Genealogy Chat

Does anybody have any information about Gravel Pit House? My great-grandfather died there in 1942 and I am trying to work out why because his home (and family) were all in Garlinge, near Margate. It does state on the certificate that he was 'of 131 High Street Garlinge'. Given that he was 72, retired, that the informant was recorded as the occupier of the house and was not a relative of any sort , and he died of chronic myocarditis I can't see that he would be off on a jaunt of any kind. Any help would be gratefully received. Christina

Old People's Home?? Merry

Thanks for the suggestion Monty but I don't think that the informant would have been recorded as the occupier in that case. Nevertheless, I shan't discard the idea, you never know. C

The occupier is just the ''head of the household''.....the opposite of an Inmate, which today sounds like someone in an institution, but previously meant someone living in a property who wasn't the occupier. Merry

Maybe you could try Post Office Directories at Faversham Library? Merry

Good idea, I'll have to see if I can get there next time I am in the UK. C

Nursing home? 1942 would be during the war, maybe his own house was requisitioned?

Alternatively he could have been just passing when he was taken ill, taken in and died. nell

You could probably email the library........... Merry

Hmmmm, having said that, I can't see an email addy for them! Here's the postal address: Faversham Local Studies Collection Faversham Library, Newton Road Faversham, Kent ME13 8DY Merry

You can email Sittingbourne Library: sittingbournelibrary at kent.gov.uk (replace the at) Merry

His house was a tiny rundown terraced house, def not requisitioned. Faversham isn't really on the way to anywhere he would be expected to go, but a possibility I guess. Thanks for the address, Monty. C.

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I was also searching for info on Gravel Pit House and it seems it was the informal name for the workhouse.

Doesn't explain why your g-grandfather ended up there but might help

If it was a workhouse then most had their own infirmary

You didn't have to be in the workhouse to receive medical treatment in the infirmary. If you couldn't afford private treatment then treatment would be given in the infirmary as an patient not as a workhouse inmate

Quote
http://www.faversham.org/forum/discussion.aspx?f=3&t=468

Gravel Pit House, or Gravel Pit House Hospital, was a 'polite' name for the Faversham Union Workhouse, which stood at the end of Lower Road, about a mile west of the town centre. It was so called because it overlooked a gravel pit.

It closed in the late 1980s, and was demolished in 1991 to make way for a small housing estate, where Lewis Close commemorates the dedicated work of Lionel Lewis and his wife, who between them administered the facility after it became a combination of old people's care home and geriatric hospital.

The records of the workhouse are now at the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone. The Faversham Society has published two studies of it in its series of 'Faversham Papers', which you can read about elsewhere on this site. However these probably don't cover the period in which you're interested.

I hope this helps.

Arthur Percival - for The Faversham Society - see www.faversham.org/society

My Grandmother was born here in 1908

Sarah you have added to old posts. Christina is no longer a member but Cali, who resurrected the thread 4 years ago still seems to be a member.
If you click on the name you can send a pm. If Cali still has the same email address she will get a notification.