Borstal, Past and Present

by Norman Clout

The Parish of St. Matthew

INTRODUCTION

Those who work away from the Medway Towns, particularly in London, know only too well what a variety of reactions are met with on the announcement that one hails from Borstal! These range from mild amusement to sheer incredulity. One should always hasten to point out that Borstal village existed long before Borstal Institution. At least, however, the Borstal System has made our name known throughout the world, but how much do residents know about their own village?

In his book on Kent, Arthur Mee says that Borstal is a village of an idea and a story, the idea being that bad boys can be made good, and the story is of the Seven Lamps of Damascus - already recounted in these pages. The following notes aim to take us round the Parish, to look back on its history and to kindle interest in its past and its present makeup. We residents take so much for granted that it is often only when we show visitors around that we realise what an interesting place it is.

Do we know where our Parish boundaries run, when our own road was laid down, how old is out Parish Church, who open the Medway Bridge (and when), what was the size of our village even as recently as 1939, what happened during the last war, what preceded the present bus services, and so on... This little booklet may stimulate you to make your own investigations; it has already taken you into our Church and now invites you to look around the Parish.

PARISH BOUNDARIES

Until a few years ago, the Clergy, Church-Wardens and Choir of our Church used, on Rogation Sunday every year, to tour the Parish Boundaries and to "beat the bounds". The Parish has approximately the shape of a triangle with its apex close to Fort Clarence, where St. Margaret's Street and Borstal Road join. One side of the triangle follows (along the middle of) the River Medway as far as Ring's Hill Farm. From there it goes "cross-country" to the Rochester Maidstone Road by the airport. From there, across Priestfields (taking in Foords Almshouses) and through the allotments to Fort Clarence.

THE FIRST "BORSTAL"

Several years ago, I was cycling in Essex and visited the picturesque village of Finchingfield. In the Church-yard, I was intrigued to find a monument to Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise, Lord Lieutenant of Essex and "founder of the Borstal Institutions". So this explained why in our Parish we have a Sir Evelyn Road, a row of houses occupied almost exclusively by members of the Institution staff. Sir Evelyn, a noted reformer, propounded his ideas on the reform of young offenders as far back as 1902, and the convict prison on the hill above our village gave place to the new concept - which took its name from the village. The idea "caught on", and now there are many "Borstal Institutions". The BBC usually refer to our as the "Rochester Borstal", and most people away from here express surprise at there actually being a village named Borstal - apparently to them it has alway been just a technical word.

The grounds of our Institution cover many acres, containing the "houses" where the boys live, workshops in which they are taught a variety of trades, and last - but by no means least - a Chapel. Besides a Governor and a Deputy Governor, there is a full-time Anglican Chaplain. The latter post has been filled over the years by some remarkable men. It is no easy task which the Anglican and the (visiting) Romand Catholic and Non-Conformist Church Chaplains seek to do, but an absolutely vital job.

Many of the boys learn farming here, and the Institution is surrounded by many acres of agricultural land for this purpose. How few motorists, speeding down to the coast along the M2 motorway, realise that, surmounting the hill above them, is our Borstal Institution, and that the M2 itself here passes along the fringe of Institution farming land. A steep climb up from the village brings us to a road, bounded by a heavily-protected wall and fence, as we approch the main entrance of the Institution. The grounds fronting this are always well-kept and, in summer, the flower beds, so beautifully tended by the oys, are themselves worth a visit to see. On one side is the boys' swimming pool and, round the corner, is the fine cricket ground and Staff Social Club building.

The Institution buildings are naturally subject to strict security precautions, and nowadays one seldom sees the boys down in the village, or, as formerly, in the neighbouring towns. In pre-war days they were more in evidence - in their regulation shorts. Indeed, for a time, they ran very competent band which gave Saturday afternoon concerts in Rochester Castle Gardens.

