Remembrance Day

A poppy placed alongside a sailor's name... one of the 18500 commemorated on the Royal Navy memorial in Chatham.

My Darent Valley Walk Part 6 - The Final Leg

Readers of this blog will know that I have been walking the long distance Darent Valley Park in handy bite sized chunks as and when time permits.

I am pleased to report that I have finally completed the last section from Dartford Central Park where my last blog post finished off through to the River Thames at the mouth of Dartford Creek.

After passing by the Dartford War Memorial I walked through the centre of Dartford to the church and then along the River Darent once more.

At this point I should warn you that this is definitely not the most scenic part of the Darent Valley.

The path passes by the delightful Wickes D.I.Y superstore and emerges at the demolition site of the former Glaxo Wellcome pharmaceutical factory.

From here I walked along to Lower Hythe Street. This dead end road once contained two pubs - the unusually named Huffler's Arms (more about that later) and the Phoenix.

Now only the Huffler's Arms remains open. The area is currently earmarked for regeneration...

The Phoenix pub was named after the Phoenix Mills which manufactured paper until 1889 on the site later occupied by Glaxo Wellcome.

The pub now appears to be used as a private residence. I took the adjacent path which leads to a footbridge across the Darent. From this point on the Darent is known as Dartford Creek.

The view looking back towards Dartford town centre and the footbridge.

In the 18th century the Creek could be navigated for 3.5 miles by barges of up to 50 tons on Spring tides. At other times cargo had to be transferred to smaller craft of only 10 to 12 tons capacity.

Where there were no tow paths suitable for horses, men known as hufflers were employed to pull the barges along the Creek up to their respective unloading wharves. Very laborious and thirsty work - hence the need for the two pubs!

Due to the increase in river traffic in the 1840's it was decided to canalise the Creek. This enabled navigation for barges of up to 150 tonnes. In 1895 a lock was built to maintain a constant water level at the top end of the Creek making it easier to unload cargo.

Barge traffic peaked in the mid 1930's but the lock is now disused and the Creek is once more tidal. The whole area has an air of dereliction and abandonment. All the riverside industry has disappeared no doubt soon to be replaced by yet more housing.

Cargoes handled on the Creek included esparto grass and wood pulp for the paper mills.

I have some old pictures of the Creek in it's heyday which I will put in a future post.

A little further along the Creek is crossed by a modern road bridge (Bob Dunn Way). Nearby I saw two bright green ring necked parakeets sitting in a tree - not really what I was expecting but they are apparently quite common in Kent nowadays.

Beyond the bridge the Creek meanders it's way slowly through the Dartford Marshes, a desolate flat landscape. Due to it's remote location the Marshes were used for the storage of ammunition during World War II.

A number of the concrete bunkers are still standing. Interestingly they have no roofs presumably to ensure that blast would be directed upwards in the event of an explosion.

A fireworks factory also operated on the Marshes for many years but has now closed.

The River Cray joins the Creek at this point. It was also navigable and barges would transport wheat transshipped from vessels in the London Docks up to the flour mill at Crayford.

Here I saw a heron doing a spot of fishing. An indication that the water must be getting less polluted.

The Marshes (and indeed Dartford itself) are dominated by the 705' chimney of Littlebrook Power Station.

It seems hard to believe now but the damp fields in the foreground were used as an airfield in the early days of aviation and during World War I. The airfield has an interesting history and I will write a separate post about that another day.

The Dartford Creek Barrier was built in 1981 and is a defence against flooding. Two steel gates each weighing over 160 tonnes can be positioned to withstand flood waters up to 6 metres above local ground level.

In 1953 there was terrible flooding along the Thames Estuary including the Dartford Marshes and many people lost their lives. The Barrier marks the official end of the Darent Valley Path.

The Thames looking downriver. Littlebrook Power Station to the right, the QEII bridge in the background and ships at Purfleet (Essex) to the left.

