The Pubs and Clubs of Halling: Now and Then...

Pubs are still firmly embedded in English culture, though sadly this seems to be rapidly changing. In the days before the motor car, when Shanks’s Pony was often the only affordable means of transport available to the working classes, the local pubs were an important part of the social side of village life.

There was no television, Internet, or streamed entertainment beamed straight to your home. People had to actually meet face-to-face to communicate with one another, and the local pub was the usual place to do that.

Despite self-serving vinicultural industry attempts to rewrite English history, locally-made wine was never the preferred tipple of the English working classes, partly because it was expensive and of rather poor quality (the good stuff went to the local lord's table) but also because the UK climate was, by and large, unfavourable for grape cultivation (although some Kentish vineyards did thrive for a while in the late Middle Ages).

Beer was the most common drink during the Middle Ages, mostly because it was much safer to consume than the well-water that was available back then. It was brewed very locally and consumed daily by all social classes in England where the per capita consumption was thought to be around 60 gallons a year in the fourteenth century, with beer being drunk with every meal. Children drank “small beer” (probably equivalent in strength to today’s “session beers”) while adults drank stronger stuff.

“Halling” as a village is a rather scattered affair. “North Halling” was once just a few isolated cottages on Pilgrims Road and the Rochester Road, near Whornes Place on the parish border with Cuxton.  “Upper Halling” further down Pilgrims Road is also remote from the main part of Halling (Lower Halling), and indeed, the two were only connected in 1937 when Vicarage Road became a main road rather than a farm track. Upper Halling, though quite small, once had two pubs.

Halling Village, as it was in 1930. Pubs and clubs are numbered to fit in with the narrative below. Right-click on the map to zoom in and select "open in new tab" if you are on a PC)

The presence of five ale houses in Lower Halling could be partly attributed to the main road that has passed through it since medieval times, where horses and horse-drawn vehicles and their passengers on journeys between the City of Rochester and the towns of Tunbridge and Sevenoaks could have their needs met by the many wayside inns. Later on in Lower Halling, several big cement factories sprang up along the banks of the River Medway in the mid-nineteenth century, factories which employed many local people and attracted many more to the area to live and work. The pubs would also meet their needs for refreshment and socialising. 

The two pubs in Upper Halling probably served the local agricultural community, possibly having their origins in meeting the needs of pilgrims making their way to Canterbury along the nearby Pilgrims Way.

At one time, Halling was served by six pubs, an off-licence and two Working Men’s clubs. This seems a lot by modern standards, but was not uncommon: over the river, nearby Wouldham had five or six pubs and a Working Men’s club, Snodland had at least a dozen (plus a Working Men’s club) and little Burham had five and its own Working Men’s Club.

For the purposes of this narrative, I want you to imagine that we are out on a pub crawl around Halling’s bars on a balmy summer’s evening in 1930. It’s your shout, by the way. We’re drinking in the public bars (not the saloon bars, which were a bit more posh and a bit more expensive) at a time when beer costs around 9d (4p) a pint…

The first pub on our “virtual” pub crawl is the Robin Hood in Upper Halling (1), located on the corner of Pilgrims Road and Vicarage Lane.

c.1910...

As a pub, records of it can be found dating back to 1840 and it may be much older than that. For many years, the pub was apparently called “The Shant”, gypsy slang meaning “to drink”. Behind the Robin Hood used to be hop gardens, which the travelling folk worked and afterwards obviously quenched their thirst in the pub. 

The Robin Hood, c.1960...

The Robin Hood PH, 1972...

The pub changed its name to the “Pilgrims Rest” sometime in the late 1980’s, finally closing for good in 2000. It is now a private house, pretty much unchanged. It is still remembered as the Robin Hood, as the “new” name never caught on.

Robin Hood with Leney's cottage on the right, July 2022...

Carrying on up the hill brings us to the Black Boy (2), also a nineteenth century pub, with a small extension on the left of eighteenth century vintage. Records from the mid-nineteenth century tell us that a Mr. Robert Hearnden was the licensee in 1858. 

At that time, Mr. Hearnden ran the pub, but it had also been a working farm which occupied quite a bit of the surrounding land. The title deeds of 1840 show that along with the Black Boy, there was land known as "The Commons, Stackfield, Haggles, Brickmans Field, Crouch Corner and Meadows". 

Clients of the Black Boy PH, c. 1905...

Alterations to the building in the 1960s uncovered a timber-frame wall, suggesting that the building is actually several hundred years older than its external appearance suggests.

Black Boy PH, 1972...

In the 1920’s, the pub was also known for its ice cream. This was made at the pub by Jesse Crowhurst and Ernie Pankhurst, then loaded on to a hand-cart and taken around the village for sale. Five or six gallons could be sold over a summer weekend.

Jesse Crowhurst at the Black Boy PH, c.1930...

This pub also closed around 2000, leaving Upper Halling bereft of drinking places. The Black Boy is now a private house, although the pub sign still remains.

The Black Boy PH, now a private house, July 2022...