FORT BORSTAL

As we leave the Institution and make our way back down to the village, we pass on our left a rather mysterious hump, like some ancient British earth-work. This crowns the steep hill overlooking the village and the Medway valley, and is one of a series of old forts that ring the Medway Towns - Fort Darland, Fort Luton, Fort Horsted, Fort Bridgewood, Fort Borstal, Fort Clarence and Fort Amherst. Some of these were part of the national plan to coutner a possible Napoleonic invasion, and all have since been put to a variety of uses.

For those of use who lived here during the last war, Fort Borstal is most memorable for the group of anti-aircraft guns then mounted on it. German bombers often flew over this area, especially on their raids on London and were met by a barrage of fire from Fort Borstal, which shook our houses to such an extent that we sometimes thought bombs had actually dropped close to us (as did, indeed, occasionally happen).

THE MEDWAY BRIDGE

In our descent of the School Path, perhaps the most striking single object in view is the M2 motorway bridge, which spans the Medway, a quarter of a mile to our left. Those who have only known Rochester, with its main street traffic jams, in recent years, may be amused to know that many of us were sanguine enough to believe that, when the bridge was opened in 1963, our problems would be solved. In fact, fifteen years later, the situation seems to be worse than ever. How much worse it would have been without the M2 hardly bears contemplating.

The bridge was a huge project, and was commenced in 1961. When opened in 1963 by the then Minister of Transport, Mr. Ernest Marples, it was said to be the longest single-span pre-stressed concrete bridge in Europe. The late-night din of pile-driving in the early days is still not forgotten by any who lived within a couple of miles of it! Several workmen fell off the structure in the early stages - until safety nets were installed.

Even those of us who are not enamoured of much modern building construction have come to accept the Medway Bridge as a comparatively elegant part of the contemporary scene. Whilst it copes primarily with fast through traffic, which skirts our Parish on its way to the coast, it also provides local residents with two footpaths and cycle tracks across to Cuxton, and, from the half-way point, one hundred feel above high-water level, with fine views both up and down the Medway valley.

"MEN OF KENT"

We now come down to the River Medway, that historic "divide" between "Kentish Men" (who live west of the river) and "Men of Kent" (those living east - that's us - just!) This gives us an excuse to quote Edwin Harris, who, some fifty years ago, was Rochester's leading antiquarian. He was a familiar figure in the district and wrote a series of one-penny booklets on local history. One, published as far back as 1897, is entitled "A trip up the River Medway". He wrote "...nothing is more natural than that we should have a trip up the river, which is one of the most enjoyable journeys that can be taken; the river on either side is bounded by hills, while the slopes are all in a state of cultivation, and makes an ever-changing and charming scene. Here we shall not fail to notice the number of cement works as we proceed up the stream, which, while whitenening the banks of the river, and casting a smoky atmosphere over the sky, does not fail to bring wealt and commerce to the adjoining towns and gives employment to hundreds of men".

CHALK PITS

It is not so many years since many of us were complaining iun Borstal about the sulphurous smoke emitted from the cement works referred to by Edwin Harris! Fortunately, filtering now seems to have become more successful, and our air is much the purer for it. For nearly a century, the suitable quality of the Medway water - plus the easily accessible supplies of chalk from the bordering hills, has established cement as a major industry hereabouts. The number of works, however, is much smaller than formerly, and derelict sites are to be found upstream. In our own Parish, the labyrinth of brick arches from old works on the river bank, in which we used to play as youngsters (known as "The Ruins") vanished with the coming of the Medway Bridge.

At the bottom of Manor Lane stood also, at one time, the Manor Cement Works. These had a loading wharf on the present Medway Marina site, with a small railway running into the two adjacent chalk pits (which were linked by a tunnel, fifty feet below ground) which carried the quarried chalk down to the works and to the barges at the wharf. The pit nearer the river was largely filled in and on part of its site now stands Farmdale Avenue. The other pit, now fenced in, but well wodded, still exists to the rear of Mansel Drive. From our bedroom window in Manor Lane we have, in fact, recorded the astonishing "dawn chorus" emanating from the birds in the trees in this second pit.

