The Gardens of Hosey date back to 1815 when ‘commons waste’ was mapped-out and ‘allotted’ to the families of the poor of the district, the menfolk of whom had fought for Britain in the Napoleonic wars – penniless men came home to starving families. Enclosure of commons waste was being established in rural areas throughout the country at ...
Reference: WH0445
This 1934 O.S. map shows the northern half of the ‘Kennedy Garden’ allotments, being plots 27 at the south end and 41 at the north, behind the school. Between the two divided sections of the Gardens can be seen the haul road for movement of ragstone excavated from the Hosey mines in the nineteenth century.
Reference: WH0429
Allotments under threat. Following the second World War local planning was well under way for the development of much needed social housing to expand on that first built on Nursery Site in 1927 and at the Paddock. Some allotment sites were put under threat by these development plans and to that end Westerham Allotment Holders ...
Reference: 0048
Adits is the term used to describe horizontal passages leading into a mine for the purposes of access or drainage. Hosey caves below Kennedy Gardens had no drop-shafts, being quarried into the hillside of the Greensands ridge. There are about six adits in total giving access to a network of quarry tunnels branching off in ...
Reference: WH0461
