page - we own the copyright to this one (unlike the oil paintings we have by the same artist!)

Our address is 'Guildhall Museum, High Street, Rochester, ME1 1PY', contact:01634 848717, open 7 days a week, 10-00am to 4-30pm (last admissions 4-00pm).