Tag: oare creek

Gary Vaughan’s fascinating collection of postcards, including Faversham Creek

 Oare Creek above the bridge 1905

Oare Creek and Hollowshore, 1955 Faversham Creek, showing shipyards 1940 Faversham Creek 1960 Pollock's sideways launch

Postcard collector Gary Vaughan has a fascinating website showing his many images of old Kent, including quite a few of Faversham and Faversham Creek in particular – this is just a small sample!

Notice how large ships used the creek, how hard the creek shore was back when the sluice gates were used regularly to wash the mud from the creek, and how different the area above the bridge used to be. They’re all eye opening to those of us who have only come to know the creek in recent decades – even the launch from the sideways slip at Pollock’s Yard is  a surprise.

Got to his Faversham Creek page, or to his home page to see many more.

Man on the River needs a motorboat helm’s help to cross the Channel

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Environmental campaigner and long distance rower Giacomo de Stefano has stopped off at Oare Creek near Faversham and is greatly impressed by the size of its tides and doubtless also by its peerlessly gloopy mud.

He has also met some well known local boating people, including Leena Reekie and Bob Berk.

Giacomo’s rowing his Iain Oughtred-designed Ness Yawl from London to Turkey via 15 countries with a companion, and from reading his weblog I believe he may need an experienced sailor to helm his support boat across the English Channel in a few days. Does anyone out there fancy an out-of-the-ordinary sea trip complete with cameras? It might be fun… If you’re interested and know what you’re doing, contact Giacomo via his website: http://www.manontheriver.com .

A pleasant trip to Whitstable and Faversham

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Smack, late afternoon at Hollowshore

A smack, in the late afternoon light at Hollowshore

We took ourselves to Whitstable and Oare Creek just outside Faversham today to see and meet some Morris dancing friends, to mooch around Whitstable and to check on our little boat. As usual, I couldn’t stay out of the second-hand bookshops, and among other things found a copy of The Last Stronghold of Sail by Hervey Benham – a book I’ve been hoping to find for a while. It’s splendid stuff!

We also stopped by at Macnade’s amazing Faversham delicatessen and foodstore, and vowed never to miss an opportunity to buy provisions there, particularly if we’re setting off for a trip.

To celebrate both a nice day out after some weeks of rather hard work, and buying Benham’s book about the bygone world of working smacks and barges , I thought I should post the photo above taken this afternoon – a typical shot of a smack apparently waiting to take its turn in the dry dock at Hollowshore.