Alfred Hambrook and his brother, Percy, set up a commercial operation supplying postcards of the Mid Kent district from a shop in Snodland in 1904 and continued until the 1940s, although most were printed between 1904 and 1907.
Andrew Ashbee has put together a fascinating collection of these cards and endeavoured to contrast the ‘then’ and ‘now’. Thus his linked pictures, many in colour, reproduce the former view with the present, although it would have been a better presentation if the top picture was always the older. This isn’t always the case and, as a consequence, the presentation is rather higgledy-piggledy. Nevertheless, it is a treasure to read. Some views have hardly changed, others have altered beyond recognition.
Birling Manor House has completely vanished, but we are not shown what is on the site today. In contrast, The White House in Trottiscliffe, once the home of Valentine Dyall and later of Graham Sutherland, together with the view across the road, are virtually unchanged.