Broken windows

This big derelict building is close to where we live. It was built in 1874 and originally used as a foundry and workshops by Thomas Wood & Sons. They were steam engine proprietors.

The premises are still owned by the Wood family . Behind the broken windows steam traction engines can be seen.

In the early part of the twentieth century farmers in Kent hired steam ploughs and threshing engines, with teams, to work on their farms.

Thomas Wood owned several fruit and vegetable farms in kent and was a very large local employer. He promoted the use of steam traction engines. He supplied the Royal Navy with vegetables, and had a War Office contract, which ended in 1920, to haul guns from Woolwich to Chatham dockyard.

Wood's last steam plough was bought in 1919 and was built by John Fowler, an agricultural engineer, who was a pioneer in the use of steam engines for ploughing and digging drainage channels.

Adjacent to the old foundry building is a big open air yard where a number of steam traction engines can be seen . Unfortunately a locked gate and high wall prevent access so the vehicles cannot be viewed properly.