WORLD WAR II

1939 put Borstal "in the front line" and many of the residents were convinced that the tunnel just mentioned, running under Manor Lane, was, with its depth and brick and flint lined interior, potentially one of the best air-raid shelters in Kent. The local authorities declined, however, to take responsibility for it on the grounds that the approach to it was unsafe. We "locals" accordingly formed a working party to construct a sage, if steep, hand-railed path down to it from Manor Lane and formed our own committe to "run" it. During the height of the "blitz", upwards of two-hundred people slept down there every night, and many were the astonishing - and amusing - scenes one recalls from those grim days. Beds and bedding of all sorts were transported thither, as each family "staked its claim". One man had a very loud snore, another had notoriously smelly feet, whilst another (older residents will recognise our old friend Bill Reeves) would stand at the entrance and give a running commentary on the apporach of German planes and battles overhead, identifying Heinkels, Messerschmidts, Stuka - and the rest!

Borstal's experiences during the was may hold some interest for our readers, sufficient to warrant comment here. Although we are still a village, we were then - as now - very much part of the Medway Towns community. Many residents still work in Chatham Dockyard and in the local barracks and factories. On the 1st and 2nd of September 1939, the towns underwent a mass invasion of thousands of men called up for the Army and Navy and, with the expectation (not, in fact, realised) that we, as the nearest naval and military base to the Continent, and, having the Dockways and Short's factories so near, would be quickly wiped off the fact of the earth by the German Luftwaffe, the atmosphere was tense. Even more so for the writer of these notes - and his wife - who were married on that fateful weekend (but that is a story to itself!)

September 1939 - Rochester Cathedral's West Front sandbagged against air-raid blast; many wedding parties carrying gas-masks; Short Bros.' factory churning out RAF flying boats; concrete blocks across our main roads as security checks; school-children being evacuated en masse with their teachers; suspension of the domestic telegraphic service; the streets thronged with military and naval uniforms, strict black-outs everywhere after dark - and, in Borstal, as elsewhere, many windows criss-crossed with striped of brown sticky papaer as a precaution against anticipated blast damage...

After the unexpected and uncanny quiet of the first few months, the skies were, in Autumn 1940, often thick with aircraft; then came those ghastly air-raid siren warnings, and, in Borstal, a nightly procession was to be seen, down Manor Lane, to the tunner, described earlier in these notes. Thames Haven petrol tanks - then the London docks - went up ion flames and the great column of smoke could be seen from Borstal, thirty miles away. Perhaps the most vivid memory for us was the advent of the V1s. One Tuesday night, an unidentified flying object came down in the mud at Cuxton - just across the river. Two nights later hundreds of this tupe - which were quickly nick-named "doodle-bugs" - came over us, at no great height, heading for London. That they were unmanned was soon obvious, for the barrage of fire that went up to meet them from this neighbourhood, anti-aircraft missiles of all types and colours, like a gigantic fire-work display, did not divert them one iota from their course. They were perhaps even more forbidding when later they came over singly, often in thick cloud, seemingly just over our heads in Borstal.

...But enough of what we all hope and pray is a thing of the past...

BORSTAL MANOR AND THE CRASKE FAMILY

One of the more remarkable characters in the life of Borstal was Mr. W. R. Craske. He first came to the village in 1870 as clerk in the Borstal Cement Works under the then owner, Mr. Samuel Barker Booth. He progressed quickly to become successively Manager, the Owner, and also bough Cuxton and Wickham works, just across the river, together with a fleet of barges. He became a man of much influence locally, J.P., educationalist, school manager, farmer, and, in all but name, "Lord of the Manor". He bought Borstal Manor (alas, pulled down some twenty five years ago) with thirty acres of farm land, in about 1900. In his works, he employed virtually all the men in the village - which then consisted of only a handful of roads, apart, of course, from the convict prison on the hill above. Mr. Craske was also something of a philantropist, and, when illness struck an employee's family, the children would go to the Craske household to be given free milk. In the event of a severe winter, the local people, whose standard of living was very low, would go to his house to be given buckets of coal from his works' supplies.

