Willowside Cottage - Prospect Cottage.
| The smartly refurbished cottage that can be seen on the left when entering the Willowside development in Snodland was originally a 15th century Hall House like Mullberry Cottage . It included about 4 acres of land flanked by the area now occupied by the Jessamine Cottages and the Clocktower at Snodland . | Although not proven, the cottage may have been the tenement and garden of a John Springfield in Northstrete which became Holborough Road. It was possibly bequeathed to his son George in 1545. |
| In 1650 it was listed as being shared by a Thomas Watts and Richard Hamon and then to the Godden and Wray families of nearby Paddlesworth between the 16th and 18th centuries. Between 1748 and 1781 it was home to Jasper Crothall a manager of the paper mills and around 1780 he added the brick portion. The early fire insurance emblem can still just be seen attached to the south façade of the building. His nephew and successor at the mills was Isaac Wenman who occupied the cottage until 1792. Conversion of the southern part into a butchers shop and slaughterhouse followed and thereafter into the local garage and offices of Bottens. | From 1819 to around 1839 the brick half was home to several millers who worked a windmill that was once situated behind the current Jessamine cottages. This was dismantled in 1839 and re-erected in Gillingham having been carted to and ferried up the Medway river. Unfortunately, it was later destroyed by fire. |
| In 1850 there stood only 3 houses between The Bull public house and Holborough. This included Covey Hall farm, an adjacent smallholding and Prospect Cottage. | In the 1990's the Prospect cottage as it was now known was gutted and renovated using timbers from a disused barn to replace and match the originals. |
