Newsletter

Berengrave LNR, where history & nature come together

Issue 32 Nov 2014

Chairman’s Letter • Work with Council, the site owners, to conserve and enhance the Well, another year has flown by and we are again existing biodiversity looking forward to Christmas with its customary • Encourage public interest in, and celebrations, so our next member’s meeting, on legitimate use of, the site December 5th, will have that in mind. Mince pies • Promote the use of the site for educational and sausage rolls will be available in addition to and scientific purposes the usual cake and biscuits. Feel free to bring a • Research the history of the site, maintain small contribution of your own festive fare for the and publish this historical information for benefit of all. public benefit

As suggested at the last committee meeting, a It is obvious that over the years our influence and meeting was set up with Daniel Gooch from RCP support with the council has declined to zero. As a (Riverside Country Park), Richard Lusted (FoB) and ‘Friends’ group, without the full support of the myself. This took place on 18th September and the council we are powerless to do anything towards outcome was a general agreement that FoB were the above objectives. The only one we have been powerless to actually do anything in the reserve as, successful in is the last one. due to the extensive flooding, the working conditions down there are currently impossible. With this in mind we need to know from the Council workers and contractors under the members just where FoB now stands in the direction of RCP are doing their best to keep things community and what is the future to be. tidy and accessible. We also suggested that the war memorial plaque be fixed in a more secure As, I see it. The Nature reserve is almost position, as it had originally been fixed by Brian impossible to walk round; trees are falling down on Baker (our first Chairman). Daniel said he would a regular basis, the boardwalks are rotting and look into this and to see what could be done. could soon be closed under Health & Safety, seats However, as it had not yet fallen down, RCP would and other items of ‘furniture’ are constantly being only monitor it on an ongoing basis as they had no vandalised. time to spare to do the necessary work. The membership needs to consider whether FoB The men of the British Standard Cement Works should be wound up as a group and we named on the memorial plaque were honoured in disassociate ourselves from anything to do with the usual way on the 11th November by FoB the Nature Reserve and . Under members, with representatives of the Roof family FoB’s constitution, our assets would have to be (spelt Ruth on the plaque) in attendance. sold off and the money gifted to a suitable charity of the member’s choice. In the last newsletter I suggested that if anyone wanted to see the model Fraser Miller has made of Possibly, as a group of likeminded people we could the wash mills, it could be seen at my house. So still come together for meetings as a ‘nature far only one person has asked to see it. appreciating group’ with talks and discussions on various members’ interests. So please try and This brings me to a very serious matter regarding attend the next member’s meeting to help find a the future of FoB, and it requires the involvement solution to our future. of ALL FoB members. Eddy Newport Winding uupp FoB as a support group. Chairman FoB Our original objectives were:

>>>>>>>> www.friendsofberengrave.btck.co.uk <<<<<<<<

Next Member’s Meeting the plaque, by the Mayors of Gravesham and Medway) was filmed and if anyone is interested The next meeting will be at 7.00 pm on Friday 5th Eddy Newport has a copy. December, 2014 (doors open 6.45 pm) at the Methodist Church Hall, in Wakeley Road, Rainham. Why FoB has become ineffective One of our members is going to give a light hearted talk on Organisations that provide grants do not normally 'The Work of Magistrates’ provide grants to local councils. In the early 00’s the Government decided that by setting up With the amount of anti-social behaviour and ‘Friends Groups’ from local residents, these groups vandalism the Reserve has endured over the years could apply for grants on behalf of their councils. this should be interesting. We stress it is a light hearted look with an interesting twist. For instance, the Heritage Lottery Fund would not have given a grant to Medway Council to build the The usual refreshments, plus some seasonal fare, steps and boardwalks in Berengrave LNR. will be available after the talk, giving an However, a Friends Group could ‘theoretically’ opportunity to meet and chat with your fellow obtain the council’s permission to install the steps, members. Guests are very welcome but, will be etc., and then apply for a grant. If the grant was charged an entry fee of £2. forthcoming they would then obtain quotes for the work, engage a contractor to carry out the work and pay that contractor directly from their funds. Notes of Committee Meeting 29 th October, 2014. This, essentially, is why in 2005 the council asked me to set up FoB from an ad-hoc group of people The Chairman and Treasurer had a meeting with who had previously shown interest in the reserve. the Council which the Chairman has covered in his In this case the application for a grant to install report. steps and boardwalks never went ahead because Fraser Miller (Historian, FoB) is moving to Hoo and the process of setting up FoB and applying for the we will therefore lose his expert knowledge on the grant took too long, so the council used money archaeological history of the site. from another source. However, FoB still went ahead with the grant application, but changed the It was decided to offer the assets of FoB for sale as requirements to the provision of ‘interpretation we have not been allowed to use them for the past panels’ (notice boards), information brochures and few years and we do not envisage being able to for the booklet which we distributed to local schools years to come. Details in the Newsletter. and libraries.