A bit superfluous.... since construction of the barrier effectively put paid to navigation on the Creek!

The Thames looking upriver towards London.

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A walk by the Thames and Medway Canal

Long John Silver Cumbers

Winter Walks in Kent - Camer and Nurstead

The Unknown Sailor

This is the grave of an unknown sailor under some trees in a corner of the graveyard at St James church in Grain.

I can imagine he would have been washed up on the shore line days, weeks or possibly even months after his ship was sunk by German bombs or mines in the Thames Estuary.

I stumbled across this grave earlier this year and it made me think of my own late grandfather who also served in the Merchant Navy during World War II.

He went to sea in 1942, aged only sixteen as mess room boy. His first voyage lasted five months and took him all the way to South America and back to the UK via West Africa . On the return from Freetown four ships in his convoy were sunk.

The Merchant Navy suffered huge casualties with ships being lost to enemy action from the 3rd September 1939 right up to VE day in May 1945.

A total of more than 32000 men made the ultimate sacrifice.

Fortunately he was one of the lucky ones and back came home safely to his family.

If you have found this post interesting you may also like....

In Foreign Fields

Long John Silver Cumbers

The Hurricane and Spitfire Memorial

My Darent Valley Walk Part 4 - Farningham to Darenth

Regular readers of this blog will know that over the last few months I have been walking the Darent Valley Path in stages.

The Darent Valley Path runs from the Thames at Dartford to Riverhead and Chipstead (nr Sevenoaks).

For reasons unknown, I actually started my first part of the walk from Farningham which is about half way along! (see my Darent Valley Walk Part 1). This post will cover the walk I did from Farningham via Horton Kirby to Darenth (in the direction of Dartford).

My walk started from the Lion Hotel at Farningham. It was originally built in the 16th century but much modified in the early 1800's. The River Darent flows through the hotel grounds.

Straddling the river opposite the hotel is an ornamental screen which dates to the 1700's. It is thought that this screen may have been used as some kind of cattle trap.


The path closely follows the river under the busy A20 and M20 main trunk roads which transverse the valley and on, into thankfully more peaceful, open fields.

On the outskirts of the next village Horton Kirby, partly obscured by trees, is Franks Hall, a grade 1 listed building.

The Hall was built in 1591 by Lancelot Bathurst and replaced an earlier building erected in 1220 on the other bank of the river. The Hall is now used as offices by a publishing company and as a wedding venue.
A short distance from Franks Hall the path crosses the bridge at Franks Lane. The bridge was built in 1794. At this point the river starts to get wider and considerably faster flowing. The path veers slightly away from the river across open meadows eventually coming to a weir adjacent to the former Westminster Mill which has now been demolished and replaced with riverside apartments.
The first mill on the site constructed in the 18th century used a water wheel to grind corn. The mill remained operational until 1908 when it was hit by lightning and burnt down.
A replacement building on the site was used as a shoe lace factory. This closed down in 1991 and the site was derelict for many years.

The village sign depicting...
At the bottom - the River Darent (once renowned for it's abundance of trout) and reels of paper once manufactured at the Horton Kirby Paper Mills.
In the centre - the village church flanked by hops which are still grown in the village to this day.
At the top - the railway viaduct built in the 1860's and still in daily service and the imposing paper mill chimney that dominates the village skyline.

Instead of following the Darent Valley Path along the river to the railway viaduct mentioned above, I decided to follow Horton road to the village church, St Mary the Virgin, where another public footpath skirts the edge of the hop fields, crossing through farmland until it transects the London to Dover railway line.

The line runs through a very deep cutting. Amazing to think this was constructed by an army of Irish navvies in the late 1850's mainly by hand.

The footpath crosses some fine countryside and orchards before emerging on Darenth Hill at Court Lodge Farm close to the ancient St Margarets Church (of which I will write more in a future post).

Alongside the road is another fine memorial erected by the Shoreham Aircraft Museum as part of their ongoing work to honour all the Battle of Britain pilots who made the ultimate sacrifice in this part of Kent.

