Hards Town

[supermoussi]

Some of my rellies lived a in Hards Town, Gillingham/Chatham in the early/mid 1800s. Why was it so named and what was it like?

[scintilla]

I have ancestors who lived in Hards Town, Chatham and I must admit it was something I had wondered about. When I googled Hards Town I found someone on Curious Fox is saying that it was built by one of their ancestors, a Richard Hards about 1803. I do not believe that by the mid-1800's it was one of the most salubrious parts of Chatham.

There is also a Best Town in Chatham. I have read a suggestion that it may have been named after Thomas Best who had a brewery there in the 1700's.

[supermoussi]

In the mid 1800s there seemed to be quite a lot of dock labourers and pubs there, although that is probably true of a lot of Chatham/Gillingham back then.

[supermoussi]

I have since read that there was a Sir Richard Hardes charging around Kent during the English Civil War so it is not difficult to think there is link between his family and Hards Town.

[smallbrowndog]

Hardstown is (and has been for as long as I remember) a small area packed with high rise flats and maisonettes.  There is a lot of temporary housing and living conditions are pretty poor.  It was behind the old chatham cinema which has now been pulled down.