9: Northfleet Riverside Heritage Trail

The potential heritage trail starting from Northfleet Football Ground Grove Road , covering industrial through to historic gardens and marine heritage, the majority of these structures have been hidden from view in the factories. Now that the area is coming up for regeneration we could see some of these structures incorporated into the public realm, the decisions whether to retain or demolish these numerous structures are being made now during 2011.

So far we have in real physical still existing structures we have the below, many of which are in danger of being lost before they are even discovered by the public, some even in 2011 ;

1; Water Mill Race poss Georgian/early Victorian with sluices and mill pond, still with water (the River Fleet) flowing through it.

The first picture is of a sluice gate, the pillar would have been used to control the opening of the gate so that the flow of the backed up water could be controlled so as to control the speed and power of the water to the watermill, originally the mill was used for flour but this was later changed for a short while and cement was ground here. The second picture is the exit of the mill pond which would channel the backed up River Fleet through to the sluice. The 2nd structure is around 1850 -1860 the actual sluice predates this and may actually have been part of the 18th Century flower mill.

These two pictures show the normal flow of the River Fleet without it being backed up and stored in the mill pond, as can be seen from the picture there is quite a flow as it is, there would have been a considerable flow down this mill race if controlled by the sluice, the second picture shows a hard standing or floor, it is not known whether this was a hard for boats or part of the mill structure.

4; Scheduled Ancient Monument Bevans Beehive Kiln

The sign says it all, this scheduled ancient monument could be, with some proper strategic planning, a centre piece of a public open space, again a structure to be proud of.

Inside and underneath

2; TA Hall

This inconspicuous building was the site where numerous daring commando raids were planned and led from during WW2, this bit of history should be celebrated as it should be a huge source of pride for Gravesham.

The drill hall was built for the Kent Fortress Royal Engineer Territorial Unit, training on searchlight operations, in 1934. The foundation stone could still be seen on the left-hand side of the main door. The 25 yard rifle range that was beside the drill may also be standing. The KFRE's were conscripted (as a unit) in August 1939 a few days before the outbreak of WWII. Serving on searchlights in the Thames Estuary until March 1940 they were then transferred to Gravesend Milton Barracks where they began training on demolition. Within weeks, with scarcely any training, they were sent on many tasks to destroy all the oil facilities along the Dutch, Belgium and French Channel coastline. Most of the tasks were after the fall of Dunkirk. Their base was Milton Barracks and they were under the direct control of the War Office in Whitehall. After the fall of France the unit was closed and the men were posted to many other different RE units.

During WWII Grove House, including the drill hall and rifle range, were the headquarters of the Northfleet Home Guards

3; Victorian foundry still in use

Again another inconspicuous building yet it has steadily churning out goods from the Victorian times, parts of this site was originally a brickworks then this was taken over for foundry use. This building is in the area of the old watermill and further archaeological investigation is needed to determine its precise age and how it related to the watermill when the mill was in use, there is a structure showing on an 18th Century map which seems to be this area. The brick built building to the right appears around 1870 its orientation following the original line of the mill pond.

5; Robins Creek harbour

This ancient harbour has a huge history all of its own, a stone throw upstream there are Roman and Saxon sites which were escavated during the construction of Ebbsfleet International Station, armaments for the Crimean war were shipped from here, this was also used for shipping the Portland Cement around the world in the cement barrels shown in below picture being put on to the ship.

6;Historic Public Slipway

This is at the bottom of College Road, by rights this should be opened back up to right the wrongs of history, it should never have been closed down by the cement industry many years ago.

7; Sphinx

This fine sculpture adorned the top of the lower pictured tunnel, this would certainly make a fine monument for a heritage trail in the new development. It is currently in storage by Lafarge, with the tunnel it originally rested on scheduled for demolition.

8; Numerous air raid shelters for cement factory

Many of the old tunnels were used as air raid shelters, some still have the rusty old beds still in them.

9; Three Victorian Brick Kiln curing tunnels with cast iron pulley wheels and old cement barrels

These tunnels predate the Bevans cement works and formed part of a brick making factory, the possible use of these tunnels with the horizontal pulley wheel would have been for steam curing the bricks prior to firing, a vital part of the brick making process essential to stop the bricks craking when fired.

A pallet truck, possibly what was used for pulling the bricks into the steam kiln for curing, the 2nd picture are some cement that has gone hard inside wooden barrels and the wood having rotted away.

10; Bevans slurry backs (brick built channels)

These walls and channels are the remains of the slurry backs for the Bevans cement works, these were vital for the production of cement where the slurry mixture was allowed to settle and the water drained away before the cement slurry could be fired. Whilst not overly impressive features they do represent what was the cutting edge of cement production at the time and could quite easily be incorporated into the new development as boundary walls and features.

