The Cross Roads

Wateringbury Cross Roads were originally known as Wateringbury Cross

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On the South East corner was a Hotel called The Kings Head Hotel. It must have been knocked down in the late 50's to make the junction wider for the increase in traffic. I don't remember the Hotel being there though my good friend Mike does. I only remember the left over rubble from the demolition as we used to play in it. The photo above shows the Hotel in its glory years. Below it on the left, just beyond the car is the Jude Hanbury Brewery now Hanbury Close. This was one of two brewery's in the village. The other was Leaneys further down Bow Road on the left, both later to become Whitbreads and later Fremlins.
The building immediately below the hotel is the shop which I knew as Outrams when I was a boy (now the Snooker shop) next to that was the Butchers owned by Boormans, strangely the butcher working in the shop when I was young was Jack Skinner who was no relation to the other Butcher in the village also Skinners. The next shop was Mac the Barbers.

Between the hotel and the shop was an alley where there still stands today a long narrow single storey building that was used by a target shooting club when I was small, however my mum remembers this as a cinema and later a scout hall.

This picture taken looking towards the cross roads from Bow Road shows the Hotel taking a delivery of beer from the brewery dray.

On the opposite side of the cross roads and behind the dray in the above photo is what I remember as the village bakers, though in my time no baking took place on the premises.

In front of the Bakers Shop are two iron bollards, as far back as I can remember they always look as though a vehicle has clipped them as they are never upright. These were cast in a small foundry behind Southwark Cathedral in London and are dated 1826 and were cast to mark the Clink Liberty adjacent to the Cathedral. They are embossed 'Clink 1826'. Behind Southwark Cathedral there are similar bollards embossed 'Clink 1812' The Bishop of Winchester exercised jurisdiction over this liberty, and the Clink was a private prison attached to the medieval palaces. It is thought probable that the name of prison gave origin to the expression:- "Send a person to clink"

These bollards were brought to Wateringbury on a barge along with some Rag Stone salvaged from the old London Bridge and that stone was used to build the wall in front of Pelican farm just a little further up Red Hill on the same side of the road. Today there are two bollards but only one is the original as some time ago one was broken in an accident.

Cars in the village in the early 60's were a novelty, I remember having a note pad on a roller on which I collected car numbers, it was easy to write down a number and then wait for the next car to come along sometimes this seemed to take ages. Seven or eight years later in 1968 the primary school children conducted a survey at the cross roads when one day between 2:45pm and 3:45pm there were only 192 cars, 62 commercial vehicles, 58 light commercial vehicles, 2 pedal cycles, 4 motor cycles and 12 pedestrians recorded.

Wateringbury Cross Roads

An aerial shot of the Cross Roads probably dating from the 1970's as it shows 'Claremont' the large house just west of the cross roads on the Tonbridge road in its full glory with a pond, swimming pool and stables in its large garden. Then it would have been owned by the local doctor, Dr Miln. When I first married in 1973 my wife and I rented the top floor flat from Dr and Mrs Miln. There is a slight possibility that the black Austin Bubble parked at the rear is my father in laws car as this was where we parked. This house has since been split into several apartments and houses have been built in the garden.

Photo courtesy of Ruth Jones from the collection of Helen Long

Pubs & Breweries in Wateringbury

In the 50's and 60's that I remember there were eight pubs and one brewery though a few years before there had been an additional Pub that was demolished to make way for the airfield during the second world war, there was also a second brewery. Two breweries in the village, one owned by Jude Hanbury at the top of Bow Road where Hanbury Close now is and one further down Bow road owned by Leneys where Leneys Road now is. Both were later owned by Whitbreads and then the lower owned by Fremlins. All the brewing families lived in the village.

The Kings Head Hotel was in the Tonbribge Road on the Maidstone side of the cross roads, probably the newest as it was built just before the old Kings Head on the Cross Roads was demolished. The Queens Head was on the other side of the Tonbridge road towards Tonbridge, The Harrow was next in Old Road and this was run for a while by my grandfather, further towards Tonbridge was the Duke Without a Head, in Bow Road there was the Telegraph where I had my first half pint of bitter and the Railway, up the hill in Red Hill was The Phoenix and at the top The North Pole. and then there was Wateringbury Working Men's Club. Today only the Working Men's Club, Kings Head and the Railway survive.

