Guess the Place

[Beachbum]

Thanks MartinR, a very detailed photograph. shoot999 has answered my next question, thanks.


The next one has a unusual feature removed, what is missing from the original structure?

[shoot999]

Known as 10 Ton Slip. Small vessels/barges/harbour launches would come in on a rising  tide and rest in a cradle (now removed) to be winched up for a clean and other small jobs. Took me straight back to the 60s where the younger lads from the tug crews would meet up to play football, fish or just chill out.

[MartinR]

I'd a feeling that that one would either go immediately, or make people think.  Well done Beachbum, it is indeed on St. Mary's and represents council extreme short-sightedness.  Why ban people from using the slip?  There are very few places to launch small boats on the Medway,¹ it always seems as though Medway council want to ignore the River Medway!

• Nat Grid:                   TQ773705 / TQ7736570598
• Nearest Post Code:   ME4 3JL
• Co-ords (WGS84):     51°24'24"N,000°32'55"E or 51.40667,0.54874

¹There's only Commodore's Hard in Gillingham on the tidal Medway itself, all others are either private or restricted/charged (Short's Reach, Gillingham Pier).  Other than Gillingham the nearest public slips are Quennborough (on the Swale) or Barton's Point (on the Thames Estuary).  Very poor.

[Beachbum]

Saint Mary's Island, Chatham?

[John Walker]

Looks like a winch for bringing a boat ashore ?

[MartinR]

Right, here's the next one.  No marks for spotting or identifying the water.  What I need to know is where the foreground structure is.

[Stewie]

Bravo Martin R, my next clues were going to be it has a military connection and also a KHF one as the day I was there (in 2010) we were on an organised walk around Brompton. I believe that it was this shelter which had some of the lead removed from the roof a few years ago?
Over to you 

[MartinR]

You were standing at the western end of the northern shelter at the Chatham Naval Memorial, Great Lines, Gillingham.  It is a grade I listed building in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

• Nat Grid:                   TQ762680 / TQ7628168025
• Nearest Post Code:   ME4 4NA
• Co-ords (WGS84):    51°23'02"N, 000°31'55"E or 51.383896,0.531891

Official listing and map: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1267787?section=official-list-entry
War Memorials Online: https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/93080/

[Stewie]

johnfilmer, not a folly but it is part of a grand edifice though not strictly in a garden or park.
Johnwalker, this does not face a rectangular pond.

[John Walker]

Does this face a long rectangular pond ?

[johnfilmer]

Is it inside a folly, or other grand edifice in a garden or park?

[Stewie]

Thank you Johnfilmer, It was the rails in the road that made me think of Rainham and then the church and two public houses just fell into place.
Thank you for your description of the tram route parallel with the A2. The route from Gillingham was a single line with passing loops and coming from the railway industry, I often thought about how this worked without a formal signalling system. Presumably it was done on 'line of sight' so the tram would proceed to the next passing loop if the driver observed the line was clear.
Anyway away from trams, I took the attached picture some time ago but I expect the view remains much the same. So where was I when I took this photo.

[johnfilmer]

Well done Stewie, it is Rainham. The signs of change from rural village include the tram lines that reached to the top of Station Road outside The Cricketers pub, clearly seen on this map. Part of the tram route from The Star/Barnsole Road ran parallel to the A2, which is why there still is housing set back along those parts that survived. It sort of snaked out into the A2 at the top of Berengrave Lane.

The blacksmith forge was still working when I grew up in Maidstone Road in the fifties.

Over to you…

[Stewie]

Rainham?

[johnfilmer]

Still a small village then (1906 survey, pub 1909), but rapidly growing as were many others. We would call it rural then, but not today.