BORSTAL BAPTIST CHURCH

In 1880, Samuel Barker Booths built what is now Borstal Baptist Church, primarily as a place of recreation for his employees at Borstal Cement Works. Mr. W. R. Craske took over from him - at least Mr. Craske's wife, a keep Baptist did. At first, the ground floor was used as a recreation woom, and Non-Conformist services were held in a nearby house. With increasing attendances, the services were transferred to the room above the recreation room; indeed, in the earliest days, some Anglican services were also held in this building. The premises continued to be known for years as Borstal Institute, laster as Borstal Chapel, then as Borstal Free Church, and, finally, in comparatively recent times, as Borstal Baptist Church. For a hundred years, this place has had an increasing influence on the life of the community through its Sunday services, week-night meetings, and, at one period for some years, as the base of a Provident Club. It was served by a succession of lay-pastors, the most notable being Mr. Frank Feltham, a local school attendance officer, who, with his family, was associated with it from 1920 onwards. Following his death, the Church became officially a Baptist Church, and the pastor's son, the Rev. Stanley Feltham, came back to Borstal as its first Minister. At one time, one talked of "The Church" and "The Chapel", as though "never the twain should meet"! However, that is now all changed and there is close friendship and fellowship betweem the two communities. We now, from time to time, have joint Services in each other's Churches; at Christmas, Easter and Harvest Festival we deilver joint greetings cards to every house in the Parish, and the pople of Borstal know that we stand for a united Christian witness.

BORSTAL STREET

Borstal Street is, of course, the hub of village activities, a much busier thoroughfare now than in the days when the trams came thus far from Rochester. Between Cookham Hill and Manor Lane it has changed very little in the main in the past sixty yeats, as surviving photographs will testify. From Manor Lane to the southern end of the village , however, is quite another story. "The White Horse" alone survives of the three original public houses in this part of the village. Gone are "The Walnut Tree", "The Good Intent" and also the forge, and the cottages on the east side. In this area was housed the local air-raid siren that so often wailed over our heads during World War II. A modern block of flats for our older citizens now occupies the site. The comparatively modern residences of Wouldham Road lead us down to where the motorway bridge alone separates us from the still open countryside.

MANOR LANE

Manor Lane, as it was until nineteen years ago, would hardly be recognisable to many present-day residents. Those of us who were at the Mathematical School back in the twenties (rapidly reducing numbers!) knew it well, for our School Football Ground was then what is now Riverside Sports Ground, and here some of us learned to ride a bicycle! In those days, our annual cross-country run was twice round a two-and-a-half mile course, starting up Manor Lane, along Nashenden Lane to the farm, over this hills and back via Ring's Hill Farm and along the river bank. Manor Lane was a narrow muddy lane, with high banks - covered with blackberry bushes - on each sides, and dairy pastures where the flats of Cambria Avenue and Cordelia Cresecent now stand. To the right, descending, were Borstal Cottages (still here but recently renovated), Upper and Lower Oast Cottages (demolished about 1963), and lower still the Manor House, standing in its own orchard land. This was latterly converted into flats - and eventually demolished, to give place to the new dwellings of lower Manor Lane and Mansel Drive. The Lane finished close to the river, at the pig farm of Mr. Fred Drury. No Marina then existed and Manor Lane, if more muddy then than now, was certinaly a more peaceful palce than the modern suburban road it has since become.

THE TRAMS

The bus stop was moved to its present site outside our Parish Church when Manor Lane was widened. Formerly, a triangular piece of land divided the top of the lane and there was a wooden bus shelter... which brings us to local transport. The local monopoly (with the National Bus Co.) of the Maidstone and District Motor Services - so far as town services are concerned, followed that of the Chatham and District Traction Co., which was instituted in 1930 to succeed, with petrol buses, the former tramsway service.