I remember when I was very young living in Bow Cottages, whenever there was a thunderstorm my mum would say the thunder was where the men were rolling the beer barrels at the brewery! at this end of the village there was always a smell of malt from the brewery which we never really thought about. I remember large yellow trucks constantly taking steaming barley and yeast away. I wish I had some photos of the brewery in Bow Road.

The brewery was just across the garden where Leney Road now is. I remember coming home from school for lunch one day and found a beer tanker had been parked outside the brewery without the hand brake being secure and it ran down the road straight across Bow Road into Wardens Close opposite , down the hill straight into the house at the bottom of the hill. Great

excitement!

The Jude Hanbury & Co Brewery at the top of Bow Road seen here as the large building on the right as taken in 1915

Below you can see the Phoenix Brewery on the right as looking up Bow Road towards the Cross Roads.

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The Inn Signs for Whitbread were designed and painted at Phoenix Brewery as seen below.

Above shows Leonard Smith outlining the Inn Sign 

Kindly confirmed by his Granddaughter Clare Nicholls

Bow Road

The road from the cross roads down the hill to the station and river is 'Bow Road', it crosses the river medway by 'Bow Bridge' and the field on the other side of the river is 'Bow Meadow' after leaving the village toward Yalding it becomes 'Bow Hill'. In 'Bow Road' there is 'Bow Terrace' and 'Bow Cottages' (where I spent my first seven years). Its thought these were named so from the Old English "boga" which signified "arched bridge" or "bridge".

Standing at the cross roads looking down the hill on Bow Road, one of the the first things to catch your eye will be the "Lock Up" on the right hand side. My Grandfather used to keep his hand cart in this in the 50's as after he retired from the brewery he looked after the street lights and kept the village tidy.

This is the only photo I can find that looks like the barrow my grandad had. It was wooden with two large wheels with steel bands and a single 'T' shaped handle to pull it with.

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Looking up Bow Road from the area which is now the entrance to Glebe Meadow and directly opposite Bow Cottages where I spent my first 7 years is the view below, probably taken long before I was born. The second building on the right was Mrs Austins Handy Stores when I was young. I remember buying paper chains there at Christmas time, they came as a pack of strips of coloured paper with some sticky lick at one end, simply looped and licked and feed the next through and so on to make paper chain Christmas decorations which were hung from the ceiling with a drawing pin. The entrance to the shop was on the far end and from the roadway leading to Bow Terrace. Its now bricked up but can still be seen today in the end wall. The door with the entrance porch as I remember was the front door to Mrs Austins house. My Grandad took me to Mrs Austins house to see horse racing on her TV when I was around five so around 1958, the first TV I had seen and one of a few in the village. The road was not very busy as there was time to pose for a photo!

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Another shot from the same spot a few years later. The Handy Stores sign can now be seen and the entrance to Glebe Meadow, there is also an electric street light.

The photograph below is a much earlier shot taken from a little further down the road outside what I knew as the Nurses house and clinic. We are looking up the road towards the cross roads, the brewery would have been on the right just around the bend. All these buildings are still there today and it looks much the same but there is a footpath on the left.

This shot is taken a few yards further up the road and now the Phoenix Brewery is clearly seen on the right. (this is not a very good copy if anyone has a better version I would be very grateful for a copy).

War Memorial at The Cross Roads

When I was a young lad in Wateringbury, the War Memorial was situated at the cross roads as shown here but this was moved to a new position in the Church grounds when the cross roads were widened. The sign post was moved to the opposite side of the road and is still there today.

Early memories

Early memories all before I was seven years old were of Wateringbury C of E Primary School which was then a few hundred yards up Red Hill on the right, there are now three detached houses on the site but the entrance wall and lay by can still be seen where Mr Reid the headmaster parked his Rover 90, a grand car in 1958/9, Mrs Chambers also had a Rover 110 and parked in the same lay by. The playground had a circular wall with target circles in yellow painted on which I have a feeling are still there. The front of the school to the right had a lawn where we played in the summer, there was a huge oak tree which is still there some 50 year on and it looks smaller now than it did then! At the back of the grass lawn there was a row of newish buildings where the PE equipment was stored, these I believe were air raid shelters for the school during the war. There was a live-in care-taker which was Mrs Long who was also a dinner lady.

