Dominated by the church which served the community and was used as a navigation point for boats sailing up the River Medway, Upchurch was much smaller and quieter than today with hop gardens, orchards and thatched cottages. Motor vehicles did not exist and horses and carts were used as transport. People also walked greater distances to get from one place to another as a public transport service did not pass through the village.
Between Forge Lane and the vicarage there were not any houses, only fields and orchards. A large orchard with a pond, owned by farmer Thomas Dodd stretched from behind the Street at Church Farm to about halfway down Forge Lane. Contemporary maps show that a large house known as Church Farm Cottages, a barn and yard existed on the top right of Forge Lane and another farm building a little further down on the right. On the top left was a blacksmith's forge and garden. Behind this was Forge Field owned by farmer Richard Mitchell. All other houses were situated opposite and on the same side as the Crown Inn. Beyond these, on the right, was a cottage owned by George Seager then fields and orchards until Poot House on the corner of Poot Lane.
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| David Wood. |
The vicarage, formerly known as Parsonage Farm, was situated in six acres of ground including the paddock. According to the 1841 National Census 25 inhabitants lived there. These included the vicar John Woodruff, his elderly mother, farmer Richard Hubbard, and an assortment of maids and agricultural labourers.
A school did not exist on the Infants School site or at Holywell until Holywell School opened in 1847. Until then the village children were educated in the church within the framework of a basic Christian education paid for out of local charitable donations.
The people who lived in the centre of Upchurch were mainly agricultural labourers, 39 lived in The Street. Of these were familiar recent names like Wildish, Boakes, Smitherman and Bishenden. Most worked for local farmers like Thomas Dodd from Rainham, Richard Mitchell from Holywell then Ham Green, John Walter from Gore Farm and John Green from Horsham Farm. Other residents included Thomas Taylor, publican of the Crown Inn and village grocer, William Friday a corn miller, John Chapman, a butcher, John Castle, a shoemaker, William Mudge, a carpenter and James Kerslake, a blacksmith.
Most male inhabitants worked on the land and those without work had spells in the Milton Union workhouse. Women went into domestic service with others doing seasonal work on local farms. People were generally poor and were backed up with bread handouts from the vicar every year. The oldest inhabitant of The Street was 70 year old Thomas Holland while the biggest families were those of John and Linda Coveney and William and Mary Friday, both families supported seven children. Farmer John Green supported a wife and fifteen children just down the road at Horsham Farm in a small village where most residents lived out their entire lives.
About David:
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David on: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk price £12 + p+p £2.
