One kilometre Wouldham Community Trail Half a mile 6 Starkey Castle 6 One of the most complete surviving stone-built 7 Wouldham Sculpture The Pilgrims Way, medieval hall-houses in southern England. Built A tribute to the lime kiln often associated with by Sir Humphrey Starkey in 1471 on the site of workers whose industry aided y Chaucer’s Tales, is a a fortified house dated from 1360. W the wealth of the area. The believed to have been s n centre stone, with the river Take care an iron age trade w o During WWII Wouldham was host to Medway, reflects the many on road route, possibly leading D

h His Majesty’s armed forces for t local standing stones, and to Stonehenge. r o training in the building of bridges merits the Medway as a N highway for transport. which would be needed during the Normandy landings. For this work we allowed the American army to come It is thought that there was a over and learn how to do it! ford across the Medway at 4 All Saints Church Wouldham. Here, Romans and y First dating 1058, with many early Norman Britons fought each other for a 3 Wouldham Court Farm House R W s features but mainly Perpendicular. Bells control of the route to London. i m The house is 16th century with a Georgian v i r e g 2 dated 1624 still ringing to date! r l Walk along the North front which was added by a naval sea captain i P M Wouldham Road Downs Way and look some 200 years later. e In 1906 the tusk of a d WOULDHAM through the mammoth, along with a w a magnificent trees near quantity of teeth, was found in y Wouldham 7 3 Peters Pit. The tusk was more 4 School Lane Common. than 3 metres long and can 5 now be seen in Rochester The downs roll away Museum. The site, at the top of Harris’s towards the Medway Copse Knowle Road, is sometimes River and the village. referred to as Skeleton Hill. Take care on road In October 1949 there was great 8 High Street 8 Site of Cement Factory The Tramway excitement at Rectory Wharf, The cement factory was situated on Wouldham, when the body of a the river side where Trafalgar Close narwhal arrived on the shore via the 1 Knowle Road now stands. The industry brought Ferry Steps 1 Medway. It was only the second wealth to the village and the famous A ferry ran to Halling for hundreds of years example of the species to be washed 5 All Saints School Medway barges, maroon sails aglow, until 1963. (A bike was a halfpenny extra!) Ravens ashore in this country in 500 years. The Late Victorian church school which did, and still took goods of all types to ports Mr Stevens, the last ferryman, said he was glad Knowle 2 whale’s body was taken to the Natural does, educate Wouldham’s young brains. Original throughout Kent and London. to be redundant after working 18 hour days! Peters History Museum. school, first built 1867, is used for the infants. Pit © Crown copyright reserved. Kent County Council licence number 100019238. June 2010 100019238. Kent County Council licence number copyright reserved. © Crown Walter Burke COMMUNITY TRAILS Walter Burke, resident of Wouldham, was the oldest man to serve in IN THE MEDWAY GAP the British fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Then Wouldham aged 59, he was the Purser of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory. He is buried in Wouldham churchyard, where the inscription on his gravestone states “... in his arms the immortal Nelson died.” On leaving the navy, Walter Burke This trail is part of the Valley of Visions Community Trails project, came home to Wouldham encouraging people to enjoy, explore and learn about their local where he owned both area and surrounding countryside. Why not explore one of the Purser Place and Burke other community trails in the Medway Gap? House. Both these Visit www.valleyofvisions.org.uk for further information. houses were removed to Maresfield in East For more information about Wouldham visit Walter Burke Day www.wouldhampc.kentparishes.gov.uk Sussex in 1937 but is still celebrated Illustrations – Jo Savage materials from each were used to build a new every year in the house named Purser Place. village, with the school children attending church.

Wouldham FC – Wouldham village Cement works winners of the Wouldham developed from a centuries-old agricultural hamlet to a busy During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the cement factory was Maidstone and industrial village during the 1860s with the building of the Wouldham Wouldham’s main place of employment. This was to change: the District League Cement Company. The population rose from 260 to over a thousand in cement factory closed in 1904 and in the 1920s the industry moved 1907-08 the space of 20 years. Today, Wouldham is mostly a village of terraced completely to the other side of the Medway to take advantage of the cottages originally built for 19th-century cement workers, but the railway for transportation. industry no longer exists here. Previously, the Medway barges carrying cement away from the factory were a frequent sight. The factory was on the river bank where Trafalgar Close is now situated. Similar barges carried agricultural products from a wharf behind the church. Peters Pit (named after the owner) can still be seen behind Ravens Knowle, though is soon to become a housing estate. A tramway ran from here to the cement works, and its route is still known by this name in the village. During this period it is said every front room in the High Street sold ale to supplement their income! Wouldham had a successful football team for a number of years. It was set up by Henry Peters, owner of the cement works, in the late 19th century.