Tag Archives: Chatham Patterns

Titcumbs – Ladies Hairdressers and Beauticians – No 17 Railway Street

Kelly’s Directories have listed all trades and businesses throughout the UK since around 1835. They are now an invaluable source of  local history, information and insight into local business life. Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre have a collection on microfilm. In the 1961 edition, the businesses along Railway Street and Military Road, make for interesting reading. Here is a selection –

Military Road 

Nos 1 & 3 – Burton Montague, Tailors

No 4a – The Salad Bowl – High Class Fruiterers

No 9 – Bliss and Lawrence – Auctioneers

No 13 – Gieve’s Ltd, Royal Naval, RAF & Civilian Tailors

No 20 – Greenburgh Bros. Ltd, Outfitters

No 26 – Naval & Military Arms, Public House

No 27 – Imperial Forces Public House and Paddock Restaurant

No 28 – E.J Whitaker & Sons, Tailors

No 40 – Unifit, Outfitters

No 50 – Chatham Constitutional Club

No 56 – W. Cooper, Outfitters

Railway Street

Nos 1 & 3 – Prince of Wales Hotel

No 5 – F&H Newcombe Ltd, Gowns

No 17 – Titcumbs, Mrs D. Rogers, Ladies hairdressers, specialist & beauticians

Nos 14 & 16 – Scott’s Timber Yard

No 26 – Frank Bannister & Son Ltd. Motor & Motor Cycle engineers.

No 31 – Cameron Thomas, Physician and Surgeon

Station Yard – Newsagent – Elders & Fyffe’s Ltd Banana Importers – St John’s Ambulance

Chatham Maps

 

Details from OS 1864 & OS 1932 Maps of Chatham - by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre. Chatham Placemaking Project. Image: Christopher Tipping
Details from OS 1864 & OS 1932 Maps of Chatham – by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre. Chatham Placemaking Project. Image: Christopher Tipping

The two OS Maps above show developments along the project route over 68 years between 1864 and 1932. The maps can be read left to right – from Chatham Station, along Railway Street, Military Road and The Paddock. Of particular interest is the area just above St John’s Church. In 1864 this appears to have been private gardens or grounds, with trees or orchards planted. BY 1932 this had all been consumed by timber Yards and Sawmills. This was the site of Scott’s Timber Yard.

…making Chatham patterns?

New Road Viaduct - Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
New Road Viaduct – Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping

…more Chatham patterns & places

Every visit to Chatham throws up more detail and insight to add to the Chatham Placemaking Project –

New Cut Viaduct - Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping
New Cut Viaduct – Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping

The open yard seen through the bridge / viaduct is the former Scott’s timber yard site.

New Cut Viaduct - Kent Fire & Rescue Service - Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping
New Cut Viaduct – Kent Fire & Rescue Service – Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping

There is some real potential for change of pace here if the arches could be opened up to new local businesses – coffee / food / cyclists –

New Cut Viaduct - Kent Fire & Rescue Service - Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping
New Cut Viaduct – Kent Fire & Rescue Service – Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Railway Street -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Railway Street – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Chatham Railway Station -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Chatham Railway Station – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Chatham Railway Station -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Chatham Railway Station – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Chatham Railway Station -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Chatham Railway Station – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Chatham Railway Station -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Chatham Railway Station – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Railway Street -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Railway Street – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Railway Street Post Office -  Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Railway Street Post Office – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns -Colour at Sun Pier - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns -Colour at Sun Pier – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns Sun Pier - Colour - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Sun Pier – Colour – Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Sun Pier House  - Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Sun Pier House – Image: Christopher Tipping
St John's Church Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
St John’s Church Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
St John's Church, Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
St John’s Church, Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
St John's Church, Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
St John’s Church, Railway Street. Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping
The Big Screen - Chatham Placemaking Project - Chatham Patterns - Image: Christopher Tipping
The Big Screen – Chatham Placemaking Project – Chatham Patterns – Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre

Friday 12th February 2016

The archivists and librarians at Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre in Strood have been brilliantly helpful during this project !

