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Visualisation of the M2 junction 5 - A249 Stockbury interchange once improvements are complete. Click image to enlarge.
Stockbury roundabout line painting
Sunday 11th September
Following feedback from stakeholders and the local community, National Highways will be refreshing the white lines on the Stockbury roundabout ahead of the M2 junction 5 coastbound carriageway slip road closures, which begin officially on Monday the 12th of September.
To do this, they will be closing all links to and from the Stockbury roundabout overnight on Sunday the 11th of September. This is to reduce the need for further closures in the future. The closures will be staggered, starting from 8:00pm.
When the roundabout reopens at 5:00am on Monday the 12th of September, the M2 junction 5 coastbound carriageway entry and exit slip roads will remain closed as originally planned.
M2 slip road closures
September 2022 to January 2023
National Highways is to close 2 busy slip roads on the coastbound carriageway of the M2 at Sittingbourne for 4 months as part of their major upgrade and improvement works to the M2 junction 5 - A249 Stockbury interchange.
The coastbound carriageway entry and exit slip roads between the M2 and A249 will be closed from 8:00pm on Sunday the 11th of September 2022 (to set up traffic management) until Friday the 13th of January 2023.
The closures mean you will not be able to access Stockbury roundabout from the M2 coastbound or join the M2 coastbound from Stockbury roundabout at junction 5 during the closures. Please use signed diversions to join or leave the M2 at junction 5.
In January 2023, both slip roads will reopen. Access from the M2 coastbound to the A249 towards Sittingbourne will temporarily be via the Stockbury roundabout until the dedicated slip road opens in spring 2023.
Diversion routes
M2 junction 5 coastbound entry and exit slip road diversions. Click image to enlarge.
To join the M2 coastbound during the closures, National Highways recommends vehicles use the M2 Londonbound from Stockbury roundabout to travel to junction 4 and return, which National Highways say will add approximately 10 to 12 minutes onto the journey time.
Drivers travelling coastbound will need to leave the M2 at junction 3 and use the A229, M20 and A249 to reach the Stockbury roundabout, which National Highways say will add approximately 15 minutes onto the journey time.
If you miss junction 3, you can travel to junction 6 and return to junction 5 using the Londonbound carriageway, adding a further 25 minutes onto the journey time.
Delays on the A2 - London Road are predicted during the closures due to heavier than usual traffic between Bowaters roundabout at the junction with A278 - Hoath Way, Gillingham and Brenley Corner roundabout at the junction with A2 - Boughton Bypass, M2 and A299, Faversham.
Further information
Upchurch Matters
Saturday 17th September - Sunday 18th SeptemberAll events are free and part of the National Trust's Heritage Open Days. However, places are limited and must be booked in advance at: www.eventbrite.co.uk
For more details contact the group at: newingtonhistorygroup@outlook.com; through its website: www.newingtonhistory.uk; or call: 01795 842711.
Follow on Facebook: Newington History Group, and Twitter: @newingtonhg
Richard Thompstone - Newington History Group
Saturday 10th September between 10:00am - 11:30am
Homemade Cakes, Jams, Pickles, Scones and Savouries
Also Puzzles, Books, Bric-à-brac and sometimes Plants
Something for everyone!
Refreshments
Please help support this ancient building - Thank you
🍰 🍓 🧩 📚 🎨 🪴 ☕️ ➕
Upchurch Matters
Oliver Twist is the most famous fictional character with a local workhouse connection which Charles Dickens based on the old Chatham Workhouse. Many Upchurch residents also found their way into a similar place known as the Milton Union.
For most people living in Upchurch during the 19th century, work was hard, physical and seasonal, particularly on farms where most residents worked and where crop failures, bad weather and low prices caused farmers to periodically lay workers off. For those in poor families suffering long term unemployment support from the parish became available but with the introduction of Poor Law Reform in 1834, the system of poor relief was removed from the parish and became the responsibility of the workhouse.
The Milton Union was established just north of Sittingbourne in the village of Milton Regis in 1835 and was overseen by an elected board of twenty guardians. Upchurch, along with seventeen other local Swale villages came under its jurisdiction. The idea was to encourage able bodied people to work by making conditions in the workhouse harsh. However, not all those who entered were able bodied. Those with mental disorders, sickness, old age and infirmity, pregnant women and orphans also found their way in. Old age pensions and sickness benefit didn’t exist in those days so if a man couldn’t support his family or get help from relatives’ entry into the workhouse was almost inevitable.
To enter the Milton Union, poor people could make their own way there, attend the weekly meeting of the Board of Guardians or apply to the relieving officer who visited their parish each week. They could also be ordered there by the parish overseer. Upon arrival, newcomers were stripped, bathed, covered with flea powder, issued with a uniform and registered as able bodied or sick. People stayed there for varying amounts of time according to their circumstances and could be released at their own request if they sought work, signed off by the medical officer if they recovered from sickness or by death.
A basic diet of bread and cheese was served for breakfast and the main meal although meat and vegetables were sometimes served with the main meal. Water was the only drink available for inmates except for old people who were allowed to drink tea. Therefore, the workhouse was designed to be a deterrent, offering back breaking, gruelling work like picking oakum, smashing stones or cutting wood.
In the early years, from 1834 to 1870, only a relatively small number of Upchurch residents spent time in the workhouse for different reasons. For example, in 1835, Rosetta Coveney, aged seventeen, entered the Milton Union, although when given leave to attend church on February 7th, 1836, she failed to return. In 1835 the Union admissions book recorded William Brinstead, a widower aged 79, described as ‘wholly disabled’. He spent his entire old age as an inmate in the union.
Milton Workhouse 1887.
Thanks to Peter Higginbotham for use of the photograph.