The Secretary also informed the meeting that, due Grant providers are not stupid people. It did not to failing eyesight, she would not be standing for take them long to realise that their rules on re-election at the AGM providing grants were being circumvented. The Pat Clare, Secretary, FoB next grant application which FoB made was

rejected on the grounds that FoB neither owned the land nor rented it. FoB was no longer capable Armistice Day 2014 of carrying out the main function for which we were set up. Our usefulness declined and council FoB held a Ceremony of support for us waned. Remembrance Tuesday 11th November to honour those men FoB could have continued as a workforce to who worked in the British undertake simple maintenance tasks within the Standard Cement Works and reserve, but council employees now looked upon gave their lives in World War 1. us as a threat to their jobs and started placing There was a good attendance obstacles in our way. This situation has and the wreath was laid by the deteriorated over the past few years and is now granddaughter of Alfred Roof. intolerable. Everything that FoB offers to do is (Named on the plaque as ‘Ruth’) blocked, normally by quoting locally raised Health The plaque, which is hung in the visitors’ centre & Safety regulations. just outside the entrance to the café was rescued from the depths of the archives of Gravesham by a Regrettably, FoB can no longer function as was past Chairman and originally hung in the large intended. room. The original ceremony of the unveiling of Brian Baker, Ex-Chairman, FoB >>>>>>>> www.friendsofberengrave.btck.co.uk <<<<<<<<

History of Berengrave LNR time ago were discharged from the British Standard Cement Works at Rainham. PART 4 Mr. Maitland found on enquiry that the British Standard Cement Company was in liquidation, Industrial (1901-1931) (Continued) and that the notices of discharge were given

Until 1929 Rainham had been part of Milton Regis either by the Receiver or by the Liquidator of that Rural District Council (now Swale District Council). Company. The business was subsequently With an increasing population Gillingham needed purchased by the Associated Portland Cement to expand, but being bounded to the north by the Manufacturers, and Mr. Maitland has interviewed river Medway, to the south by the Darland Banks, several of their prominent officers. On Tuesday he to the west by the town of Chatham and to the east had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. Davis, by the boundary with Milton Regis, it had nowhere the Works Managing Director, who received most to expand to. Gillingham Borough Council therefore sympathetically Mr. Maitland’s representations. negotiated with Milton Regis Rural District Council Mr Maitland understands that for some time to take over that land between the existing eastern the British Standard Cement Factory was working boundary of Gillingham and Otterham Quay Lane. on an uneconomic basis, and could not possibly This land included Rainham. When the land was continue in manufacture as they had been doing transferred, Gillingham Council officials expressed on a 50 per cent. capacity. It has been decided to concern that no parish council documents for increase the output at other works owned by the Rainham were handed over. Despite requests for Associated Portland Cement Company. From the historical documents being made to Milton further enquiries which Mr. Maitland made there Regis Rural District Council and, more recently, to appears a reasonable prospect of a larger Swale District Council, no records of any kind have number of men being required within the vicinity, ever been received. The most recent enquiry, in and the Works Managing Director has kindly given 2006 by the Friends of Berengrave, elicited the instructions that wherever possible those response that ‘no documentation exists for the experienced in the manufacturing process will be Rainham area’. It is unfortunate, but a large preferred for vacancies as they arise. amount of history for the area, including the chalk We are sure that all those who are interested quarry and the cement works, seems to have been will appreciate Mr. Maitland’s efforts. lost for ever

In 1928 the cement works was substantially The picture below is of Rainham Dock and the modernised, but by this time the demand for cement works. It was taken sometime late in cement was on the decline. The British Standard 1929. The camera is facing south with the dock Cement Company was acquired by the Associated head on the left and open water to the river Portland Cement Company in 1930, but due to Medway on the right falling demand for cement and, possibly, as a result of the depression, the works was closed in 1931 and the site was abandoned