Norma Crowe, Cindy Ohalloran and Irina Fridman have been invaluable in helping me search for images and text references. We have now obtained several wonderful archive images taken along our route from Chatham Station to the Riverside, along Railway Street and Military Road, which MALSC have given us permission to use.

Chatham Railway Station 1910 Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
Chatham Railway Station 1910 Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre

This site has remarkably changed very little in over 100 years – only the ironwork railing and lighting columns have gone.

Chatham Railway Station, looking down towards Mountbatten House and St John's Church, 2016. Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Railway Station, looking down towards Mountbatten House and St John’s Church, 2016. Image: Christopher Tipping
New Road Viaduct, Chatham, Kent circa 1900. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
New Road Viaduct, Chatham, Kent circa 1900. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
New Road Viaduct, Railway Street, Chatham, date unknown. Copyright: Collection of Gregory John Jones. By permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.
New Road Viaduct, Railway Street, Chatham, date unknown. Copyright: Collection of Gregory John Jones. By permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.

The Dutch Gable ended building on the right is still here. The New Road Viaduct  built in 1794 was demolished in 1900 to make way for a new bridge viaduct under which Trams could pass safely. Note the double kerb on the left of the image – this is no longer there, but similar kerbs still exist outside the Railway Station.

Double granite kerb outside Chatham Railway Station. Image: Christopher Tipping
Double granite kerb outside Chatham Railway Station. Image: Christopher Tipping
Railway Street Chatham from New Cut Viaduct circa 1955. Image Copyright: Chatham Observer, by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
Railway Street Chatham from New Cut Viaduct circa 1955. Image Copyright: Chatham Observer, by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre

What we have all found impressive in this image, is the clarity within the public realm. Clear pavements with contrasting and well defined kerbs. Obviously not as much traffic ! The street frontage to St John’s Church and the clear flow of movement toward the Town Centre is great to see, in light of the current experience for both drivers and pedestrians.

Railway Street, Chatham from New Cut Viaduct 1955. Image: Copyright Fine Art Studio, by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.
Railway Street, Chatham from New Cut Viaduct 1955. Image: Copyright Fine Art Studio, by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.

It is clear to see how, in the image below taken in 2015, how the landscape and clarity of wayfinding has been considerably interrupted, physically and legibly. Navigating to the town centre and riverside for pedestrians is now a very conflicting and varied experience.

Railway Street, Chatham 2015. Image: Christopher Tipping
Railway Street, Chatham 2015. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

F&H Newcombe and Beveridge Chemist, Railway Street, Chatham. Date unknown. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.
F&H Newcombe and Beveridge Chemist, Railway Street, Chatham. Date unknown. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.
Royal Marines Freedom of the Borough 1963. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
Royal Marines Freedom of the Borough 1963. Image: by permission of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre

This wonderful image shows the Royal Marines on Military Road with Coopers & Bernards Store on the left and The Paddock on the right. All the shops on the left hand side were demolished to make way for Mountbatten House and the Pentagon Shopping Centre. The idea and concept behind ‘Chatham Patterns’, comes partly from the memory of these military parades and formations, which for a century at least have been woven and imprinted into the very fabric of the town. The presence of many Military Outfitters along our route is also a great influence in terms of the images they conjure up about ‘fabric’ and ‘pattern’ and the people who wore them.

I was put onto this thread via an online forum group called Kent History Forum, where a fair amount of detail and social history about Chatham is recalled.

 

 

 

The walk to Strood from Chatham Station gives a wonderful insight into the architecture and industry which developed along the banks of the Medway. Lots of detail and interest to record !

 

 

 

Creative Consultation

On Friday 6th February 2016 we ran a creative consultation drop-in event in Chatham. These were held at Sun Pier House from 10am – 1pm and then at Nucleus Arts from 2pm to 5pm. We presented the same information as the public consultation events – and the creative consultation events were also open to anyone to attend.

