Not the only Circus to visit the town, but possibly the most interesting, in 1913 Bostock & Wombwell brought a scary menagerie to the field behind the Warde Arms including a hippopotamus – I wonder what their public liability insurance was like… Alongside that monster the circus promoters claimed there would be …Educated Chimpanzees, Almost Human ...
Reference: WH0679
A tough and hardy lot – both the animals and the men – Circus Bostock makes its way down the Great North Road, heading for Westerham and other towns in the south of England.
Reference: WH0680
Another closed wagon from the Bostock menagerie makes its way down the Great North Road, pulled by ‘Jenny’ who was claimed to be the largest elephant in Great Britain. With the camel in tow, did they take turns in pulling the load?
Reference: WH0681
This was to be the second-to-last season on the ‘Valence’ bowls green, and it is interesting to reflect on the senior club members at that time. It would be natural that Ronald Vesty would be President as he owned the ground on which they played. Among the Vice-Presidents are four local medical practitioners, Drs. Henry ...
Reference: WH0395
This was one of several events held to raise money towards the construction of Brasted open-air bathing pool on the site where Brasted recreational ground now stands. The pool was sited where the children’s playground sits now, and was fed by an underground stream with an overflow into the river Darent just north of the ...
Reference: WH0844
Clearly an example of ‘time on your hands’, the attractive station garden opposite the platform at Brasted. With one train an hour, plenty of time to do the weeding.
Reference: WH0118
The proximity to the M25 is clearly seen here. The station building at Brasted stood where the hard-shoulder is now and the trackbed would be under the inside-lane. The goods yard site is now in private ownership as a gated storage area.
Reference: WH0124
In amongst the undergrowth right beside the M25 on the site of Brasted Station goods yard, the remains of the coal staithe posts, though the boards have rotted away. As well as fuel for the locomotives, coal was sold from this yard to residents from the village by George Alderson, the local coal merchant who ...
Reference: WH0127
At Brasted, a house was built adjacent to the station for the Station Master, as the site was fairly remote, being a good half-mile away from the village in a somewhat wooded area. Built in 1883, the cost of the house at that time was £560.
Reference: WH0129
Brasted station master Mr. E.W. Howard poses with two of his staff around 1912. By 1924 Brasted and Westerham had lost their station masters and the whole branch was now managed by the Dunton Green station master Frederick William Brockman.
Reference: WH0114