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claremont corvette

Snodlands most famous business

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Alldays Mural Holborough Rd.

Designed by the children of Snodland

Tea Rooms The Town Council have teamed up with the "Better Towns Committee" to provide the Pavillion Tea Rooms next to the Town centre car park and cricket field. It is open 9am-5pm Mondays to Fridays. During the summer outside seating will be provided so pop in for a cuppa ! The internet cafe by is opening shortly (30/08/00) M-F 6.30-9.30pm and will be situated in the Cricket pavillion also. Boasting 10 laptops with internet access for local youths to use for a small charge. Blooming Great "Snodland in Bloom" was given a boost with the help of the town's children again who helped to design and plant up the hanging baskets that are now sported on each of the new town centre lamp-posts. Children from Snodland C of E (Voluntary Aided) Primary, Holmesdale and St Katherines schools were helped by staff from Grafty Green Garden Centre to plant the 60 baskets. A plaque will be erected on each post to denote the class and school responsible. 2000 saw a bigger and better display with more lamp posts baskets in the town centre and car park and other floral features introduced around town.

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It is alleged that a Roman invasion in AD43 took place on the Medway River when a large army under Aulus Plautius landed on the Kent coast at Richborough and advanced to the Downs to cross the river at Snodland. Roman swimmers crossed undetected and maimed their chariot horses whilst a safe crossing was made by one legion under Emperor Vespasian at Snodland catching the Brits by surprise on the far bank. Joined by a second legion the next day the Brits were forced to retreat across the Thames to what is now Colchester. Roman rule was soon expanded to most of the south east under Emperor Claudius.

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 earlist 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.

Paper and cement manufacture in the parish changed all that and the number increased ten-fold to 3091 in 1901. River, rail and road provided the necessary communications for industries and the village has remained prosperous, although nowadays many commute and work elsewhere. The current population is around 9000 and expected to grow further.

Snodland has its share of characters and stories. Here are some of them:-

The Rev. Henry Dampier Phelps (nephew of the Bishop of Rochester) was Rector from 1804 to 1861. He did not endear himself to his parishioners by entering their occupation as smuggler or their cause of death as 'the effects of debauchery throughout life' in the church registers! Indeed an attempt was made to murder him, but the assassins killed the wrong man and Phelps found himself foreman at the inquest. His instructions to his curate on preaching were 'Twelve minutes is long enough for any Monkey to be talking to a lot of others.'

The curate was the Hon. and Rev. Edward Vesey Bligh, Whose father-in-law the Earl of Abergavenny required him to become a clergyman as a condition of marrying his daughter. He complained bitterly that the large house he was allocated in Snodland (now a nursing home), was far too poky for his small family. It had been built by Thomas Fletcher Waghorn (1800-1850) the only Snodland man to gain entry to the Dictionary of National Biography. Waghorn established an overland route to India in the days before the Suez Canal, Cutting many days off the route round Africa, but died disillusioned by lack of support from the government of the day. For his part Bligh soon moved to the grandeur of Birling manor in the next parish.

On 23 Aug 1871 'Mr Tanner shot a beautiful bar-tailed godwit, on Snodland Brook Which is the first known specimen of the kind in the neighbourhood. So much for conservation ,although The bird is now in the hands of Mr. Deacon, bird-stuffer, for the purpose of being stuffed.'

On 24 August 1873 the parish constable Israel May became the first policeman in Kent to be murdered. His foe, a local man, was captured, tried and sentenced to 20 years (the murder being considered unintentional).

In 1880 the income tax and parochial rates collector absconded with the money (£270 15s 11d) and was never seen again.

Among more unusual changes of use for redundant buildings a school became at one time a glass-blowing factory, the cinema became the Catholic church and of course Claremont Corvette took over the former Primitive Methodist church (whose members had linked up with the United Church).

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On Sunday morning, August 24th, 1873, the body of a policeman was found in a field (which was situated on the corner of Rocfort Road and Malling Road) at Snodland. The victim was PC Israel May (whose grave can still be seen in Snodland churchyard). Around the spot where the body was found there was evidence that a terrific struggle had taken place. The earth was trampled down for yards around and there were also signs of a struggle in the road and through the hedge that surrounded the field. The policeman's head had been frightfully battered and, as his truncheon was found to be missing, it was surmised that it was this that had caused his injuries. Bloody footprints were found leading from the body across the field, through the hedge and onto the Malling Road. Enquiries revealed that a parish constable had heard cries for help at about two o'clock in the morning. However, as he had just put two drunken soldiers across the Snodland to Burham ferry (which ran from Ferry Cottage at the bottom of Mill Street) he assumed the cries had come from them.