I can't find any pictures of the school, though I did paint it when I was at the school and won a prize for doing so. I will try to post a scan of the painting later.

I painted it from a Bramley apple orchard opposite which I remember being much higher than the road.

Mrs Smith lived opposite and was the school crossing lady, I remember one lunch time crossing the road without her as my mum was further down the road and beckoned me across, boy was I in trouble when I got back to school.

Even at Primary school we were made to touch our cap (which we had to wear) if we saw any teacher in the village out of school hours. Mrs Duffy was a teacher who lived in the village opposite the vicarage in a large gated detached house next to what was then the Garden shop in the Tonbridge Road. School dinner used to arrive in a canvas backed lorry driven by Alfie Brookes who my mum knew, Alfie was one of the Brookes Brothers that went on to run a local Bus company who also won various school run contracts and is still in business today. Alfie used to deliver the dinner in square aluminium thermal containers, I can picture them now beside his brown lorry, but I never had them as I went home for dinner (lunch).

On the way to and from school I would pass by several shops most of which have now gone.

From my house there was Mrs Austins Handy Shop on the right, next there was the garage on the left and then on the right was Mac the Barber who would put a board across the barbers chair for me to sit on and he would always say he wasn't cutting my hair any longer - but shorter! He also would ask if I wanted some tree wash on after to finish it off.

Next to Mac the Barbers was the Butcher and then Outrams news agent/tobacconist/general shop, across the cross roads on the left was Wickens Dairy and next to that was the post office with a general store next to that along the Tonbridge Road. On the opposite corner of the cross roads was the bakers shop. Going up Red Hill was a warehouse where the stock was stored upstairs and was winched up to large doors on the first floor that opened onto the road. The winch is still there though the warehouse has been converted into apartments.

The Cross Roads at Wateringbury - C1908

Standing in Bow Road Wateringbury looking towards The Cross Roads and Red Hill.

C1908

The Cross Roads and Kings Head

Another view of the Cross Roads looking east towards Maidstone taken in 1909.

Prior to being an inn, the Kings Head was a farm house, owned in the 18th Century by Thomas Luck. It was one time a stopping place for stage coaches between Maidstone and London. The Kings Head ceased to be a public house when the new Kings Head was opened in February 1938.

Photo courtesy of Hayden Brown

Wateringbury - Bow Road and the Cross Roads.

Wateringbury - Bow Road and the Cross Roads

Date Unknown

Pubs

In the 1950's there were eight Pubs in the village (counting the Railway which I consider to be Wateringbury buy is in the Nettlestead postal area)

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The Kings Head
This sign was never used on the original Kings Head at the crossroads. Both inn signs are from the new Kings Head.

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The original Kings Head Hotel Wateringbury
The Kings Head originally stood on the cross roads and dated back to the 18th century it was originally a farm house owned by Thomas Luck. William Croson was the inn keeper in 1754. On the 27th December 1876 it was sold to Frederic, Charles Frederick and Augustus Leney for £3100. Queen Victoria is said to have stopped there to enjoy a meal on her way from London to the coast. It closed on the 17th February 1938 to allow for the road to be widened.  The building was not demolished until the early 1960’s

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The New Kings Head Sign introduced in 1951

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The new Kings Head Hotel

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The Weather vane that can be seen on the Kings Head above was the original from the Phoenix brewery when it was demolished. The storm of 1987 blew it down from the roof here and it was sent away for repair and then lost. Today there is a smaller replica on the Kings Head

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The Queens Head

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Located at No 232 Tonbridge Road to the west of the cross roads The Queens Head Wateringbury was a small public house with a Public Bar, Saloon Bar ans Off sales window. The Queens Head closed in 1976 an has since been converted into a private dwelling.

The picture above shows the pub as I remember it right up to when it closed it looked the same.

A pump house in an out building at the rear of the pub supplied water from a well in the back garden of the nearby Gransden House to the Jude Hanbury Brewery which was at the top of Bow Road and is now a residential road called Hanbury Close. Mr Jude lived in Gransden House. Jude Hanbury was later sold to Whitbreads.