This one is dedicated to volunteer South African Hurricane pilot Nathaniel John Merriman Barry of RAF 501 Squadron who died on 7th October 1940 after a dog fight with German Me 109's.

The aircraft museum is well worth a visit but remember to check their web site for opening times.

Well all that remains now is to cover the last sector of the Darent Valley Path from Darenth through to the Thames at Dartford. Will have to see when I can fit that one in.

UPDATE - for Part 5 of My Darent Valley Walk please see here

In the meantime, if you have any comments, they are always very welcome.

Further posts you may like...

White Cross of Shoreham, Kent

In Foreign Fields

In practically every town and village in Kent you will come across memorials, such as the one pictured below, commemorating many thousands of men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice during two World Wars.

Visit any churchyard in Kent and you will find the neatly tended graves of service personnel, not only from Britain but Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and other far flung corners of the former British Empire.

Here are the stories behind two of those many thousands, both buried in foreign fields.


The memorial at St Peter & St Paul church in Farningham includes the name of my great uncle William Wansbury.

He was born in Kent in 1919 and joined the RAF in 1938, eventually progressing to the rank of Aircraftman 1st Class (ground crew).

In February 1942 RAF personnel, including William, were sent to assist in the defence of the Dutch East Indies which were being invaded by the Japanese.

The combined Dutch, British and Australian forces on Java were not able to withstand the ferocious Japanese onslaught.

On 8th March 1942, William was taken prisoner.

In April 1943 a contingent of around 2000 "fit and healthy" British and Australian POW's were shipped in inhumane conditions to a small coral island called Haruku in the Moluccas.

Those who had not died during the long voyage from Java were immediately set to work building an airfield which the Japanese intended to use as a base for bomber missions against Australia.

Using only primitive hand tools the prisoners were forced to break coral all day long in an attempt to level the ground for the runway whilst enduring continual maltreatment from the brutal Japanese guards.

Tropical diseases including dysentery, malaria and beri beri were rife in the camp and claimed the lives of over 400 men in the space of a few short months.

William succumbed to malnutrition and disease on 14th September 1943 aged just 23.

He is buried on the neighbouring island of Ambon with nearly 2000 further victims of the Japanese war crimes in a cemetery immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Flight Lieutenant Zdzislaw Henryk Przygodzki is buried in Watling Street Cemetery in Dartford.

He was born on 12th July 1918 and flew with 316 "City of Warsaw" Polish fighter squadron which was formed in 1941.

Several Polish squadrons were formed during the Second World War and they fought with distinction during the Battle of Britain.

On 8th September 1944, Flight Lieutenant Przygodzki took off from RAF Coltishall in his North American Mustang III fighter FB345, possibly on a mission to intercept incoming V1 rockets.

Due to bad weather he was forced to return to base and for unexplained reasons his aircraft crash landed near Bayfield Hall in Norfolk.

I have not been able to find out so far why Flight Lieutenant Przygodzki was buried in Kent and not nearer to the crash site in Norfolk.

The grave is sadly in neglected state at the moment. There is, however, a chance that this situation may be rectified.

I recently sent a copy of my photograph of Flight Lieutenant Przygodzki's grave to the founder of a web site called Polish War Graves. The web site commemorates many thousands of Polish servicemen laid to rest in the UK and other European countries.

He was in contact with a member of the Polish Government and brought up the condition of Flight Lieutenant Przygodski's grave and was given an assurance that "something would be done about it".

Only time will tell whether a Polish politician is any better than a British one, at keeping his word!

If you would like to leave a comment, please do so, they are always very welcome.

Further reading from the archives...

The White Cross of Shoreham

The Hurricane and Spitfire Memorial

Remembering "The Few" in Kent

Remembering "The Few" in Kent

Today marked the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill's famous speech about "The Few"....

