“The parish lies in a most unhealthy situation, close to the marshes, and a large extent of some hundreds of acres of salts beyond them, as far as Sandgate Creek the River Medway its northern boundary, the noxious vapours arising from which subject the inhabitants to continued imtermittents, and shorten their lives at a very early period.”
During the 1790s ague, a form of marsh malaria carried by mosquitoes affected lots of people in low lying marshland areas such as Upchurch and Lower Halstow. This would have caused intermittents, the coming and going of the disease, while the noxious vapours may have been the smell coming from the mud, seaweed and possibly sewage in the mud when the tide was out.
Hasted gives a very clear picture of the village landscape:
“The country is rather hilly, the land, in general, is very thin and poor, having much gravel mixed with it, the other soils, the poorness of the soil occasions the growth of much broom and fern or brakes in it, with which there are many fields entirely covered. The southern part of the parish has much woodland interspersed throughout it, which is in general but of ordinary value, being mostly oak coppice, the soil is much adapted to the growth of the elm, with which the hedgerows abound, but these continued groves of tall spire trees stop the free circulation of air, and render this place much more unwholesome than it would otherwise be.”
People at the time believed that a free circulation of air was healthy and if this was prevented the spread of disease and ailments would happen more easily.
The landscape would have been more open than today as much of the land was not enclosed until the 1840s. Horses and carts would have journeyed along the country lanes. Only wealthy people in the village such as landowners, gentlemen and the vicar would have had access to pony and traps or decent horses to ride, while others walked.
The biggest concentration of the village population lived in the village centre and dwellings stretched as far as Horsham Farm. This is shown on maps of Upchurch dated 1778 and 1802. The remaining population was divided into pockets at Holywell, Ham Green, Wetham Green and Otterham.
Hasted describes the condition of the village in which poverty existed and that Upchurch had experienced better times in the past:
“It seems to have been of much more consequence as well for its craft in shipping, as in the number of its inhabitants, than it is at present, both of which are much diminished from what they were formerly, and the latter are in general now in a state of poverty… Upchurch is said to contain forty inhabited houses, three lacking habitations, twelve ships and boats, from one ton to fourteen and fourteen persons occupied in carrying from port to port, and fishing. At the western boundary of the parish, there is a key with a wharf for the landing and shipping of corn and the produce of the neighbouring woods. The creek, called by the same name, flows up by it from the River Medway.”
Hasted is referring to Otterham Quay at this point.
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted.
Wolley Leigh Spencer served as vicar of Upchurch from 1766 to the end of the century. If he resided in Upchurch, he would have probably lived in the farmhouse at Parsonage Farm, located on the present day site of Bradshaw Close and what is now known as the site of ‘the old vicarage.’ Otherwise, he probably lived outside the parish due to the threat of ague.
A group of overseers managed village affairs. These were the forerunners of the present day parish councillors. Churchwardens managed church affairs. Overseers and churchwardens were elected annually by village householders.
Poor houses existed in different parts of the parish, such as the house now known as Greenborough House in Susan’s Lane and another located against the church wall on the south side of the church, but fire destroyed it in 1791. Poor houses were given to the very poor in the village, and a plot of land at the back of the house allowed these people to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Houses in the village would have been a variety of wooden framed wattle and daub (a lattice of wooden strips with a sticky material made of a combination of soil, clay, animal dung and straw) thatched houses, wooden constructions and some brick buildings. Although wattle and daub and wooden houses from the period no longer exist in the village, there are some brick buildings such as Mitchells Cottage, Ham Green House, Greylag Farm and Callows House at Ham Green and Holywell House in Holywell Lane. These were originally inhabited by farmers.
Of the present day pubs, only the Crown and the Three Sisters still exist. Others listed in the petty sessions list for the late 18th century are the George run by William Simpson, the Brickmaker’s Arms run by Mary Fryer and the Blue Anchor (landlord unknown). The exact location of these buildings is unknown. Black Horse Cottage in Oak Lane served as an unlicensed drinking house named the Black Horse during the 1750s.
Schools probably did not exist in the village during much of the 18th century, although a school that existed in the church chapel may have operated there during the latter part of the century and up to 1846, when Holywell School was constructed. Schooling was not compulsory up to 1882, so children would have spent their time playing, wandering the streets and even working, particularly when crops such as fruit or vegetables had to be picked.
Although poverty affected some residents in the village, they continued to reside there and most led a dreary and hard life working on the land without much free time. Such was life in Upchurch during the 1790s.