For more information on the history of the workhouse,
In 1840 eleven Upchurch people were admitted to the Milton Union, including the Maud children who had been deserted and left as orphans, Daniel Luckhurst with bad legs, Mary Seager with no place to live, James Clark with ague and Mary Pepper for having a ‘bastard.’
There is little evidence of misbehaviour by workhouse inmates from Upchurch but there was an exception in May 1841 when Mary Seager, formerly an agricultural worker from Wetham Green, was sent from the Milton Union to Canterbury jail for 21 days due to ‘bad conduct’. According to the union record book, she refused to pick oakum and was sent to the magistrate for ‘the most violent language to the Master and two of the Guardians.’ She periodically returned to the union, then in June 1853, after being registered as destitute, was again committed to prison for refusing work offered to her. From 1848 to the 1870s, she became a frequent visitor to the Milton Union for reasons which included sickness, rheumatism, destitution and no place to live.
Some Upchurch people eventually died in the Milton Union, like Mary Grigsby, who first entered the institution in 1836 and eventually died there of old age in 1859. In 1862 Sampson Scamp died there from unknown causes after spending various periods inside due to destitution. On July 7th, 1862, James Muggeridge was admitted by order of the village overseer because of fever. He died there several days later on July 12th.
Sometimes a girl who got pregnant out of wedlock could be turned out by her family and sent to the union on the order of the parish overseer. This is what happened to Mary Grundy on June 19th, 1862. An illegitimate child was usually entered in the admittance column of the union register as ‘bastard,’ a stigma that remained for life.
Some people only stayed in the workhouse short term due to seasonal unemployment. On July 31st, 1838, Upchurch resident John Hughes with his wife and five children were admitted but they were discharged on August 8th. James Watts was admitted, with his wife and four children on April 13th but only stayed until April 21st.
Ultimately, the workhouse was a last resort for most able bodied people because they viewed it with a sense of social stigma and dreaded the thought of going there, in the same way as going to prison. However, the institution served its purpose for desperate and needy people right up to the 1920s, when it finally came to an end.
About David
David was born and raised at Ham Green and still lives there today.
He writes from personal experience about Upchurch village life and the changes that have taken place over the years.
David's book, Memories of Upchurch, is a very readable and detailed historical study of the village and is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk price £12 + postage and packing.
Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward
Crime Number: 46/171443/22
Between 00:01 on Friday the 26th of August and 11:46 on Thursday the 1st of September, somebody stole a grey Audi Quattro, Reg No: KS06***, from Holywell Lane, Upchurch.
If you have any information that could help investigators please contact Kent Police on telephone number 101 and quote the relevant crime number above.
For more information on crime prevention visit: www.kent.police.uk
Kent Community Messaging
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
At the time of writing, temperatures are pushing the 30s, drought conditions have been announced and a hosepipe ban must surely follow. Unless you have been able to water regularly your garden probably looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The ground is rock hard and if we do get a downpour it will run off and lead to flooding. Pleasant ideas of outdoor living run the risk of heat stroke, butane is going through the roof and BBQ buns are astronomical. If this continues into September we may well see standpipes in the street. Having said that come January and February we will look back with fond memories of a wonderful Summer.
I really don’t know what to say about the lawn, it’s amazing how crispy it is underfoot as you walk over it. Now we are on a meter, I gave up watering it a month ago and now it is scorchio! Walking the Junkyard Mutt early yesterday morning I noticed a slight mist over the fields and the grass was slightly moist to the touch. Looking over the fields there was a faint green shimmer that hints at a recovery. However, this year, it is a lost cause and we will just have to wait for the Autumn rains to see how well it returns. Normal English meadow grasses cannot cope with this degree of heat and drought and maybe we have to consider tougher grasses. The most drought resistant grass seed are Zoysia, Bermuda, Kikuyu and Kentucky Blue Grass. It may need a trip to the seed merchant to look for a bespoke mix of seed that has a chance of handling these conditions.
Oh dear, it’s happened again!
Hopefully, you have been able to water the vegetable patch. The lawn will come back but the Runner Beans won’t. This weather, they need a good drenching every day along with all the veg. Despite that, the flowers are dropping and the yield has been poor so far. The Marrows have turned out to be Green Bush and I can only guess that they are from the Tiger Cross Marrows that were grown 2 years ago that are an F1 hybrid of Green Bush and have reverted back. Either way, it is good to have stuffed Marrow again. Hopefully, your main crop Potatoes are holding up and ready for lifting this month along with a lot of other crops which can be harvested now.
Borders and containers also need a lot of water to keep them going and you can use a hosepipe to fill a watering can which avoids running up and down the garden. Even established shrubs have needed watering this year as everything has looked a bit limp and leaves are shedding. A mulch around the roots of shrubs and fruit trees can help to retain moisture in the soil. Monty Don commented last week that maybe we need to start facing up to hotter Summers and look at more Mediterranean planting. Attractive hard landscaping can reduce the size of lawns and borders with a switch to perennials and shrubs that can handle drought.
Much of the fruit is ready for harvest. Plums, Cherries and Apricots have probably been picked by now with Apples and Pears ready this month. Some varieties like Braeburns run on into October. Keep watering, feeding and mulching up until harvest. Tidy up Strawberry plants and cut back Raspberry canes.
September is also the transition time from Summer to Autumn and it will be interesting to see what happens to temperatures. All this hot, dry weather is enough to give someone a thirst. As my mind wanders to Mediterranean gardens I can’t help thinking of ice cold Italian lagers. The big question is which one?.... Peroni Nastro Azzuro or Birra Moretti?…. I know I will go for both.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
Sean Barry - Upchurch Horticultural Society
M2 junction 5 coastbound entry and exit slip road diversions.