Early in the Autmn of 1930, those of us who were still at school hurried from home one moring to see the wonderful new brown and cream double- deck petrol buses that appeared on the main streets of the Medway Towns, to replace the old electric trams. The latter had always seemed to us a permanent part of the landscape - as, indeed, they had been since 1902. Many of us had regarded them as the world's worst trams - apart from the rattling, "boneshaker", chocolate-coloured, wide-gauge trams which ran between Gravesend and Woolwich. It is true that they did not boast of much in the way of comfort, but they did maintain a regular service. Our service was known as Chatham and District Light Railway Co., and its vehicles, like the Gravesend-Woolwich trams, but unlike those of the London County Council, never had covered upper decks. The only concession to comfort consisted of tarpaulin sheets which were slung over the (empty) seats upstairs during rainy weather. Neither did the driver or conductor - in reversible positions at front and back (according to the direction of the journey) - stand behind glass windows. They braved the elements, with only a roof over their heads. Which recalls a certain driver, the fattest man I ever saw; he weighed twenty-two stone, and it is said that he never did success in climbing the curving stairs to the upper deck! Nevertheless, he was one of the most cheerful of men and his rosy features were a familiar sight as he sped along the New Road, gaily singing at the top of his voice.

Borstal was very much a part of the tram-way system. Even with the buses, until very recent times, the route had always been BORSTAL-STRAND (GILLINGHAM) or rather, early on, SHALDERS ARMS, for this was in the days before Gillingham's "sea-side" attractions were dignified with the name of "STRAND". Before 1908, there was no public transport to Borstal. The present-day bus service through Borstal to Wouldham was a much later innovation. First came the lay-out of the road over Priestfields. At the start, the trams from the town climbed the Maidstone Road and terminated at Delce Grange (by the site of the modern Roman Catholic Church of St. John Fisher). Even this line was only single-track, with two "passing loops". The line was then extended through open country across Priestfields, with one "passing loop" near the present-day site of Foords Almshouses and another near Cookham Hill. The retaining wall in Borstal Street, still with us, made the roadway too narrow for another "passing loop" and the resultant single-track terminated at the top of Manor Lane. The single fares to Star Hill and Chatham Fire Station were 1d. and 1½d. respectively, and these continued with the succeeding buses until some years after the 1938-1945 war.

The Chatham and District Traction Co., which replaced the trams in October 1930, although it was in fact a subsidary of the Maidstone and District Motor Services, for several years maintained its own identity, but was eventually "swallowed up" by its parent company. The size of the buses made existing termini impractical, and the Borstal route was extended to Silver Hill, and, later, to the motorway bridge.

Older Borstal residents will recall the trams - not only to Borstal, but also adventurous trips on these clanking, swaying vehicles to distant rural Rainham (much of the way on lines running through the fields); not to mention Frindsbury, from which terminus we walked to our local holiday resort "Upnor-on-the-mud", for a day's crab fishing!

NASHENDEN

One of the saddest events in the history of Borstal was the mutilation - and virtual destruction - of one of the loveliest walks in the Medway area, by the coming of the motorway. Until 1961, it was possible to leave the main street of the village, at the top of Manor Lane, and, within a minute or two, to be in the heart of the country. For, just along Nashenden Lane, one became almost unaware of any houses at all, and, at the slope just beyond Silver Hill, one passed through a kind of rocky defile, to gain a completely unspoilt view of miles of wooded country. High hedgerows, alive with blackberries, took one along to Nashenden Farm past the only hop-garden in the neighbourhood. The farm and the hop-garden still survive, but, to reach them, it is now necessary to go by way of Wouldham Road, under the motorway bridge and take the modern road running parallel with the noise of the motorway, until turning into the farm.

