Today's County in the Spotlight:Part 2

[mickthemaverick]

Next to Hertfordshire Kent is my most visited county so my final flag for the thread is very well known to me:

BFTW

Details here.

The location:

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Some places to discover:

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and to add a car saved from an earlier search with the Kent number plate

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[mickthemaverick]

Cities
Canterbury, Rochester

Towns (amongst many others)
Ashford, Bexleyheath, Biggin Hill, Broadstairs, Bromley, Catford, Chatham, Cranbrook
Dartford, Deptford, Deal, Dover, Edenbridge, Eltham, Faversham, Folkestone
Gillingham, Greenwich, Herne Bay, Hythe, Lydd, Maidstone (county town)
Margate, New Romney, Northfleet, Orpington, Paddock Wood, Ramsgate
Royal Tunbridge Wells (partly in Sussex), Sandwich, Sheerness, Sittingbourne,
Snodland, Strood, Swanley, Tenterden, Tonbridge, West Malling, Westerham, Whitstable, Woolwich


I have borrowed Neil's list to decide where to research and coloured places visited green and not visited red. So I'll have a mooch around the red ones to complete my knowledge of the county! Needless to say there are one or two amusing anecdotes to include as well to help give the thread a rousing send off!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice approach Mick! I might have a virtual drive to Hamstreet, Kent. Why Insatiable curiosity of course.

The World of stamps

One of the appearances of Kent on a GB postage stamp was for the Ordnance Survey bi-centenary in 1991 and the area chosen to be honoured was a small portion of Kent, as depicted on the maps for 1816 edition of the 1801 map; the 1906, the 1959, and the 1991 OS maps of the same location.

Of all the possible locations in all of the British Isles they chose the village of Hamstreet in Kent for all 4 stamps to depict the changes in mapping. This gives the first day cover insert which accompanied the issue. Mick may well notice that one of the maps illustrated in the info sheet is "The Ordnance Survey "One Inch" Map for Hertford and St Albans Mounted on Linen Price Three Shillings Net published by the Ordnance Survey Office Southampton.

Kent's Hamstreet was chosen for the 4 stamps though.






Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Hamstreet 1

Approaching Hamstreet on a Virtual Drive, you cross the "Royal Military Canal".

Curiosity tangent 1....Where does it go from/to and why is it called "The Royal Military Canal":?:

There is a sign by the crossing pointing one way a footpath and the other a Byway. It would appear should you so wish you could drive your car on the Byway. Not often you see a "byway" sign.

Approach to Hamstreet Kent

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I have decided to work my way through my red towns and feature a worthy local site and person from each one as well as a link to a website, usually wiki, for more information rather than fill up the thread with lots of prose which you don't want to read

So first stop Cranbrook, where the Union Mill dominates the landscape:

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My choice of famous person is not really a mystery man as he comes from Cranbrook and features in the wiki list in the link below but for a bit of fun anyone recognise him TOH?

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and the link to the information is here.

[NewcastleFalcon]

After my virtual drive around Hamstreet, I would describe it as quite ordinary and unremarkable, nice but not a picturesque gem. On its doorstep is the National Nature Reserve of Hamstreet Woods, no doubt an excellent place for walking and cycling.

Not many locations make it to the honour of appearing on a special issue stamp, but how Hamstreet was picked out of innumerable possibilities for the ordnance survey anniversary stamp is a mystery. On the other hand it had to be somewhere so why not Hamstreet.

Hamstreet Kent virtual tour 4th July 2022

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

My second stop on my tour of the reds is Edenbridge, a pretty place for lunch I'd say!!:

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Another man to tease the brain but as before the answer's in the link below:

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Read all about it here

[NewcastleFalcon]

Vehicle Registration Area Codes pre-1974 for Kent are in red, Canterbury had its own and are in purple.

Too many to do a suitable vehicle for each one, Mick already supplied a KE, looks like Kent monopolised much of the "K" series of codes.

For me I will select one at random excl KE and hope I can find an image. If it's is too hard a search I will randomly select another.

So for me its number 7 KN

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Time for the story I mentioned on a previous county's day.

Sometime ago, before I was married, we decided to have a day out to Margate. At the time my friend Bob was single and I was engaged to my ex-wife. Her brother was engaged to one of her telephonist mates so we all knew each other pretty well. At the time Bob had his Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT almost identical to this one:

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while my brother-in-law to be was driving his Renault 4 almost identical to this one:

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.

Because Bob was on his own and his car had a front bench seat my fiance and I elected to travel with him in that very seat. She sat in the middle as quite rightly Bob preferred to accidentally stroke her knee rather than mine So imagine the two car convoy heading down the M2 having negotiated the Blackwall tunnel and now each man determined to prove he had the better wheels!! It was a trip of continual place swapping as they overtook and re-overtook each other all through the western part of Kent. Eventually Bob spied a fairly steep and very long climb ahead, out of the Medway valley in fact, and said "Right here's our chance to leave them trailing in our wake!" He moved out to overtake and accelerated with kickdown to pass for hopefully the last time. I wound down the passenger window and turned to lean and wave an appropriate 'loser' gesture to signify our superior power. As I turned my head and leant out the oncoming wind took a real fancy to my sunglasses and removed them without hesitation!!

As my ex brother-in-law said at the lunchtime pub "I hope you realise I had to swerve to make sure I destroyed them completely!"

Oddly I didn't replace them then and I have never worn sunglasses since!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

KN

Not that many to find KN was one of those which became described as Maidstone 1974-on previously with a description of Kent...both firmly rooted in Kent of course and appropriate for the thread. I like to go for a pre 74 and out popped this Heinkel



Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Red town tour stop 3, lets us look into Northfleet, a place which mainly grew up around the river as you will find in the link below. One of the common sights during the development period was:

BFTW

and to keep the theme going we have a woman to identify this time:

BFTW Thames barges under sail

Further reading here

[mickthemaverick]

My car number search today has yielded a few Kent numbers:

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[mickthemaverick]

Better late than never, while searching for Kent numbers I came across the perfect Nottinghamshire one which I hadn't been able to find then so I'll slip it in here and hope nobody notices!!

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[mickthemaverick]

The fourth town on my red route is Snodland. I wasn't particularly encouraged when I found a list of the ten best things to do in Snodland - Number 1: Leave!!
Nevertheless I had a look round and found some nice cottages in the high street:

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and a mystery man, although I had to admit he was a complete mystery to me!!:

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Read all about it here

[NewcastleFalcon]

A selection of other occasions when Kent has appeared on special issue postage stamps. The Golden Arrow was a famous train which ran from London to Dover. There will be a video of it...I watched it a little time ago and thought that will do fro Kent's day in the Spotlight (Railway Section). Have to say Kent never even got the briefest mention in Simon Jenkins' 100 best Railway Stations Did have an iconic train though!

Regards Neil