The local historian,field archaeologist ,photographer ,ex-postman and long time resident in Headcorn, Neil Aldridge shares here a selection of old and not so old,photographs of the village through time.The internet is the way to share these records with a wider audience.

 

The village now,I am afraid, has lost a sense of community that it was along with the passing of many of the old village family names.

 

This is the place to come for photographs and accurate information about the village in the past and my families connection with it.

 

It has now become a place ruined by over development with housing estates unaffordable for the few proper locals that are left here.

  

I would like to thank those many people who have loaned photographs to be copied or donated them.These,together with those in my extensive personal collections, form this compilation for those who are interested in village history to peruse at their leisure.

 

I would also like to thank all those who have told me how much they are enjoying seeing the photographs and learning more about the real Headcorn.

 

The copyright of all of the photographs is with myself.

 

There is a mix of old views of the village and a selection of more personal old family photographs showing my long standing family links with the village.There are also illustrations of local things that interest me particularly aspects of historical and archaeological interest.

 

I hope these pages serve as a reminder of how the village used to be? However, with the new houses and increased road traffic I know that it will never return to how it was.

  

My Aldridge family ancestors have only been here since 1914 having walked as a family from Brighton. They lived first in Grays Cottages in the High Street and later moved to Mill Bank.

 

However some of my other family branches have been resident in Headcorn since at least the mid 17th century when one Barnabie Butcher miller of Headcorn left his mill in his will in 1653 and his kinsman Edward Butcher a broadweaver of Headcorn left his narrow weaving loom in his will in 1657.

 

The Butcher family are linked to me through my fathers mother who was the daughter of Alfred and Jane Butcher who lived at what is now called Petite Cottage Church Walk but was known to them as Church Path.

 

This collection will be added to when time allows as a means of sharing my collection with a much wider audience.

 

I have always intended to produce a more detailed printed history book about Headcorn at some stage ,however, I have decided that at present the internet is the way to go to allow more people to see the material in my collection rather than keeping it shut away from view .

 

Headcorn is certainly not the village that I remember from my earlier life,all places change through time with new development ,new residents, and the rapid change in life now. The days of doing all ones shopping in the High Street are long gone with the growth of supermarkets and the internet.

 

I walked around the street recently and there is nothing now to say that we have a good range of shops. I can remember five grocery shops,five pubs, two bakers,two chemists,two newsagents, a fish shop ,fruit and veg shop and a fantastic seed garden and pet food shop all in the centre of the village along with a centrally placed doctors surgery.

  

Thank you for all your interest, Neil Aldridge