Guess the Place

[MartinR]

My definition of a football match: "a couple of dozen hooligans kicking a pig's bladder around a paddock, watched by a herd of sheep", so you can guess how well footballing analogies work!  You said "cleared off the line", so am I barking up the wrong tree with Faversham?

[Stewie]

Sorry JohnWalker no, but Martin R has now gone from hitting the post to a shot cleared off the line!

[John Walker]

Anything to do with the spirit distillery next to Chatham Dockyard?

[Stewie]

Another clue, Uhtred Uhtredson moored his ship not far from here in one of the 'Last Kingdom' series novels.

[MartinR]

• Well it can't be Oare gunpowder mill, that seems to just be a ruin in a country park.
• I can't find photos of Dartford gunpowder mill.
• It's not Chart, wrong type of stones.
• Gunpowder Mill, Faversham is a pub which doesn't seem to have any substantive connection with an actual mill.

I may be hitting goal posts, but to keep the sporting analogy, I'm stumped.
Alternatively, is it some other sort of mill in Faversham?  Part of the Shepherd Neame outfit for instance?

[Stewie]

Not Beltinge John Walker and Martin R has hit the post in footballing terms!

[MartinR]

What would they be grinding there though?  I'm fairly certain that they only handled hops and not malt.

[John Walker]

The Hop Farm, Beltring perhaps?

[MartinR]

The only preserved gunpowder mill I could find was Chart, Faversham.  However the grindstones are quite different, compare the picture below with Stewie's picture, the axles look quite different.  What else in Kent used large grindstones?  Charcoal?  Malt?

[John Walker]

Part of a museum?   Gunpowder perhaps?

[Stewie]

Good spot Martin R and I was going to offer this as a clue later. The mechanism inside the room is a (large) grinding wheel.

[MartinR]

I'm trying to make out the object inside the building.  It could be an early turbine - is it some sort of preserved town or estate electricity plant?  The only other thing it looks like is a flint mill, but we don't have any 19thC potteries in Kent (or do we?).

[Stewie]

Thanks Beachbum


We visited Chidderstone Castle in 2019 and even photographed the orangery but could not remember it! My next one was taken a few years ago but I would guess the view is still the same so where was I when I took this picture?

[MartinR]

Location:

• Nat Grid:                   TQ 49747 45034
• Nearest Post Code:  TN8 7AD
• Coords (WGS84):     51°11'06"N,000°08'29"E or 51.184931,0.141277

[Beachbum]

Spot on Stewie, it is the Orangery at Chidingstone Castle.


Over to you....