OHSCA : Oaten Hill & South Canterbury Association

History

Doorway- Becket House New Dover Road 1939

Local History Group

The Society's Local History Group started life in 1986 as an "Oral History Group".

A century ago, the Oaten Hill area was a distinct, mixed community, with many local industries - several linked with the nearby countryside. In the days when most men walked on foot to work (and women mostly brought up children), such local businesses, often family-owned, gave Oaten Hill its character.

OHDS members set about collecting memories of those who had lived and worked locally before motor transport changed all this. The LHG still has a stock of taped interviews and transcripts from this exercise. In due course we published four booklets on local Canterbury firms - "The Taylors" (corn and seed merchants, published 1988); "The Holmans" (millwrights and agricultural engineers, 1992); "The Bigglestons" (Iron Founders, 1996) and "The Pinnocks" (coal merchants, 2000).

The series continued with the history of local streets; "Dover Street Remembered" (1993), "Ivy Lane Remembered" (1996) - now updated and reprinted as "Ivy Lane Revisited" (2013), "Nunnery Fields Remembered" (1998), "Old Dover Road – Past and Present" (2012), "Longport Through the Ages" (2016) and "The Story of Oaten Hill" (2018). "Dover Street Revisited" (2023) completes the Group’s booklets which are still much in demand from newcomers in these streets, wondering about the history of the many interesting old buildings there.

The City Council has recognised our work by agreeing to name a car park as "Holmans Meadow" and an alleyway as "Bigglestons Link".

Please note that both “The Taylors” and “The Bigglestons” of Canterbury are out of print.

All our booklets are full of memorable photographs, often from family archives

The OHSCA Local History Group has built up its own large archive of photographs, covering both the Society's activities and the many changes in our area over the last 30 years. We are continuing this work, and particularly anxious to find new members willing to keep a lookout for interesting events and changes to record photographically.

To obtain any of these booklets, please email the history group at history@ohsca.org.

We have not just collected words and pictures

For nearly half a century from 1946, a tiny, traditional family hardware shop, "Wood's Stores", was a much loved feature of Dover Street.

As it was closing, the LHG-collected a full set-of the goods-on sale, raised funds to house them and worked with the Museum of Canterbury in Stour Street to create a permanent display. "From paraffin to pegs, from mousetraps to hairnets, a magical shop that housed a cornucopia of goods was back on display", reported the Gazette on its opening (12 May 2005).

Our Meetings

Members of the Group meet for coffee and a chat and to manage the Group’s affairs. The dates and venues are set out in the quarterly newsletter or can be found by emailing history@ohsca.org.

If you would like to come along and share your memories or learn more about the Oaten Hill area, do join us.

Current Projects

The Group would like to hear of any member who wishes to share their memories or who resides in or knows of the history of the houses and premises in the Oaten Hill area.

Fasces - Sessions House Longport 1807

Oaten Hill area of Canterbury (after Speed 1611)

Oaten Hill Area from The Groundplott of Canterbury –17th Century

PUBLICATIONS

DOVER STREET REVISITED

The first edition of Dover Street Remembered was published in 1990 with an enlarged edition in 1993, both now out of print. The new edition adds further information and extends the area to cover Vernon Place and Oaten Hill Place and contains 28 coloured and black and white photos. The new book is available by contacting :

history@ohsca.org (2023) Price: £10

The Holmans of Canterbury

Holmans was the family firm that dominated the Dover Street area for 150 years from 1816. Holmans Meadow Car Park corresponds to the area they occupied in the mid 20th century. First as millwrights then as agricultural engineers, they maintained all types of agricultural machinery, including steam ploughs threshing machines and traction engines. Their main claim to fame was their construction of 12 windmills in East Kent (5 of which still stand), along with one in Jerusalem.

(1992) Price £5.00

The Pinnocks of Canterbury

The Pinnocks were a local transport firm in the Oaten Hill area of Canterbury whose story matches and illustrates the big social changes of the twentieth century. They were also a remarkable family, Kenneth having played his part in recording and writing up the city's history while Trevor, his son, is now one of the leading harpsichord players in the world.

(2000) Price £5.00

Ivy Lane Revisited

Originally published in 1994 as Ivy Lane Remembered, the booklet brings the reader up to date with the history of the Lane over 900 years, illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings together with stories from residents, often about wartime. Moving up and down the Lane, the book explores the individual (many centuries old) cottages, the 14th century Wealden Hall, the local trades once practised and the many former public houses, including the sole surviving Two Sawyers Public House.

(2013) Price £10.00

Longport Through the Ages

An illustrated walk along Longport describing the history of the present and former buildings, including the Abbey, former Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Technical School, Sessions House and Prison, Smiths’ Almshouses, Barton Court, the sites of former development destroyed by WWII bombing, and the present houses and businesses. The recounting of 2000 years of history is combined with the memories of some of the residents, past and present, of living, working and going to school in the street.

(2016) Price £10.00

Old Dover Road Past and Present

An illustrated history of places, people and events along Old Dover Road from the Riding Gate to the Gate Inn .It explores the mystery of the old stones around St. Sepulchre’s Nunnery and includes references to a leper hospital (now The Willows housing development), current and former public houses, the man who captured Gibraltar, the discovery of a new planet and the KCC cricket ground.

(2012) Price £10.00

THE STORY OF OATEN HILL

The Story of Oaten Hill describes the history of this small area of Canterbury, based on St Sepulchre’s Nunnery, Oaten Hill, Upper Chantry Lane and Cossington Road. It relates the religious, regal, commercial, social and environmental influences which have shaped the present-day appearance of this most historic area. At its core is the story of the medieval nunnery of the Holy Sepulchre and the fate of the land on which it was built in subsequent centuries. The book contains photographs and illustrations, many in colour.

(2018) Price £15.00

THE STORY OF THE KENT AND CANTERBURY CLUB AT THE ELMS

The book was commissioned by David Steed, President of the Kent and Canterbury Club, in memory of his late elder brother, Michael, who was an active member of OHSCA and of the Local History Group. The book details, with abundant photographs, the history of the Club from 1861 and its previous and current premises at the Elms. The book goes on to describe the history of the Elms, a Listed Building in Old Dover Road, formerly known as the White Elms, which was built in the 1820s and, prior to 1923 was lived in by a number of wealthy and illustrious Kent families, the last of whom was the great-niece of Jane Austen.

(2026) Price £15.00