Borstal, Kent

Flower Delivery to Borstal with Clare Florist

Borstal is a village located in the county of Kent, in the southeastern region of England. Borstal used to be separate from Rochester, but since that city has expanded, it’s now considered a suburb of that city. Borstal is noted for its youth reform school system in the early last century, and there are two prisons right on its border.

The word Borstal is derived from the Anglo-Saxon burg-steall, which means fort site or a place of refuge. This may be because there is a hill in this area, which is now Fort Borstal. One of the local residents believed that Borstal may have meant “a track up a chalk hill”, because the local farmers used this term.

In the Domesday Book (1086), this village was spelled Borchetelle. It’s recorded that there were fifty acres of meadow lands, six households, and two watermills.

In 1769, the site of the windmill was called Bostle Farm. An Inn called the White Horse was located on the same valley road. In 1830, a house was built near these two sites and named Borstal House. There is still the record of a tithe map from the 1840s, which shows a hamlet of a few cottages owned by a woman called Mary Tuff. She owned part of the limeworks, which she sold in 1853. This site was eventually developed into a cement factory in 1864, and owned by Samuel Barker Booth, a solicitor who worked in London.

Around this time, the hamlet grew into a village. Terraced houses were built, as well as a pub, shops, and a workmen’s institute. Borstal Manor was built in 1898 and was the second cement works of the region. Both produced cement until 1920.

With the close of its two primary industries, the village fell into decline. When Rochester expanded and Borstal became its suburb, it experienced a rebirth, with plenty of new houses being built.

The village has its parish church dedicated to St. Matthew. The Tuff family donated the land that it was built on in 1879. There are windows in the church dedicated to women in the family.

Fort Borstal was built between 1875 and 1885 by convict labour, and was never armed until WWII. It’s connected by a narrow gauge railway called the Eastern Defences Railway from a pier on the River Medway, leading up to the fort on the hillside. This railway also connected Fort Bridgewood, Fort Horsted, and Fort Luton. The purpose of the railway was to transfer materials and convicts. Fort Borstal is now privately owned.

If you need to send flowers to Borstal, Kent, we can supply a full range of choices. Flowers make the perfect gift for every occasion, from Christmas, to birthdays, anniversaries, and even congratulatory and thank you messages. They can also be sent to cheer someone up during a bereavement, or illness. Place your order today, and we can have it delivered to Borstal, Kent by the next day.
 

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