As a young lad my Mum and Dad, myself and my brother Brian would often go for a walk on a summers Sunday evening ending up at either the Harrow or the Queens Head where Dad would go in to see his friends whilst Mum, Brian and myself would sit on the wall outside the Public Bar. The wall surrounded a large laurel bushes. Dad would bring us out a drink of Vimto and cheeslets or crisps, sometimes a bar of Fruit & Nut Chocolate. I remember a fight spilling out into the car park on more than one occasion.

When a little older around fourteen I remember going to the off sales on a Sunday lunch time with an empty bottle to get a pint of mild to make shandy with to have with Sunday lunch.

The gent's toilets were outside right up to the day the pub closed and I remember them being frozen solid some winters. Though these did have running water which was a great improvement on the original gent's which were no more than a wall, this can bee seen on the photo above, it is the low wall to the left of the steps. I believe it is still visible on the house as it now is.

As a teenager the Queens Head became my local pub and I remember we had a brilliant landlord Bill & Hilda Munday (photo below) who would always buy his customers a drink. There was a juke box and bar billiard table in the saloon and dart board in the public but I only used the saloon.

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Bill & Hilda Munday

Landlords in the late 60's & early 70's

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The Queens Head a few years before looked like this

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A few years earlier here.

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The Duke Without a Head

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The Duke Without A Head Wateringbury photographed probably 1960's before being demolished in 1990. The pub stood on the outer edge of the village on the Tonbridge road. The name came about when the licence was transferred from the original 'Dukes Head' the licence stated "Permission is given to remove the Duke's Head" The renaming ceremony took place on 16th December 1940. The former "Dukes Head" is now a house and still stands in Pizen Well which was originally directly behind the new building.

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The Phoenix

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The Phoenix Wateringbury was situated half way up Red Hill on the right and today is a private dwelling. The pub closed on the 21st January 1957, it was sold for £1200. It took its name from the Phoenix Brewery in the village.

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The Harrow

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The Harrow Wateringbury as I remember it in the late 1950's early 60's

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The Harrow was closed and converted into a house in 1968. It stands on the side of Old Road which was was the main road to Tonbridge until the "new A26" was built. At one point in the 1930's my Grandfather Frederick James Gilham ran the pub.

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This is a photograph published in the Daily Mirror is of Mr & Mrs Martin calling 'time' in 1954. A letter had been published asking why publicans throw a towel over the beer pumps when time is called.

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The Railway Hotel

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The Railway Hotel was technically Nettlestead but right on the border. The pub is still open and looks much the same structurally. It was once called 'The Kent Arms' but the name changed in 1875 when the Maidstone to Tonbridge line opened, though the railway line came to the village on 25th September 1844. The Railway always flooded and I remember in 1968 and 1974 in was particularly deep.

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A much earlier Photograph.

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The North Pole

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The North Pole Wateringbury

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The North Pole Wateringbury is still open as a public house. Standing at the top of Red Hill overlooking the village it was built in 1826. For many years the inn sign was replaced with one showing a 'North Pole' in a hop field but I am glad to see very recently the old inn sign has been reinstated with the polar bear as above. The North Pole was built by Richard Gibbon on land belonging to Mathias Prime Lucas of Wateringbury Place. Richard went on to buy the freehold of the land on the 4th November 1828 but the business failed to meet his expectations and it was sold to John Beal Jude in January 1836 and later came into possession of Jude Hanbury & Co.

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The Telegraph

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The Telegraph Wateringbury is in Bow Road and this is the pub where I tried my first half pint of Bitter with my best friend and his dad. I didn't enjoy it too much then but I have persevered and I now enjoy a whole pint!

Bill Green was the Landlord and he used to say the only way the brewery would get him out of the Telegraph was in his box and that is how it was. Bill ran it from 28th May 1951 until it closed in around 1975. The pub then stood empty for years and was later demolished in around 1989.

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A much earlier photo.

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The Fir Tree

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The Fir Tree stood at the top of Cannon Lane until 1938/9 when it was demolished to make way for a larger West Malling Aerodrome. It was known as an Ale House and run by Edward & Gladys Kirby. I dont have an Inn Sign for it as I understand there never was one produced.

The Cross Roads

This was the cross roads as I remember looking up Red Hill with Wickens Dairy on the Left with the warehouse just above it with its upstairs stock room and winch, on the right is the bakers shop. No traffic lights though in this picture and you can just see the Kings Head Hotel on the lower right which was pulled down in the early 50's to widen the road.