The Lower Medway Valley: local history and community

involvement

Dr Andrew Hann

Introduction

• About EPE and the Kent project

• Involving the local community: some case studies

• Lessons from the experience in Kent

England’s Past for Everyone

• New venture for the Victoria County History

• Ten county-based projects from Cornwall to Durham

• Supported by the £3.4m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund

Objectives of the EPE programme

• To raise awareness of the VCH, and widen access to its existing red volume series

• To involve volunteers from diverse backgrounds in researching and writing local history materials

• To develop new and engaging local history resources for schools

The EPE website

The EPE project in Kent

• Two year project

• Centred on eight parishes in the lower Medway valley

• Explores processes of industrialisation, with focus on brick and cement industries

• Title - ‘Life and work in the lower Medway valley, 1750-1914’

The study parishes

Brick, cement and related industries dominated the Medway economy post 1850

Peter’s works in Wouldham, one of the largest on the river

The Medway valley today

• Loss of staple industries: cement, brickmaking, engineering, dockyards

• Many derelict sites and decaying housing stock

• High unemployment

• High levels of deprivation and low educational achievement

Frindsbury peninsula in the 1900s

Part of the Frindsbury peninsula today

John Austin’s drawings illustrate the Medway landscape of the 1980s

The project in practice

• Successful publicity campaign raised profile of the project

• Over 50 volunteers recruited, with a range of skills and backgrounds

• Large amounts of high quality research

• Important contributions to the book and website

First edition of the newsletter

Exhibition mounted at Medway archives

Volunteer group meeting

Kent EPE launch event

But how inclusive?

• Volunteers mainly white, middle-class and middle-aged

• Many highly educated, with writing and research skills

• Most were already involved with local history through local history societies

Why were some sectors of the community hard to reach?

• Very strong tradition of local history in Kent, particularly amongst the middle classes

• Advertising may not have reached marginalised groups: leaflets, presentations, website

• Some groups may have felt disconnected from the research topic

EPE Kent leaflet

There were some exceptions: case studies

• Roger: the photographer

• Village surveys: Eccles

• Dean: community pride

Digital image taken from glass slide negative- Poynder Terrace, Halling, c.1910

Halling ‘Then and Now’ pictures

The village survey team

Thomas Buss was a long-time resident of Eccles and the village’s resident

historian

Eccles was different from most villages, inasmuch as it was never a yokel village, and never ruled by either parson or squire. The people came from all parts of England…they were all working men, and were all sociable together. The place reminded me of a backwood village in a little commonwealth, with no aristocrats to interfere with them.

Recollections of Eccles, Thomas Buss ( 1908)

Thomas Cubitt’s highly mechanised brick and cement works at Burham

Exploring the ruins of Cubitt’s brick and cement works

What were the ‘hooks’ for getting people involved

• Appealing to residents’ sense of place and belonging

• Utilising and valuing specialist skills

• Respecting local knowledge of the landscape and its history

• Offering training and support both from professionals and fellow volunteers

• Outreach initiatives – media, presentations, leafleting