Eddowes in Kent

[Jeff Leahy]

PS.
I cant see that Kate would have ended in East Farleigh. Surely it was the better off travellers that came in by train. And that would explain alot about the size of East Farleigh station. the Gates are still closed by hand from the one man signal box twice an hour in the mornings..(country life).
But we do have large hop farm just up the road from Victory pub..I shall make enquiries. If I can turn up any information I will post later. Kent however is a big place..
I'm just interested how you walked here before the construction of the M20? My girl freinds grand parents lived on Blue Bell Hill before they cut it up to join M2o and A2.
However if a large number of people travelled from london it must have been a recognised path?

Jeff

[Simon Wood]

Hi Pirate Jack,

Happy to oblige. Make the most of it. Enjoy.

Eddowes and Kelly worked the hop fields at Hunton.

As you're now officially our man on the spot, how about a bit of local digging? Is there a local historian who might know about 1888 Hunton crop yields and other stuff like that? I have identified two Hunton hop farms—E. Scott and Scott Farms. I think they're independent of each other because they used two different types of hop tokens.

Anyway, that's your starter for ten. Think what a coup it would be if you could track down Eddowes and Kelly.

Good hunting.

Regards,

Simon

[Jeff Leahy]

My god such responcibility!

I'm not certain about local historians..obviously there is Paul Begg at Bearstead...

But you have my full attention..as i said I've been asked to pitch ideas for KENT TV. But I had not seriously considered a Ripper conection before tonight.

I will start at the local museum tomorrow. I 'm under orders to buy new clothes in Maidstone as my partner thinks I'm scruffy and were going France for the weekend..

I will then try visit Hunton and see what I can dig up..

I will report back..any help..on journey appriciated..

Yours Jeff the 'Bond' Leahy

[Simon Wood]

Hi Pirate Jack,

A word of advice. Don't buy your clothes from Mr Edmett's pawnbroker's shop in Maidstone. You'll end up getting murdered in Mitre Square.

PM me if you need anything.

Good luck, Mister Bond.

Regards,

Simon

[Jeff Leahy]

Simon I better go to bed or I will be in trouble..and i'm ment to deliver a script on Nichols..end of play tomorrow..

But you have me hooked..by strange coinsidence I went to a beer festival at Laddington on Saturday night..a stone throw from Hunton.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=571500&y=149500&z=3&sv=571500,149500&st=4&ar=N&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

It is a mission I cant resist..will report back tomorrow..

Jeff

Wow real life espeonage!

[Jeff Leahy]

Hi All

Well I've been out and about today and will try and make a report later.

Turned up some interesting facts and spoke to some interesting people.

Giles at Maidstone Museum is currently putting the counties crime and prison records online so perhaps some searches might through up some interesting stuff later...

He relaid an interesting story about typhoid out break Maidstone 1907 thought to be caused by Hop Pickers defecating in water at East farleigh.

Also showed me his Hop Pickers foreman Cosh..which seemed design to deal with trouble.

Re: Hunton

Well I made it there. Not even a pub but filmed the church and spoke to mobile librarian. She discovered a Scot Farm.

I went in search but could not find the farm. I spoke to a lady named Scot. But she believed her family had only been in Hunton since 1920's.

I did however find a Scot House, which could have been an old farm building (no one in). Hunton is full of farms with Oast Houses. Do we know for sure which farm Kate would have stayed at?

An old local at the Victory pub pointed out that East Farleigh would have been a long walk out form Hunton..the quickest route being through Yalding...

That said Maidstone was also rather off route if your going back to London from Hunton..quickest route is again via Yalding...

However I dont know what walking routes would have made sense. I have a number of 'Kent Life Museum' and the warden at Hunton Church.

I will see what else I can dig up...

Shaken not stirred

Jeff

[Observer]

Hi Simon

It would appear from this that Eddowes and Kelly could only have bought the jacket and boots in Maidstone on their return journey to London. So John Kelly's story that they hadn't done well at hopping and were just as penniless as when they left London wasn't true. Unless, of course, he meant they were penniless because of buying the boots and jacket. But who buys new attire and then walks the thirty five miles to London, a feat they accomplished in one day? And him in his new boots. Ouch!

Thoughts please.

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon, The hop pickers usually all dossed down in one of the farmers barns. I would't be surprised if one of Kelly's fellow hop pickers found himself minus a pair of boots, and a coat after Kelly's departure.

Observer

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jeff,

Good work for Day One. Pour yourself a vodka-martini.

I'm trying to locate my source, but I believe their once was a pub in Hunton called The Bird In Hand. It was the venue for local farm auctions.

