大象传媒

Whore鈥檚 Harbour
A listener who lives in an old hall-house near Maidstone in Kent discovered from old maps that either the area around his house, or the house itself, was once known as 鈥榃hore鈥檚 Harbour鈥�. Why such a name in such a tranquil, rural setting he asks?

Making History consulted Jane Davidson of House Historians and the Centre for Kentish Studies. They explained that it was highly unlikely that prostitutes would have been working so far from a major road or a major centre of population and that it probably goes back to the early Ordnance Survey maps which, for Kent, was in 1801. It could just be that the mapmaker (a Colonel Mudge) misheard the name 鈥榟all鈥� for 鈥榳hore鈥�. A guess, but the Tithe maps and other local parish records throw up no further clues.

Ordnance Survey
Following on from the search for 鈥榃hore鈥檚 Harbour鈥�, Vanessa Collingridge paid a visit to the Map Library at the British Library to find out more about the history of mapping and the Ordnance Survey.

Picture Post
Vanessa Collingridge caught up with Sheila Hardy, the widow of Bert Hardy who was a photographer for the Picture Post which closed 50 years ago. She also spoke to Bert鈥檚 son Michael and Professor Jeffrey Richards of the University of Lancaster.