The inquest was held the next day at The Bull, Snodland, where the constable's body had been taken. The jury first viewed the body, and on their return, the first witness was called. This was James Stone, who stated: 'I am a bricklayer and I live at Constitution Hill, Snodland. Yesterday morning, at a quarter-past six, I was passing along the road towards New Hythe with another young man. Before I got to the bridge, I saw a place where there had been a scuffle in the road. I saw a man named Walter Imms standing looking into the field. I asked him if he had been mushrooming. I did not ask him what he had been looking at, but when I got to him I saw the deceased lying in the field. I told the young man who was with me, William Middlemist, to go for a policeman. I told him to fetch PC May, as I did not know it was him lying in the field. I then went down to Mr Furley the turnpike qateman. I saw the man who was first looking at the deceased and I said I thought the man in the field was dead. He then set off for Constable Pink, and I, with the gateman, went to the body. We crossed the dyke, and Mr Furley went up to the body and said, "Why, it's May the policeman. It¹s May!" I saw the policeman's hat under the hedge. I also saw a cap lying about a yard from the hat.' The cap was produced and was identified by the witness. It was an ordinary labourer's cap. The witness continued: ^'Between the cap and the policeman's hat was a tobacco box, one half of a pair of braces and a pair of handcuffs. Near the body there were marks of struggling and blood. I noticed a mark on the deceased's forehead and a mark at the back of his head.

The field had been ploughed and I saw footprints going up towards the road, as if leaving the body. There was a spot of blood in one of the prints. There was so much blood that you could not see whether the mark on the forehead was a cut or a kick from a boot. I sent for Dr White and went into the field with him when he arrived

The next witness was Mrs Selina Upton, the last person (other than his murderer) to see May alive. She stated: 'I am the wife of Thomas Upton, a beer-house keeper at Ham Hill, Birling. I knew the deceased; he lived at Snodland. I last saw him alive about half-past one, or twenty minutes to two o'clock on Sunday morning. I went to open my bedroom window, as it was so hot, and I heard footsteps. I looked out and said, "Is that you Mr May?" He said, "Yes, goodnight." I replied, "Goodnight," and he went off towards Snodland. When I looked out I saw his buttons shining quite plainly. Before that I heard him speak to Mr Kelvie [a local resident], who was driving a horse and cart with his boy down the road by our pub. I heard May say, "What do you do here? You are both asleep! You will hear from me again." Mr Kelvie said that the boy was awake. May then said, "Hold hard; you will do some damage if you drive around like this. Let me lead the horse." I suppose May then walked down the road with Kelvie before returning to Snodland.'

Superirtendent Hulse of the MaIling Police Division stated: 'The deceased was a police officer under my command. His number was 190, and he was stationed at Snodland. He was 37 years of age. I received information of the murder yesterday morning, and came to Snodland immediately. I found the body lying as described by the first witness. The deceased was lying partly on his face and partly on his side. He was quite dead, and there was a quantity of blood beside him. I observed wounds on the head and face. The face was covered with blood and I could scarcely discern his features. His clothes were so covered with dirt that you could not tell if he had a uniform on or not. I afterwards went to the road and discovered marks of a severe struggle there, opposite to where the body lay. There was a slight gap in the hedge as though someone had gone through. The struggle appeared to have been renewed in the field. Near the body I found the cap produced, some braces, a beef sandwich rolled up in brown paper which did not belong to the deceased, a tobacco box, handcuffs, and the deceased's hat. There were marks on the cap in several places.

Apparently there had been a severe struggle where the body lay, and leading from it were the footmarks of one person going across the field to the gap which was in the hedge leading to the part of the road towards Malling. In several of the footprints there were marks of blood. I had the body removed to The Bull Inn, and here I directed PC Millen to see if the deceased still had his watch. He found it in the deceased's pocket. lt had stopped at twenty minutes to three o'clock. After the watch was taken from the body of the deceased it started ticking again for an hour and then stopped. The deceased's truncheon is missing although a diligent search has been made for it. I am making enquiries into the case, but at present without any satisfactory result. However, I have every hope to believe that I shall be able to capture the murderer....

After various other witnesses had been called the jury returned a verdict of "Wilful murder by some person or persons unknown."

This website is being enhanced daily as I get to grips with web-page authoring, apologies for the current lack of content.

Links to other Snodland Web-sites

Links to other web-sites

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