11; Flint retaining walls for Lawn Road

Hidden under the ivy like a long lost Mayan temple is a multi faceted flint retaining wall built over the centuries to retain the cliff and keep the houses on top along Lawn Road safe and secure.

Built into part of the retaining walls are many tunnels, these shown are part of the Victorian Brickwork complex.

12;More tunnels

This is one of over 30 odd tunnels around the area, some are modern service tunnels others date back to the Victorian times or earlier, some of these early tunnels in turn having been reused as air raid shelters, service tunnels and storage. This particular tunnel runs under Granby Road from the cement factory site to the old Victorian shooting range, this tunnel is of interest with its high flint wall stabilising the cliff to prevent any chalk falls causing injury, it is also unusual in its height, inside the tunnel it is a good 40-50ft from floor to ceiling, this is possibly due to the tunnel being extended down as the quarry was dug deeper in a later phase of quarrying.

As a general rule the tudor arched tunnels are older than the brick arched

This older tunnel was one of the brick works curing tunnels, as can be seen from the pciture it has been extended with a modern tunnel to form a vital service tunnel for pipes and electrics.

These are just a few examples, many of the tunnels are blocked off, buried and hidden from view, an important heritage assett we never knew we never had.

13; Grade 2 Listed Bevans War memorial

This Grade 2 Listed war memorial sits alongside a public footpath is in danger of being moved to make way for progress, the argument being that despite it already sitting next to a public footpath, public access would be improved if it had a new location. It has already been moved once in its past to move it away further from the Bevans site would be a shame and one could argue not very respectful.

protected from demolition prior to possible removal

14; Grade 2 listed lighthouse

The attention to detail on what should be a simple utilitarian structure is superb, note the curvature of the cross members which would have made this very expensive and a lot more difficult to build.

15;Cranes (these Cranes have been preserved in the Docklands and are rapidly vanishing from the Thames

This crane used to be situated next to the listed lighthouse and has recently been demolished, it is exactly this type of monumental crane preserved all over the Docklands in London. You can just make out the Listed lighthouse nestled behind in the photograph.

These fine cranes are still holding out but for how much longer one can't tell, personally I think that these structures are an important part of the Thames heritage and if we can keep one or two like they have done at the docklands it will act as a reminder of Gravesends importance as a port and an industrial centre.

16; Kimberley Clark Water tower and Pond

A very simple structure, would make a fantastic character home with an ornate pond at its base.

17; The Red Lion Pub

A regular haunt for many despite its remote location.

18; Rosherville Gardens Grade 2 Listed stairwell and cliff top viewing platform

An amazing survivor of Rosherville Gardens, this was missed by the recent consultants heritage survey of the site (along with the bear pit) and was Listed Grade 2 afterwards. One could only summise its fate if not listed when the development proposals come forward.

19; Henley's Air raid shelter, (linked with Normandy Landings and war effort)

Built into the cliffs at the former Roseherville Gardens and then AEI cable sites is a labyrinth of tunnels forming a gas proof air raid shelter built for the employees of the cable works, the importance of this site to the war effort has not really been given the recognition it deserves probably in part to the secrecy of what went on at the time.

The following pictures showing the seat and section codes give an idea of the size and scale of the shelter, there are five seperate entrances at least that can still be seen from the Crete Hall Road.

20; Henley's Cable Works Research Laboratory (linked with Normandy Landings and war effort)

An interesting building, was it here that the pluto pipeline design was finalised which was vital in the Normandy Landings for the second world war and helped tha allies establish the bridge head by sending fuel across the channel out of reach of enemy bombers? What was the input for the degausing wires for shipping, so little seems to be known about this aspect of the sites history?

21; Henley's Grade 2 Listed Art Deco offices

22; Period brick built warehouses

23; Period power plant rooms

24; The Sun Pub

Probably the only bit of heritage on this trail that has had a bit of TLC, a credit to its owners.

25; Grade 2 Listed Rosherville Quay and Cavernous Drawdock

26; Lansdowne Square Conservation Area

Once a very fashionable place to live in the early 1800s with the large impressive villas in the square and up Pier and Burch Road, this was a retreat by steamer for Londoners, unfortunately this died a death because of the advent of steam trains where it was more convenient to get on a train to the blue seas and sand at Brighton as oppossed to what was effectively a sewer for London at the time.

27; Rosherville Hotels Terrace Bar

This is all that remains of the Rosherville Hotel complex, obviously in dire need of some TLC, it is amazing to think this was once the haunt of royalty.

28; Slave Alley

This conjures up an image of a shameful past, could this have been a stop off point before going to London? I haven't seen anything in the local history books just the name on a map.

29; And we can't forget the recent potential discovery of Rosherville Bear Pit

Lets hope we are allowed a proper excavation to confirm for sure whether it is and how much survives.

List is obviously not fully inclusive

The attachment below gives an idea of the location and size of the Western part of Northfleet Embankment.