Guess the Place

[MartinR]

The 1880 (Wesleyan) Methodist Chapel has indeed been pulled down, the site is now the car park for the "new" (1983) Methodist Church.  That date is a little suspect however, the "new" church is in fact the schoolroom for the old chapel, and so is probably older than the "old" chapel.  Quite often on sites like this the schoolroom was put up first, quite quickly, and used as a chapel until the larger (and more expensive) main building could be built.

See:

• https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3522079,0.6691266,3a,89y,300.55h,87.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMJQ3wNYkFLWtnjZnAkcZ9A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1?entry=ttu
• https://www.mywesleyanmethodists.org.uk/content/chapels/kent/newington-wesleyan-methodist-chapel
• https://www.nkmethodists.org.uk/churches/medway-swale/newington.html

The NLS overlay on the1892-1914 25" OS map https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19.2&lat=51.35221&lon=0.66843&layers=168&b=1 shows the change, but be aware there is a slight east-west misalignment between the map and the current view.

[johnfilmer]

It is indeed Newington. In my haste I only quickly checked Legh Street, but after I had posted checked the pubs web site and there it was, so I reasoned that it wouldn’t last long.

The Methodist church has been replaced, the station rebuilt to accommodate the four lines that start there and run nearly to Rainham, and most of the pubs and useful village shops of my youth are gone. Even the public toilets that stood by the bus stop have long gone. Progress?

Back to you Stewie 😀

[MartinR]

Grr, beaten to the post whilst I checked!  Well done Stewie.

I notice that Legh Street is now Station Road (that one had me chasing around Manchester).  The station's pub is now "Medi-Aid (UK)"  the Wesleyan Chapel is now simply the Methodist Church.  The Widows' home is still standing, but now appears to be private houses, I was looking for an almshouse there.  Out of interest, the spot heights in Church Lane are given in your map as 89' and 100' whereas the 1892-1914 25" OS map gives 90' and 98' respectively.

[Stewie]

Newington?

[johnfilmer]

Apologies for delay, unexpected visitors.

Following on from Stewie's question, I've gone for a railway one, a simple map (1906/8).

Where is the station? It still exists, in much altered form, but still a station.

[John Walker]

That was a good(s) one Stewie. Can you forward a link to that map please - it looks a good one as I only have earlier ones linked.

[Stewie]

Yes Johnfilmer it is the goods yard at Rochester (although known as Chatham Goods Yard). There is a good link to the history of this building here:

https://kentrail.org.uk/rochester_goods_depot.htm

The shed was very large and the left hand door in the picture was for rail traffic with road traffic via the central door to the right. The wooden platform that I was standing on allowed from the transfer of goods from rail to road and vice versa. At the time I took the picture, the office attached to the building was still in use for booking freight.

The building can be seen (circled) on the 1936 OS map of the area as a comparison against the present layout of houses, shops and a hotel occupying the former yard now.

Over to you johnfilmer

[johnfilmer]

Rochester goods shed?

[Stewie]

Not Sittingbourne Martin R, stay on the train towards London.

[MartinR]

Well if I head towards London from Whitstable, and its not Faversham, then perhaps Sittingbourne somewhere?

[Stewie]

Not Whitstable Martin R, head towards London

[MartinR]

Whitstable?

[Stewie]

Not Faversham, Johnfilmer but you’re heading in the right direction, the building is no longer there and has been replaced by a housing development 🤓👍

[johnfilmer]

Faversham?

[Stewie]

Not Dover JohnWalker