OCTOBER 1998
H I S T O R Y OF:
OLD MILL HOUSE, 41 UNION ROAD, BFIDGE
AND THE LEMAR FAMILY
Notes written by Gwen Herbert (nee Lemar)
In the 18th Century some Huguenot families escaped from France during the
French Revolution and came to settle in Kent.
One of those families was "US" — the leMar family — (later to be written
as Lemar). Out[r] Ancestors were Market Gardeners. '
Two centuries later, our family, Mr. & Mrs. G.F. Lemar and daughters,
Gladys, Margaret and Gven, moved from Canterbury to Bridge. The reason for this
was that Mr. H.E. Burniston, Coal Merchant in Canterbury, for whom my father
worked, had asked my father to move to Bridge to expand the coal trade in Bridge
and surrounding villages.
So, on 28th February 1933, we came to live in Old Mill House, Union Road,
Bridge (later to be numbered No.41).
Old Mill House was built c.1730 and when we moved in, in 1933, there were
very few houses in Union Road. There were none between Old Mill House and the
Coal Yard (where my father worlced) which was situated at the top of Union Road
(where the Oil Distribution Depot is today). In the Coal Yard stood a Mill and
in earlier times the Miller lived in Old Mill House. This is the reason why Old
Mill House faces Union Road the Miller always kept an "eye" on his Mill! A Mill-
stone is still in the front porch. at Old Mill House. The Mill was demolished in
1955.
Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Hollands were the previous occupants of Old Mill
House and they moved to No. 14 Union Road, Bridge.
My father,(Mr. Lemar) had to do an immense amount of work to Old Mill
House, i.e. levelling the floors, making ceilings and redecorating etc. In one
instance, in a bedroom, when he stripped layers of paper off down to the wooden
partitioning, he found signatures and ranks of soldiers who it seemed had been
billeted in the house. (I wonder which war they fought in?)
Old Mill House has only one half brick internal wall, all the other
"walls" having wooden partitioning. There is an iron "X" on the back and front
walls, securing an iron rod which runs through the house.
When we moved in there were just two gas lights and no other means of
artificial light, so candles and hurricane lamps were used. The toilet was
outside and there was a cesspool and water—well in the back garden. After s few
years a cement rendering was put over the old brick outer walls and the sash
windows were replaced. Because of these alterations, the house is not a listed
building. I
My father and mother (Mr. & Mrs. Lemar) died in 1980 and 1981 respectively
and both are buried in Bridge Churchyard; we all attended the Church. My sister,
Margaret, became organist at Bridge Church at the age of 14, holding the post
for 14% years. She married the local Policeman, moved to Gravesend and became
organist at her Church there. She died in 1986.
Gwen (the writer of these notes) now lives in the West Midlands, but has
always considered Bridge as "home".