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed

by so many to so few"

To commemorate the occasion and the brave pilots, a Spitfire and Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made a whistle stop tour today of many former RAF airfields active during the conflict.

Several key front line fighter bases were located in Kent including Biggin Hill, West Malling and Gravesend.

Kent was a ideal due to it's proximity both to London and to the German airfields only a few miles away across the English Channel in France.

As you travel around Kent today, you often come across poignant reminders of the events of 1940 such as at the Garden of Remembrance at Manston airport (adjacent to the Hurricane and Spitfire Memorial which I wrote about in an earlier post).


The Shoreham Aircraft Museum is erecting memorials to all the Battle of Britain pilots who died within a ten mile radius of Shoreham. I came across this one to Flight Lieutenant James Alfred Paterson M.B.E. of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Sparepenny Lane, Farningham during one of my recent Darent Valley walks.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you have found this post of interest. Other posts from the archives you may like...

The Meopham Air Disaster

Visit to West Malling

The White Cross of Shoreham

Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway Steam and Diesel Gala

Southern Maid arriving at Dymchurch

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway is holding another of it's popular Steam & Diesel Galas this weekend 3rd/4th October.

Eight vintage steam locomotives such as the Southern Maid pictured above and two more modern diesel engines will be plying the 13.5 mile route along the Kent coast from Hythe to Dungeness and back.

The RHDR was founded by two flamboyant characters - Captain J E P Howey and Count Louis Zborowski, both millionaires and former racing drivers.

Sadly Count Zborowski was killed in an accident at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1924 and never saw the opening of the railway in 1927.

I will be writing a more detailed post about the Count and his connections to Kent in the near future so please watch this space (or should that be blog?)

The railway is 15 inch gauge and all the locomotives are one third size replicas of the original mainline engines on which they are modelled.

When it opened in 1927 the railway ran from Hythe to New Romney but in 1928 it was extended through to Dungeness. It was dubbed "The Smallest Public Railway in the World".

The railway served not only the tourist trade but was also used by the locals going to the shops, for parcel and mail deliveries and to move freight such as fresh fish caught by the boats off Dungeness up to Hythe. To this day, local children still travel to school on the railway.

During World War Two, due to it's proximity to the coast and construction sites for the PLUTO (pipeline under the ocean) project **, the railway was taken over by the armed forces. The army even had one of the engines converted into a miniature armoured train!

In 1947, to officialy reopen the section of line from New Romney to Dungeness after the war, the RHDR received two famous visitors from across the pond. None other than the much loved veteran slap stick comedians Laurel and Hardy.

Whilst researching the history of the railway I found a very interesting web site which tells the story of Laurel and Hardy's visit to the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in more detail and also contains pitcures and a Movietone news reel.

Please click here to visit the site

During the 1950's the RHDR benefited from the increase in tourist traffic to holiday camps along the route of the railway. However, following the death of the co-founder Captain Howey in 1963 and several changes of ownership the railway began to decline.


In 1973 the railway was taken over by another consortium lead by Sir William MacAlpine. Since then there has been investment and the railway is now again in good shape.

Here are some more pictures that I took during a recent visit.

The Southern Maid leaving New Romney after taking on water for the run down to Dungeness.

New Romney is the location of the RHDR's engine shed. There is also a large model railway and a light airy cafe on the station with a good selection of hot and cold meals at reasonable prices.

The Southern Maid was built for the RHDR in 1926 by Davey, Paxman & Co and weighs in at over 8 tons and is 27'7" long (in old money).

It is amazing to think that an engine over eighty years old is still in regular daily use.




The Samson (right) pictured arriving at Dymchurch station
was built by Davey, Paxman and Co for the RHDR in 1927.

If you are looking for somewhere to go this weekend, I would highly recommend a visit to the RHDR.



If you have enjoyed reading this post, you may like the following from my archives -

Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway

Wrotham Classic Rally






** - PLUTO - was a temporary pipeline laid under the English Channel in 1944 through which fuel could be safely pumped to the Allied invasion forces who landed in France on D-day.

