Guess the Place

[John Walker]

There was a ragstone quarry on the edge of this village until late 50s.

[John Walker]

Are we south of the M20?

Yes, About 6km south of the M20.
Grade Two Listed

[johnfilmer]

Are we south of the M20?

[John Walker]

Very close to a village pub.

[John Walker]

Still standing as this?

Yes. At least it's currently showing on GSV 2023

[johnfilmer]

Still standing as this?

[John Walker]

Right - here we go.

Mid Kent.

[johnfilmer]

Modification is not confined to historic interpretations. The 1921 Census transcriptions on Find My Past have been riddled with errors in the case of my family research. Completely misunderstanding the hamlet of Lidsing, and labelling it within Gillingham, my great grandfather kept the Harrow pub, and his age is changed from 74 to 94.

I posted four corrections in one evening.

So yes, I agree Martin, easily changed.

[MartinR]

There is an Eastwood along Eastwood Road, near where the road to Knowle Hill comes in.  Again it is just a scattering of houses.  The question therefore is whether "Eastwood Common"  is the same or different to Eastwood itself.  If the latter then possibly Broadstone might be the location.  The 1892-1914 25" OS map labels Eastwood, Broadstone and Grafty Green just as at present.

Another thought on Grafty Green, if it was written with a long "S" it would be Graſsley Green.  Given the lack of standardisation in spelling, Graſly might be a variant and it is quite possible that a late 19thC hand might misread this as Grafty Green.  Who knows?

[johnfilmer]

About 15years ago a couple of local worthies compiled a book of the village history. They gave every house a copy, which I found excellent reading.

Unfortunately when we moved after 31years, I generously left it at the house for the new owners, along with two aerial photos, one from the 60s (pale blue Standard Vanguard phase3 outside), and another from about 2005, with our debris in evidence (vans, horsebox, Land Rover, employees cars etc) in the yard that we created where the old pig pens had been.

We were in the hamlet of Broadstone, to which Hasted may be referring, as the lane close by is Eastwood Road.

[John Walker]

Thanks MartinR.  That name always made me wonder where it came from.

Next GTP arriving very soon.

[MartinR]

From Hasted's Kent (1798)¹:

From the church [St. Nicholas', Boughton Malherbe] southward the hill declines, and not far from the bottom of it is the village, or to say more properly, the hamlet of Grassley-green, and not far from it Eastwood common, with another smaller hamlet of houses on the lower side of it.

So "Grafty Green" was originally "Grassley-green", presumably on account of the relatively poor land in much of the rest of the parish of Broughton Malherbe.

¹https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp397-415

[John Walker]

Before we move on, does anyone on here know the origin of the name of Grafty Green ?

[MartinR]

Location information:

• Nat Grid:                    TQ 87258 48924
• Nearest Post Code:   ME17 2AZ
• Co-ords (WGS84):     51°12'32"N,000°40'46"E or 51.20882,0.67944

FYI, if you look back at the previous dates for GSV you can see it as a PO in March 2009, as a shop without the PO in Mar 2021 and how it is now in Mar 2023.  The wall mounted letterbox was in still in use in 2021, but in 2023 was blocked off and a new one erected opposite.

[johnfilmer]

As an aside, a previous Post Master kept koi carp. We had a very active heron (I lived about half a mile away and saw it frequently). He netted the pond, heron walked on the net, then struck through it.

So Bernard got a fibreglass heron to put next to the pond, so that the real one would avoid trespassing on another’s patch. When he looked a couple of days later, there was the heron using his fibreglass replica as a convenient perch to plan his attack. The heron eventually ate all the carp and moved on.