We have often meant to leave the M2 to see the old harbour buildings at Sheerness which have been restored by the Spitalfields Trust. The dockyard was built by John Rennie in the 1820s, terrace houses for the naval officers at the same time. These survive and have been renovated, but not yet the church:-
Almost as impressive was the great industrial complex as one drives in to Sheerness:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
A neighbour who had some involvement with the Spitalfields Trust told me about these some years ago. It made me laugh out loud to think of anything of architectural merit on the Isle of Sheppey. For many East Enders of my generation the Isle of Sheppey is a place of slot machines and working men’s clubs. We had a static caravan in Leysdown where we spent every weekend in ‘the season’ (roughly April to October) and the whole of the summer holidays for all of my childhood/teens. Friday night was dad’s night when a fleet of cars (including many black cabs, since numbers of dockers became cab drivers once containerisation arrived) streamed on to the island transporting men to spend the weekend with their kids. It was the place where we learned to ride bikes, play crazy golf, pick up inappropriate boyfriends and harvest vast amounts of cockles from the muddy beaches. I think it was a place that kept many parents – used to being cooped up in tower blocks with restless kids – sane.
Joan
The Spitalfields Trust also restored Shurland Hall on the Isle of Sheppey. So, it wasn’t only dockers and caravans. Charles