Manston Airport and the Hurricane and Spitfire Memorial

A few weeks ago we were heading for a family day on the beach at Broadstairs....

The old control tower

On the way I decided to make a small diversion to see what was happening at Manston Airport (or Kent International Airport as it is now known).

I had not been there for many years, and as junior (being a typical little boy), is mad on planes and all things mechanical no further excuses were needed!

Manston has a very long history and can trace it's roots back to 1915/16. During World War Two it played a part in many famous operations including the Battle of Britain, the Channel Dash Operation and testing of the bouncing bombs used in the Dambuster Raid.

During the 1950's, Manston was used by the Americans as both a strategic bomber and fighter base before being returned to the RAF in 1960.

Due to the length of it's runway, Manston was used as an emergency landing strip for aircraft in difficulty. A metre thick blanket of foam could be laid over the runway to enable aircraft to crash land with a reduced risk of fire.

The RAF base closed in the late 1990's but they still maintain a specialist fire training school where they practice their techniques on scrap aircraft.

Boeing 747 TF-AMC pictured above currently minus engines will no doubt end her days on the fire dump. That will wipe the smile off her face!

She entered service in 1979 with French airline UTA. In 1992 she was operated by Air France, then Air Atlanta Icelandic in 2004, Saudi Arabian Airlines in 2006 and back to Air Atlanta Icelandic earlier this year.

The airport is now used mainly for cargo flights, holiday charters and aircraft maintainence.

For more detailed information on the history of the airport please follow this link.

Just around the corner from the terminal building is a very busy and popular cafe with views over the airfield.














Adjacent to the cafe is the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial dedicated to the memory of Allied air crews who served during the Second World War. Admission to the memorial is free of charge but donations are welcomed as it run by volunteers.

On display are many exhibits relating to wartime activities at the base but pride of place goes to a preserved Hurricane and Spitfire that, although not stationed at Manston, saw active service during the war.



Hurricane IIc LF751 was built at the Hawker aircraft factory at Langley in early 1944 and issued to No. 22 Maintenance Unit (MU) at Silloth.

In April 1944, LF751 joined No. 1681 Bomber Defence Training Flight. Later in the year she moved to No. 27 Operational Training Unit based at Waterbeach and remained there for the rest of her operational life.

In July 1945 LF751 was relegated to instructional purposes. Parts were removed from the aircraft for use on another Hurricane LF363 which later formed part of the famous Battle of Britain Memorial Museum Flight.

LF751 spent nearly 30 years as the gate-guardian at RAF Bentley Priory.

In 1985, it was decided that LF751 should be sent for restoration and she was delivered to the , Medway Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS) based at Rochester Airport.

In 1988, after an expenditure of £ 18000 and 22000 man hours, LF751 was delivered to Manston but finished as BN230 of the 'Fighting Cocks' - No. 43 Squadron. BN230 was flown by Squadron Leader D.A.R.G. 'Danny' Le Roy Du Vivier DFC, the first Belgian to command a RAF Squadron.


Spitfire Mk XVI TB752 was built at Castle Bromwich in the early 1944 and entered service with No. 66 Squadron at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in March 1945.

She was armed with 2 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 0.5 machine guns plus a 500 lb bomb and 2 x 250 lb bombs. She was put into action carrying out ground attack missions against road and rail targets in Northern Holland and Germany.

On the 25th March 1945, TB752 was badly damaged after the port undercarriage leg failed to lower for landing, the main damage being to the wing and propeller blades.

Close up of the 403 Squadron Wolf insignia

She was removed to No. 409 Repair and Salvage Unit and re-issued to No. 403 "Wolf" Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force in April 1945, operating from Diepholz in Germany and bearing the Squadron code KH-Z (as she is now displayed).

On the 21st April, the Squadron 'C.O.', Squadron Leader 'Hank' Zary DFC RCAF destroyed a Me109. Four days later Flying Officer David Leslie destroyed an unidentified German aircraft (probably a Fw189).

