Ide Hill Society Lecture: 19th October, 2022
George Orwell in Kent and the old Sundridge Hospital
Many of us will remember reading ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’ by George Orwell when we were at school. Perhaps less well known is his diary in which he records his hop-picking journey through Kent in 1931. In this he notes that he intended to stay at the ‘spike’ in Ide Hill but instead slept ‘on the edge of a park near the church’. The spike was a part of the old workhouse located on Sundridge Road, which subsequently became Sundridge Hospital before being converted into housing and renamed Birchfield.
The Ide Hill Society is delighted to welcome Neil Smith, the secretary of The Orwell Society, who has been researching the author’s connections with Kent, including Ide Hill.
Joining Neil will be Mike Bolton, a local historian, who will share his research into the old Sundridge Workhouse/Hospital – the former recorded in Orwell’s ‘Down & Out in Paris and London’ as a spike that is best avoided. He writes that his fellow tramps warned him:
‘to steer clear of Billericay and Chelmsford, also Ide Hill in Kent’.
This promises to be a fascinating and informative double session.
It will be held in the Ide Hill Village Hall and will start at the earlier time of 6pm on Wednesday 19th October 2022. All are welcome – non-members £2.