Sorry, we don't know at which farm Eddowes and Kelly worked.

Kelly was reported in The Times, 3rd October as saying—

"They had just returned from hopping at a place which he was understood to call Hunton, adding that it was about two miles from Coxheath, in Kent."

Regards,

Simon

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jeff,

I was wrong about the Bird In Hand Inn being at Hunton.

The attached is from The Times, June 1883, and may give you a better idea where it was.



Regards,

Simon

[Jeff Leahy]

Yes thats right..on the map that the libraian showed me there was a PH down from the school on the Left....

However there is know pub there now...I filmed all the buildings it might have been....Scott House is almost opposite the School, while the farm was indicated further down on the right..

I have number of church warden..

Hunton is next two Coxheath and East Farleigh..

It just seems that if you were walking from London it would be quicker to go out the back way of Hunton through Yalding?

However if you were going Gravesend, Chatham..who knows?

Which ever, Maidstone is a step out of the way for either route..they must have had other reasons than the boots to walk that far..

It took me long enough in the car..

I will try and digi the stuff in later if the 'Dear Boss' goes to bed early

then post Utube and create link..should work. See what other info you can find

Jeff

[Sam Flynn]

The attached is from The Times, June 1883, and may give you a better idea where it was.

"Pimps Court" - there's a name to conjure with.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jeff,

Here's something else Kelly said regarding the walk from Hunton to London.

The Star, 3rd October 1888

"We didn't get on any too well [at hopping], and started to hoof it home. We came along in company with another man and woman who had worked in the same fields, but who parted with us to go to Chatham when we turned off towards Maidstone."

Regards,

Simon

[Jeff Leahy]

Not certain about the Bird in Hand..there's the Horse Shoe and The Walnut tree.

I will see what i can discover

Jeff

[Jeff Leahy]

Hello KENT!

'Its just like the Radio one road show' must be catching..anyone else shaking their butt to the Womb Bats?

Anyway I digress..I've just gotten back from the Museum and our friendly curator Giles. He found the ordinance survey maps HUNTON from 1860.

I have agreed to have then photographed..thats four sections. They are providing me 8 bit TiFFS for my Final Cut Pro system.

and jpegs which I hope to post on casebook. (I've not done this before so any advice on file sizes and what works best etc welcome)

THe map does not list names of farms but plot numbers are there. I assume that these numbers correspond to land registry ownership at the public records office?

So lots of work yet to do.

I did come across an interesting story, that there was a major Bridge accident in HUNTON..40 people being killed when a cart went out of control and the bridge collapsed. Does anyone know the date of this incident?

Anyway if I have no joys the next stage will be dropping leaflets door to door (well rather farm to farm)

Still at least i think I've established that there are local historians in HUNTON area. The Kent Museum of Life didn't seem to know very much, I'm afraid..

Well there you go . MAP should be a couple of weeks. Watch this space.

Yours Jeff

PS. Miss Money Penny (Simon)..I saw you at the Docklands Exhibition last night discussing your medals with the guy from the History Channel...wish I'd made it clearer who I was...just rather busy drinking the dry Martini...didn't want to blow my cover not when on such an important mission.

[Jeff Leahy]

HUNTON MAPS. JtR Kent

Hello Casebook, Simon and Kent Ripperologists

Following my quest for Catherine Eddows in Hunton. I now have the ordinance survey Maps Hunton for 1885.

Unfortunately they do not give Farm names but plot numbers. So I guess the next stage is to go to Maidstone land rejestary office go through each plot number and slowly fill in the names of the plots/Holdings.

Hopefully we will eventually have the names of the Hop farms in Hunton 1888.

After that I would like to see if there are any local traditions about Catherine Eddows or whether we can find any greater detail about Hop picking/Crop yeilds that year etc. It would be great to eventually pin-pointing which hop Farm Catherine worked at. More from the piont of view of local interest and fun than any other.

The Maps come in 4 sections: Hunton, Chainhurst, Linton and Yalding.

THe 16 bit TIFFS are 53.2 MB each

The 8 bit TIFFS are 26.6 MB each.

The JPEGS are 4.9 MB.

So I'm not certain whether they will go up on here. I don't wish to bloke casebook servers. So any advice anybody can give on displaying large files would be gratefully received. The problem with small files is it is difficult to read name places.

Yours Jeff

PS. I've started work on a documentary for Kent TV called Jack the Rippers Kent.

So if anyone has a KENT 'Jack the Ripper connections' I'd like to interview them. Obviously Stride Row, Ramsgate, Maidstone and Hunton spring to mind first of all. But I'm open to any idea's..(didn't turn up anything new on Ostrog in Kent prison records )