On the 1st May Flying Officer ‘Bob’ Young destroyed a Fw190 and two days later Flying Officer ‘Fred’ Town shot down a Heinkel 111 which was to be TB752’s final "kill".

TB752 was moved to Manston in 1955 and stood for many years as station gate-guardian.

In 1978 the Medway Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society took her to Rochester Airport for restoration which was completed just over a year later after 15,000 man hours of TLC.

Whilst we were admiring the Spitfire from outside the rope cordon, one of the volunteers on duty asked if my little boy would like to have look inside the aircraft.... (he does have his uses sometimes!).

Of course, we did not need to be asked twice! The volunteer went off and reappeared shortly with a set of steps and we were able to have a look inside the cockpit.


It looks very spartan compared to today's fighter aircraft. The volunteer told us that the Hurricane and Spitfire are each insured for £ 2 million. Quite mind blowing when you consider in 1940 it cost just under £ 10000 to build a Spitfire.

If you find yourself in Thanet, I would highly recommend a visit to the memorial.

You may also enjoy reading...

The Meopham Air Disaster

Remembering the Few in Kent

The Youngest Person Ever to Fly

The White Cross of Shoreham, Kent

This Sunday past we found ourselves in the unusual position of being without junior in tow for the whole day (his great aunt had invited for a trip to the zoo!).

Being too good an opportunity to miss, and as it was such a nice day, we decided to take a drive out into the countryside along the Darent Valley in North Kent.

The River Darent flows for 21 miles from Westerham to Dartford where it joins the River Thames.

I have been researching my family history for the last couple of years and traced the earliest ancestors back to the late 1770's living and working on the farms in Shoreham, one of the picturesque villages through which the Darent passes.

As you travel along the A225 between Eynsford and Otford, if you look across to your right just before the turn off for Shoreham village you can't fail to notice the large white cross marked on the hillside.

As a small boy I had seen it many times before and always thought that it marked the spot where a bomber had crashed during World War Two (more about that later in this post...)

It was in fact cut into the chalky hillside by the villagers as a mark of respect and remembrance for the fallen of the First World War. Work on the cross started in 1920 and it was officially completed on Empire Day in 1921.



In the centre of the village by a bridge crossing the River Darent is a war memorial listing the names of the fallen from both World Wars and inscribed:-

"Remember as you look at the cross on the hill those who gave their lives for their country 1914 - 1919"

A stone's throw from the war memorial there is an excellent museum - the Shoreham Aircraft Museum. Run by enthusiasts, it contains a large collection of artefacts and memorabilia from the Battle of Britain period including parts excavated from both RAF and Luftwaffe aircraft crash sites in the local area.

One of these aircraft was a Dornier Do 17 bomber which was shot down by two Spitfires of 609 squadron and crash landed at Castle Farm, Shoreham on the 15th September 1940 (this probably explains where I got the idea about the cross when I was younger).

One of the uninjured German crew members was picked up by a local Home Guard unit who, seeing how shakenand pale he looked, took pity on him and treated him to a drink at the pub before handing him over to the authorities.



The entrance fee is a very reasonable £ 3 per adult and there is an authentic 1940's style tea rooms set in a sunny courtyard. Very nice cakes and big mugs of tea. Even the lady behind the counter was wearing period clothing - a nice touch.

The museum has set up a Battle of Britain local RAF memorials project and the intention is to erect memorial stones to each of the airmen who fell within a ten mile radius of Shoreham. Several have already been dedicated. A very worthy cause.

After spending some time looking around the museum we had a leisurely stroll through the village past a number of inviting hostelries including the Olde George Inn and down to St Peter & St Paul church where many of my long lost ancestors would no doubt have been dunked, hitched and despatched!



Later in the afternoon we moved on to another local village, Chelsfield where my ancestors moved in the early 1800's but more about that in my next post......