Sun Pier, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping
Sun Pier, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Chatham and Medway has a lively and very creative and well established arts scene. It is important that we make the project as open and available to all to engage with. The afternoon session at Nucleus Arts turned into an impromptu talk and discussion about the wider regeneration project and the creative contextual research with which we hope to influence and inform the design process. This was really well attended, with some artists and practitioners asking about the temporary programme of commissions which will run prior to the permanent works beginning on site. Engagement in this way is the real catalyst for change, creativity and promoting a common sense of ownership.

A big thanks to Claire Poynter, Natasha Steer and Genevieve Tullberg of Nucleus Arts for making this event a success and providing the space.

Public Consultation Events

The Public Consultation events in regard to the Chatham Placemaking Project were held in Chatham from 15th January to the 5th February 2016.

If you click on this link – Chatham Placemaking Project – you can see the information boards which were presented for comment. Additionally, there was a form to complete, which asked some pertinent questions about the project. An online option provided opportunity to complete the survey at home in your own time. All the information collected is now subject to review by the Council’s Regeneration Team.

At these events the general public were invited to comment on the plans developed by the wider project team, including LDA Design, Medway Council, Arts Consultants Francis Knight and me ! I attended one of these days at the Pentagon Shopping Centre. What was so interesting about this process, was that people would stop and look at the information boards. Some would comment favourably, others would raise questions about wider issues in the town. Once engaged however, many people – particularly elderly residents – would tell stories.  

‘Another Chatham Line…’ drafts from the creative scope…

These are a few images taken from the Creative Scope work I am doing. These are my artworks / draft plans, created to promote the creative concept.

Chatham Creative Scope - draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Christopher Tipping
Chatham Creative Scope – draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Christopher Tipping

Concept

The Lead Artist proposes that these historic, physical and social influences will be experienced in the pedestrian journey from the Railway Station, via Railway Street and Military Road to Riverside. It is proposed that this concept approach may manifest itself as an evolving linear narrative, drawn out from within the pavements and pedestrian areas associated with the route. Referencing the nearby Chatham Lines, this new Town Line could demonstrate a series of distinct, yet inter-related events, thresholds and experiences along its course. As interpretive interventions, they will evoke a narrative of resonant references to Chatham itself, becoming a part of the fabric of the street. Where the Chatham Lines were built as defensive structures, this new line will be resolutely ‘enabling’.

 

The Historic Dockyard is inextricably tied to the social and industrial history of Chatham. It is a rich source of inspiration. Architectural forms, both robust and functional continue to influence the creative approach; some structures, such as the Slipway Sheds presenting striking abstract patterns and geometries. Vertical forests of timbers supporting vast and expansive roofs with rectangular glazing apertures, twisted askew by perspective. The Dry Docks are faced in massive blocks of close fitting granite. These materials are shaped by function, yet are hand crafted and bespoke features, imbued with a legacy of local and honed skills, surely a fitting inspiration for a contemporary streetscape here in Chatham.

 

Dickens writes about an enduring military presence on the streets of Chatham.

 

“They walked about the streets in rows or bodies, carrying their heads in exactly the same way, and doing exactly the same thing with their limbs”. “Men were only noticeable by scores, by hundreds, by thousands, rank and file, companies and regiments, detachments, vessels full for exportation”.

 

These closely observed characteristics, played out on the streets of Chatham until very recently, suggest that an echo of these patterns of movement and symmetric formations, displays and manoeuvres are still extant in the pavements, streets and roads of the town. Perhaps this evocative memory could be recalled in new paving finishes and interventions in the streetscene.

 

This creative interpretation not only brings a site-responsive and contemporary narrative to the project, but also dovetails with and adds to a strategic and deliberate approach to inherent wayfinding and placemaking, assisting and strengthening the pedestrian route and the local and visitor experience.

 

This concept applies to the entire Placemaking Masterplan, setting a blueprint for a programme of temporary and permanent commissions to roll out in a phased approach over the development period.

Chatham Creative Scope - draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Artist's own
Chatham Creative Scope – draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Artist’s own

 

Chatham Creative Scope - draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Artist's own
Chatham Creative Scope – draft artwork and concept development by project artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Artist’s own