Although cement manufacturing ceased in 1931, chalk quarrying from the Rainham chalk pit continued, on a much reduced scale, until the late 1930’s or possibly the early 1940’s. This chalk went through the cement manufacturing process up to the point when it became ‘clinker’. It was then shipped by barge to other local cement works ‘up river’ for further processing

From the ‘Chatham News’ 6th November, 1931 The storage silos can be seen to the left of the picture, with the cooling tower in the middle RAINHAM CEMENT WORKS distance. The furnaces are to the left of the chimney, on the other side of the silos Mr. Maitland’s Efforts for Unemployed Men A dock-side travelling steam crane can be seen Mr. Adam Maitland, M.P. for this Division, has middle right of the picture interested himself during the last few days in attempting to help a number of men who a short The large barge berthed at the dock head is the ‘Gloria’. On the 29 th December 1929, only a few >>>>>>>> www.friendsofberengrave.btck.co.uk <<<<<<<< weeks after this picture was taken, the ‘Gloria’ was During shooting practice, the targets were running supplies of clay into the dock. The weather apparently set against the chalk face that runs had been very rough for several days, but the craft along the southern edge of the quarry. There is a collecting the mud from the river had still managed story that one Home Guard, firing a sub-machine to keep working. The barges ‘Sphere’ and ‘Ella & gun for the first time, lost control of it and emptied Norman’ were being loaded in one of the mud the magazine over the top of the chalk face into holes near Kingsnorth, while the ‘Gloria’ and the the surrounding countryside! barge ‘Haughty Belle’ were being loaded in another. The ‘Sphere’ followed by the ‘Ella & Local residents used part of the pit for growing Norman’ were the first of the vessels to start the vegetables to supplement their meagre rations. It run back to Rainham Dock, but as it was nearing is also understood that they intended to use the dusk, the light was fading and there was a fierce quarry for protection in the event of air raids in the gale with thunder, lightning and hail, the skipper of area the ‘Sphere’ decided to run for the shelter of Following the Second World War nothing happened Damhead Creek. As they were coming down the to the area other than an increase in its use as an river they passed the ‘Gloria’ and ‘Haughty Belle’ area for recreation. Walking, dog walking and coming out of Stoke Creek. cycling were popular pastimes and, of course, The foul weather kept the ‘Sphere’ locked in tadpole and newt collecting Damhead Creek for two days. When they managed In November 1962, Gillingham Borough Council to get under way again and reach Rainham Dock, (now Medway Council) purchased the chalk quarry they learned that the ‘Haughty Belle’ had run for from the then owner, Lt. Col. Ian Gordon Gill C.B.E. Otterham Creek under just topsail and foresail, but M.C., of 22 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7, for the last they had seen of the ‘Gloria’ was just off the sum of £10,700 with the intention of using it the Bishops Spit buoy. She had capsized in a fierce as a council rubbish dump. (Now euphemistically squall in Kethole Reach with the loss of both crew. referred to as ‘land fill’). Luckily, it was never used The body of the skipper, Captain Ransley, was for this purpose recovered a few days later, but the mate’s was never found The 1960’s were the height of the ‘Cold War’, a period of tension between the western countries Post --- industrial (1931 --- 1984) (NATO) and the Soviet Block (Russia and her Warsaw Pact allies) when the threat of nuclear war Following the closure of the cement works, the was very real. The chalk quarry served one small area of the works itself and of the chalk quarry was service at this time. The old railway lines were left derelict. Nature, however, soon started to removed by some local residents to strengthen the reclaim the area. It is known that as early as the roofs of their home-made nuclear fall-out shelters. late 1930’s, young boys were collecting tadpoles One such resident informed me that this involved and newts from the pond in the centre of the driving his car down into the quarry, cutting the quarry and vegetation had started to inhabit the railway lines into suitable lengths by hand, using area just a hacksaw, and loading them onto the car before driving out again The quarry served no useful purpose until the early 1940’s, when anecdotal information tells us that it A survey of flora and fauna in the chalk quarry, was used by the Home Guard for training and undertaken by the Wildlife Trust in 1974, exercises during World War II discovered the presence of orchids and round- leaved wintergreen, a locally rare plant. They recommended to Gillingham Borough Council that, in order to protect these rare species and to preserve the area for wildlife and the benefit of the public, the quarry should be registered as a nature reserve Brian Baker, Website Manager, FoB ©Friends of Berengrave 2008

Photo courtesy of ‘Civil Defenders’ >>>>>>>> www.friendsofberengrave.btck.co.uk <<<<<<<<