Description

Chapter 55: Neolithic polished flint axe-head discovered near Lyminge: Robert Baldwin

This article is about a polished flint axe-head found on a byway near Lyminge which points to a Neolithic farmer, offering evidence of the first indication of permanent settled life in the Lyminge area.

Chapter 56: Recollections of growing up in Lyminge: Mrs Margaret Anne Older

Mrs Older, born in 1924, recounts her personal reminiscences depicting her life and time in Lyminge.

Chapter 57: Foundations of Lyminge Bowls Club: Duncan Harrington

We learn about the creation and maintenance of the village Bowls Club.

Chapter 58: An Early Village Hall: Duncan Harrington

This describes a mysterious wooden village hall that people remember existing, but nobody can state when it was built or when it was dismantled.

Chapter 59: Sword wielding Vicar Slays Chaplain: Duncan Harrington

To reveal the story would be such a shame. Suffice to say, “All is not what it seems!”

Chapter 60: Marquis de la Belinaye: Mike Foxon

We may wonder why this aristocratic Frenchman is buried in a grave in Lyminge. The headstone tells us that he died on April 10th 1904 aged 59. His mother, Margaret Wright, was the daughter of John Wright of Kelvedon Hall in Essex and sister of Sir William Lawson of Brough Hall in Yorkshire.

Chapter 61: Lyminge Allotments: Duncan Harrington

The research is detailed and wide ranging with wonderful examples of local concern and willingness to offer land for social benefit. The accompanying maps and charts are superb.

Chapter 62: Who’s been living in my house? M. Chisnall

Research was undertaken by the author into the erstwhile inhabitants of his house in Lyminge. There is absorbing insight of aristocratic dissipation and sadness of the Sugden family.

Chapter 63: Lyminge Worthies: John James Clayson J.P. Duncan Harrington

Clayson’s building firm erected much of Lyminge’s 20th Century buildings, but perhaps more worthy of note is the generous service he gave to the community, in particular to the Methodist Church.

Chapter 64: Secret War of Lyminge Woman: Rosemary Piddock

Gladys Harris spent her war service at Bletchley Park and, in common with many of our unsung heroes and heroines, kept silent for many decades about her role there, when their code of silence was released in the mid 1970s.

Chapter 65: Runaways from around Lyminge: Duncan Harrington

In the times of George III, six people vanished from, or near, Lyminge between 1768 and 1796. Wives were sold at markets and indentured boys and servants were often very far from happy, although there is no direct evidence that they were the victims of bullying. Several articles from the Kentish Gazette on runaways are reproduced within this chapter.

Chapter 66: The history of Lyminge Library: Author unknown (Edited by Duncan Harrington)

Library services began in Lyminge possibly in the 1940s. Several sites were used in the ensuing years and moved in 1987 to the old Lyminge Railway Station that we know today. Lyminge Library holds a special place in the close-knit village. Long may it continue.

Chapter 67: Lyminge and the Elham Valley Railway: John Buss

The railway was opened in 1887 before being closed after 60 years of use in 1947. The first nine miles were completed to Barham, taking almost 3 years, over budget and not without many obstacles on the way. In WWI the War Office took over the network for troops transport and in WWII it was also used for military purposes, involving alterations to the track to carry two twelve inch guns and a massive eighteen inch howitzer called “The Boche Buster”.

Inside Cover: Lollipops
A brief history of this house, formerly 2 alms cottages and now a private dwelling.