The Manor of Nashenden is of very ancient origin and has long been the property of the Wardens of Rochester Bridge. We read that, in the year 1400, the farm was re-srocked with four horses and four oxen. Ploughs and other implements were bought - and seed to sow; wheat, barley, peas, vetch and oats. Labourers were hired to plough and were paid 1s. 5d. an acre, and 1s. 6½d. an acre for fallow land turned over in the summer. A man received 2d. a day for harrowing and 2½d. a day to "clod" i.e. to break with his feet the clods of earth left by the plough. At harvest time a carter was hired, and a man to "pitch the sheaves" up to him. In addition to their wages of 4d. a day, the harvesters received their food, which consisted of bread and meat, ale and fish, while drinking vessels called "doblers" were provided for their use. So much for the "good old days"!

Incidentally, even the motorway has not been able to spoil another of the best views in the district. From the Institution buildings, above Nashenden, one still gets a view that incorporates all that is characteristic of the Medway valley - wooded hills, cherry orchards, a hop-garden, oast houses, a distant puff of cement smoke, and, of course, the river itself, winding its way down form Maidstone.

FOORDS ALMHOUSES

Within our Parish stand what are undoubtedly some of the most attractive Almshouses in Britain. As we approach Borstal from Rochester along Priestfields, we cross the Parish boundary (which runs through "the dip"), and, at the top of the next slope, in a striking position, we find the Foords Almshouses. Here are nearly seventy homes for single people and married couples, a community of individual homes, really artistic in their layout, as well as being very well equipped within. Whereas so many modern architects have provided ugly "boxes" or nightmare-like fantasies, here was obviously an architect of taste.

The original houses (there is now an annexe at the rear) are grouped around a great lawn - with a handsome bandstand in the middle of it. The "centre-piece" of Foords is the beautifully designed Hall, capped by a green-domed tower, and front by a magnificent wistaria. This Hall is always open and the residents are happy to show visitors round; for the interior of the Hall is a little gem, with a series of paintings around the walls, illustrating the history of Rochester, culmination in the building of the Almshouses themselves.

Thomas Hellyer Foords was a notable resident - and Mayor - of Rochester in the late 19th century, and it was his munificent legacy that provided what are known locally simply as "Foords". And what better monument could any man have? The Almshouses were formally opened in 1927 by Prince Arthur of Connaught. Several members of the congregation of St. Matthews are residents at Foords and the Vicar is the official Chaplain.

OPEN SPACES

Earlier in these notes the boundaries of our Parish were outlined. It is not always appreciated, with the increased urbanisation and "traffication" of the vilalge itself, how much of the Parish nevertheless still consists of open space. Hundreds of residents here are now grouped into three-story flats and many others are crowded together in small houses, but luckily we all have plenty of breathing space, for within Borstal we are fortunate to retain hundreds of acres of open land.

Between us and Rochester are the breezy heights of Priestfields playing fields, much of which lie in this Parish, a glorious and healthy expanse which might well be the envy of many another town or village. Between Shorts Way (not so long ago itself the site of hundreds of "allotments") and Manor Lane, we have the Riverside Sports Field and recreation grounds, a legacy of the Short brothers.

The Institution retains a considerable area of farm land, and the remainder of the Parish beyond the motorway is almost entirely occupied as first-rate agricultural land. So, in spite of the outward sprawl of the Medway Towns, Borstal can still be classified as a "country village"!

SHORT BROTHERS

Apart from all the land space, of course, we have the Medway running the whole length of our Parish. It presents (at high tide, at any rate!) a fine sheet of water, particularly at the point that the "locals" have always called "Safety Bay". Here used to take off, and "land", the great flying boats built at the works of Short Brothers, themselves lying partly within the Parish. It was a serious blow to the Medway Towns when this firm decided to move to Belfast in 1948, as the ever-increasing size of their aircraft made even the wide stretch of river at Borstal inadequate. It has to be admitted that, although many residents appreciated the awesome beauty of the flying boats, those of us whose livelihood was not directly involved in their manufacture heaved a great sigh of relief, for the noise and the potential disaster of these giant aircraft, skimming our house tops, had become a real worry to us!

