Gravesend
Along the canal bank at Gravesend was a very old cottage with an inverted boat as a roof. This may well have given Dickens the idea of Mr. Peggoty's home on Yarmouth Sands. Mr. Peggoty and Ham sailed from Gravesend for Australia when they emigrated with Mr. Micawber and his family in 'David Copperfield'.
Chalk
As one enters Chalk from Gravesend, the recently renovated forge along Lower Higham Road that can be seen was probably the model for Joe Gargery's Forge in 'Great Expectations'.
The building is a late 16th century weatherboarded structure, with a pantile roof and a forge that leads straight into the kitchen. It was rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries and is now privately owned.
The parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin mentioned in Domesday, dates from the 11th and 13th centuries. The 14th and 15th centuries also saw many additions to the structure, including the tower with one bell dated 1348. During the 19th century, the church was heavily restored, with the dormer windows in the north aisle and the lancet windows in the chancel dating from this period. The 15th century porch with its quaint tippling figures, now almost unrecognisable through weathering, were features that particularly intrigued Dickens. The church is in a now isolated spot, remote from Chalk itself, just off the A226 nearly a mile from the centre of the village.
Higham
"Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea...the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes...the low leaden line beyond, was the river ...the distant savagery ...from which the wind was rushing, was the sea..." Great Expectations
This long narrow parish, stretching from the A2 in the south to the Thames in the north, contains the hamlets of Upshire, Gads Hill, Chequers Street, Gore Green, Church Street and Lillechurch.
Dickens is said to have greatly admired the house when he was a boy and his father is supposed to have told him that if he persevered and worked hard he 'might some day come and live in it' - a story which Charles Dickens related in 'The Uncommercial Traveller'.
Whilst waiting for the completion of the purchase of Gads Hill Place, Charles Dickens stayed in Gravesend at Wates Hotel, which was situated at the western end of Gravesend Promenade. Dickens also supervised some alterations to the house whilst staying at this hotel. Charles Dickens was fond of cricket and matches were played in the field at the back of Gads Hill Place and sometimes Dickens acted as scorer. He subscribed to Higham Cricket Club, whose meetings were held at the 'Falstaff Inn'.
While at Gads Hill Place, Charles Dickens wrote 'The Uncommercial Traveller', 'Great Expectations', 'Our Mutual Friend' and 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. Dickens did a lot of writing in the Swiss Chalet given to him by his friend Fechter, an actor. The chalet was erected in the shrubbery across the road from Gads Hill Place, and there was a tunnel under the road to connect the gardens of Gads Hill with the shrubbery. After Dickens' death, the Chalet was exhibited at the Crystal Palace before being given to the Darnley Family and erected in Cobham Park. The Chalet is now on display in Rochester. Dickens also wrote in his study in Gads Hill Place, which was where he died on 9th June 1870.
Dick Turpin, the fictional character from Harrison Ainsworth's novel Rookwood, was based on Swift Nick Nevinson. It is said that at 4am one summer day in 1676, Swift Nick robbed a man on Gads Hill, crossed the ferry to Essex and, by 'riding hell for leather,' reached York in time to show himself on the bowling green at 8pm the same day and establish an alibi which secured his acquittal. On the north side of the 'Falstaff' rises Telegraph Hill, on which a monument is erected to the memory of one Charles Larkin, a champion of the Reform Bill of 1832.
Further down School Lane, towards Lower Higham, is The Knowle. Now a high class restaurant, 'The Knowle' was built for Joseph Hindle who was the Vicar of Higham from 1829-74. Hindle was living at Gads Hill Place when Dickens bought it in 1856 and was allowed to stay there until moving to his newly completed house in 1857.
Also adjacent is Abbey Farm, which incorporates the ruins of Higham Priory. This was the most wealthy and important religious foundation in the area, having been founded by King Stephen for his daughter in 1151. The nuns from Lillechurch were responsible for the causeway to the ferry that used to run between Higham and Essex in the early Middle Ages at a time when the village was quite a thriving port. The links between Higham and Essex can be seen in the Domesday survey of 1085/6, which showed Higham owning land on the Essex side of the Thames.
Parts of Higham are of some antiquity - Roman remains and large quantities of pottery have been found there and it is probable that its use as a port dates back to Roman times. The parish continued in importance throughout the Tudor period as a key part of the river defences - witnessed by the fact that in Henry VIII's reign a blockhouse or fort was built there.
The Thames and Medway Canal, built between Gravesend and Strood, saving a long river voyage of 47 miles, was only fully operational between 1825 and 1845. For another 87 years the Higham to Gravesend section remained open and frequently used and it is this section, which now lies in a somewhat overgrown state, that still remains.
The Saxon Shoreway, a long distance footpath that traces the ancient coastline of Kent the 140 miles from Gravesend to Rye, runs along the Thames riverbank in the north of Higham parish before cutting inland along Cliffe Creek.
Shorne
"Where wild flowers mingle with the grass, and the soft landscape around forms the fairest spot in the Garden of England" Pickwick Papers
This parish, stretching from Watling Street to the Thames, is set in pleasant country and from high ground near the village has a fine view across to Essex and London.
St. Katherine's Chapel probably dates from the 13th century and, after the suppression, became a malthouse for some 300 years until bought and restored by George M. Arnold.It is still used as a chapel for Roman Catholic worship, whilst St. Katherine's house is privately occupied.
Cobham
"If this," said Mr Pickwick, looking about him, "if this were the place to which all who are troubled with our friend's complaint came, I fancy their old attachment to this world would soon return." Pickwick Papers
Amongst the more interesting buildings in Cobham is the 13th century Church dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. The chancel, which is the oldest part of the church built in 1220, is in the Early English style of architecture and houses one of the finest collections of medieval brasses in England. In all there are 19 brasses, of which 11 are complete and fullsized examples, dating between 1298 and 1529. Amongst its other features of interest are the 14th century nave and aisle, together with the tower and porch which were added by John de Cobham, who also founded Cobham College, and the alabaster and black marble table tomb, dated 1558 with recumbent effigies of George Brooke, Lord Cobham and his wife, Anne Bray.
Dickens often walked to Cobham, a place which he described in 'Pickwick Papers', referring to the 'Leather Bottle' as a 'clean and commodious village ale house'. Dickens visited the 'Leather Bottle' on innumerable occasions before he bought Gads Hill, sometimes staying overnight in this inn which still preserves its original medieval timbered frontage and now houses a good collection of Dicken's pictures and prints.
The Ship Inn too at the East end of the village, is very old and may have been built from the timbers of a ship which foundered off Sheerness.
As well as being the location for a large number of historically interesting buildings, the site of the village dates back a very long way. The Sarsen Stones now used as road edgings throughout the village could have stood round a communal grave in Battle Street and a British settlement once stood in the northern part of Cobham Park.The Earl of Darnley allowed his friends to have keys to Cobham Park: Charles Dickens was given a key and he loved to ramble through the park.
Cobham Hall, on the east side of the village, is one of the finest houses in Kent. There has been a manor house on the site since the 13th century but the present building is late Elizabethan, with 17th and 18th century additions. The interior features work by James Wyatt, Inigo Jones and the Adams brothers.
Set in 50 acres of ground laid out by the famous landscape artist Humphry Repton, the house has since 1962 been a girls' boarding school, although it is open to the public during the summer months.
Cobham was the original home of Kent cricket. The Bligh family from Cobham Hall were first class at the game and encouraged the playing of it in the village. In fact, the first recorded game of cricket in England was at Cobham in 1776, when they played against the village of Addington.