Weekend Snapshots ~ 3: Dartford

I went to the Dartford Library yesterday morning to attend the monthly meeting of the West Kent Book Club.  It was so nice to sit down and chat with a group of likeminded book lovers and I will certainly be a regular at the meetings.  This month’s book is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro which I’m quite excited about as I recently read his excellent book When We Were Orphans and I really enjoyed it.

Like many towns in England, Dartford’s high street area has seen better days and there is a lot of degradation in the area.  Despite that, Dartford has some really beautiful and historic areas too and naturally, I choose to photograph and focus on those.

Dartford has a huge park called “Central Park” which appeals to the New York-obsessed Emm and I cannot wait to explore here in the summer.  The gardens are really well kept and I appreciate the effort taken by Dartford Council.

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You may have noticed the slightly less frequent posts on Emm in London.  There are a couple of very good reasons for this which I thought I’d share:

• Friends: we were very happy to discover that our sister-in-law’s cousin is also staying in Dartford and we saw them last weekend.  This weekend, we visited my friends Gyda and Kenneth whose wedding we attended in South Africa last year.  Now that we live in Dartford, they are just up the M25 in Harpenden and it is much easier to pop over to see them.
• Outings: I’ve made a promise to stop being such a recluse and to start going out to see actual real live human beings.  So last week it was the photography course and this week it was the book club.
• Family: I’m going up to see my dad and step-mum in Liverpool this weekend and of course, I see a lot of my brother and mum now that they no longer live with us.  The trip to Liverpool is unfortunately not going to be an occasion for the Eternal Tourist as my aunty is very sick and we’re going to spend time with her.
• Work:  year end was crazy this year but it did work out easier than the previous two year ends and thankfully, it is all over.
• Health: I got the weirdest flu last week!  I didn’t have a head cold but I had an incredible fever and was hot and cold for two days.  Luckily I got over it but this weekend I had a sore throat and I slept most of today.  This year is a million times better than last year as I am far more healthy and I don’t have winter blues.  Nevertheless, I have learned to listen to my body and I have heeded the signs to rest and not blog this weekend!
• BlogCritics: having said that, I was accepted as a contributor on the BlogCritics team and so I have been whipping up some articles to earn my place there! 

All of these factors have resulted in slightly less time for Emm in London but I do hope to get back up to three posts a week soon.  Have a good week everyone!

The Historical Town of Dartford

Last Tuesday your intrepid Tourist decided to talk a walk in the pouring rain to explore the historical town of Dartford. 

Copperfields Arcade Dartford

I started off right in the centre of town by the Copperfields arcade.  It really was quite an unsuitable day for walking around with a camera!

Spital Street Methodist Church

This is the Spital Street Methodist Church.  It was built in 1844 at a cost of £2,500.

The Courthouse Pub

The Courthouse Pub lies across the street from Spital Street Methodist Church.  This building was first erected in 1850 as part of the  church but was converted into a Crown Court within ten years.  Fifteen years ago it became a pub.  The nearest Crown Court is now in Woolwich but Dartford still has a magistrates court and a county court.

The Royal Oak

According to the Dartford  Heritage Trail poster, "An inn has occupied this 17th century building since at least the early 1800s. The oak beams and brick fireplaces date from at least 1690 but it first appears as the Royal Oak on a map dated 1807".

Trust the English to ensure that no matter how lost you are, you’ll always find the nearest pub on a map.

If you click on the poster to the left, you can get a clearer idea of how the Royal Oak and the Congregational Church (below) looked over a hundred years ago.

I really love before and after photos and seeing historical sites through the ages!

Church Court

The old Congregational Church was converted into flats in December 2000.

Manor Gatehouse

Wow.  This building is seriously old!  This is the western gatehouse of what used to be King Henry VIII’s Dartford Manor House and it was built between 1541 and 1544.  Anne of Cleves was given the house in her divorce settlement and stayed there between 1553 and 1557.  [Sources: Dartford Archive and Dartford Tourism].  The building is now used as a venue and offices.  If you click on the above photo to enlarge it, you’ll see that the sig to the left reads: “Births, Death Marriages and Partnerships”.  Surely “hatch, match and dispatch” would be more succinct?

Railway Bridge

This is something I never saw in South Africa. Tiny little railway bridges drawn over the most impossibly narrow streets. It is probable that this was designed with only a horse and carriage in mind.

   

Finally, I decided to give you a taste of the types of houses to be found in Dartford.  First, we have Victorian terraced housing which is generally well over one hundred years old.  Next is the boring and unimaginative post war terraced housing and finally, there is a photo of our little lane.  Our houses are only about two years old which is why it is so impossible that there should be such a huge problem with the boiler.  (First the control panel went and then the engineer decided that something was wrong with the flue and so we won’t have central heating until they fix that!!)