BORSTAL ROAD

One area of Borstal that tends to get overlooked as being in our Parish is Borstal Road, partly because it is usually referred to as Borstal Road, Rochester. Yet the whole of it, from the boundary with St. Margaret's Parish, to its junction with Borstal Street and Priestfields, is within the Parish of St. Matthew's. Until the coming of Priesfields, it was the only road link between our village and Rochester. In recent years its character has changed greatly. At one time, it was the residence of many notable citizens of Rochester and more than one elderly village recalls going "into service" in "the big house" in Borstal Road. In the main, for good or ill, the days of maid-servants are gone, and sadly one sees many of these erstwhile distinguished residences being turned into flats. Further, the beautiful neighbouring meadows and woodlands near "The Goddings" have become the housing area of Goddings Drive.

Yet despite these changes, Borstal Road retains a semi-rural character, for the housing is still confined to the west side and the east side preserves its wooded banks, screening the rear of Foords Almshouses, the Cathedral Cemetary and the King's School playing fields. Passing along here in early morning, it is still possible to appreciate the wealth of birdsong - and on a clear morning the distant view across the Medway valley, where the "Kentish Men" (not really so very different from us "Men of Kent"!) reside.

THE MEDWAY AS DICKENS KNEW IT

The population of our Parish has greatly increased in recent years. The coming of blocks of flats - and houseboats - has meant that many present day residents constitute a "floating population", some in more senses than one! Yet, at the heart of the village remain families whose collective memories extend back to pre-war days.

If we go back to 1878, the year of the dedication of the Parish Church, however, we can only wonder at the provision of what was for then such a large building for what must have been a very small population. For most of our older houses were built to accomodate the families of the men working in the local cement industry, which can, at that time, barely have arrived to disfigure what was almost entirely an agricultural landscape. Our Parish formed part of the scene immortalised by Charles Dickens in "Pickwick Papers":

"...Bright and pleasant was the sky, balmy was the air, and beautiful the appearance of every object around, as Mr. Pickwick leant over the balustrades" (these now border the Esplanade) "contemplating nature, and waiting for breakfast. The scene was indeed one which might well have charmed a far less reflective mind than that to which it was presented... On either side, the banks of the Medway, covered with cornfields and pastures, with here and there a windmill or a distant church, stretched away as far as the eye could see, presenting a rich and varied landscape... the river, reflecting the clear blue sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on..." (No industrial pollution then, or houseboats or Medway bridge!)

THE RIVERSIDE

Running parallel with, and below, Borstal Road, from Rochester to Borstal village, is the riverside, linking the old bridge and the Esplanade with our Parish. From the time of the building of the factory of Short Bros., the wide road we know as the Esplanade has linked Rochester High Street and the Bridge with the main factory entrance just below St. Margaret's Church. Until the last war, the only factory on the riverside was, in fact, Short Bros. (now occupied by C.A.V. and several othe rfirms) and, beyond the entrance, there was only a narrow footpath, originally a tow-path (fronting the factory) to Borstal. After the war, this became a road, wide enough to service the various factory entrances, eventually turning away from the river into the even more recently constructed Shorts Way with its tributary roads named after Short's aircraft.

From the footpath, I was one of hundreds of "Math." schoolboys who, with a special afternoon's leave, witnessed the departure of the famous airman, Sir Alan Cobham, for his historic sea-plane flight to Australia in 1927. Beyond here, what was at one time a purely rural walk has lost some of its character, with the coming of nearby modern housing, the "Marina" boatyard and mooring berths, and the M2 motorway bridge. However, the whole length of this riverside walk remains a public right of way, past the Riverside Sports Ground, the foot of Manor Lane and "Safety Bay" (once with its tiny sandy beach, quite a local "resort" - now reduced to mud) all the way to our neighbouring village of Wouldham. As it leaves the village of Borstal, the path passes one of the oldest parts of the village, Brambletree Cottages, with, nearby, another old-established and always well-kept area, the handsome green field of Borstal Cricket Club.