As a name for a pub, the “Black Boy” is considered objectionable by some, given its slavery connotations and the evils therein. Nevertheless, it is quite a common pub name across the UK, but in many cases it is a celebration of King Charles II, whose nickname was “the black boy”.  Whilst that may have been the original case for our Black Boy, an old photo of the early Halling pub sign in 1972 depicts a young man of Black African extraction. The King Charles II version appears on the pub sign of 1982 however, a design which can still just be made out today.

Halling Black Boy pub signs, 1972, 1982 and today...

The past is indeed another country and certainly a much more innocent one in many respects.

From the Black Boy, turning left leads you past what today is Meadow Crescent (built in 1945) and thence down the hill along a narrow track called “the Plough Path”. This leads down into Lower Halling, across the Halling by-pass A228 (which you take your life in your hands crossing) and the railway, bringing you out (as the names suggests) by the Plough (3).

Site of the former Plough PH, July 2022...

Or at least, it would do, if the Plough hadn’t closed in 1997, to be demolished and replaced by houses. The pub dated back to at least 1858, when a Mr. Edward Norman was listed as its licensee, although the building was probably much older. In 1874, his son Allan took over the licence until 1913.

Recent recollections of the Plough was that it was a very popular, friendly pub, with an equally friendly goat called Jasper who lived in the pub garden, and who would try and nick your crisps and drink your beer if you weren’t careful!  Local gossip suggests that the pub closed because the pub chain that owned it simply could not resist the lure of the developer’s money, but how true that is I do not know.

The Plough PH, c.1974...

What is true is that around that time, big employers in the area (e.g. the cement and paper mills) were shutting up shop and lots of people in the area would have seen their disposable income take a heavy hit as a result. That must have affected all of the local pubs and clubs, some of which took that hit harder than others.

Five Bells PH, July 2022...

The next pub on our virtual 1930 pub crawl is the Five Bells (4), opposite Halling church. The present building was built in 1935 behind the earlier eighteenth century pub, which remained open while the new pub was being built. It was called the “New Bell” for quite a while, but has since reverted back to its old name.

The church has six bells, which still causes some local puzzlement regarding the pub name. However, the sixth bell is a relatively recent addition in the church tower compared to the age of the pub. The original five church bells date from 1695 but in 1919, the five were recast and a sixth (the treble) was added. Needless to say, the pub felt no need to rename itself as a result of such modern events!

The Five Bells, c.1900...

There has been a pub on the site of the Five Bells for hundreds of years, and it was probably the first one in the village. It is believed to be the “alehouse” mentioned in records dating back to events in 1586, when a Mr. William Cokar of Halling was sent to gaol for “keeping an ale house and allowing gambling”.

The Five Bells was linked to smuggling activities in the late 19^th century. Local historian, the late Ted Gowers, tells us (in his book, Across The Low Meadow) how his mother and father were exploring its extensive cellars when they came across a partly bricked-up section. Inside a small recess, under some old sacking, they found a large number of bottles. His grandfather, Frederick, was told about the discovery, sampled the liquid within and found that it was claret of an excellent quality! Although he had been the landlord of the pub for around 15 years at the time, Fred Gowers had no idea how the bottles came to be there.

The Five Bells and Halling High Street, c.1920...

During Mr. Gowers’ tenure, the Five Bells became the first pub in the village to acquire a dartboard. Music was also supplied by a large music box, one that played 30 different tunes.

In 1940, the Five Bells was the unofficial headquarters of the local Home Guard. Local villagers used to joke that “if the Jerries landed, the Five Bells would be defended until the last pint!”

Halling High Street c.1910, with the Five Bells centre distance...

The Five Bells is one of the two pubs in Halling still going today (web site here).  Until recently it used to co-exist with an Indian restaurant (much the same as the Medway Inn in Wouldham does today) but these days it runs its own restaurant, offering a good menu of excellent “pub grub”.

A short distance down the road, next to the post office on the other side, lies (or was) the Halling Institute (5). The Institute closed in 1978 and was eventually demolished, with the Halling Community Centre being built on the site, opening in 1991. 

The Halling Institute, c.1978... (image credit - Frank Smith, Facebook)

Dating back to 1885, provision of the facility was funded by the nearby local Hilton and Anderson cement company, who operated the Halling Manor cement works that used to be by the river to the north of Ferry Road. The working conditions in the factory were pretty grim by today’s standards, with severe or even fatal accidents not uncommon. Mr. Anderson otherwise took the welfare of his workers very seriously.

c.1930...

H & A were great benefactors of Halling and many of the houses in Halling today were built by H & A, providing the workers with what was then good quality accommodation. Workers injured in the factory were generally well-looked after, as with the Stevens family, who were endowed with the ferry after one such accident. 

The Institute provided a wide range of sporting facilities for local working men, both indoor and outdoor. The 1909-1930 above map shows the extent of the grounds, occupied by what is now the Low Meadow housing estate, which was built in the late 1980s.

The Institute even had an outdoor swimming pool, which opened in 1893 and was formerly a converted water tank belonging to the H &A cement works.

Halling Institute (left), 1972, next to the Post Office (centre)...

Right up until the seventies, the Halling Institute seemed to be the hub of Halling village life. It was the main village social, sporting and entertainment venue, holding parties and wedding receptions, and with many local ladies meeting their future husbands there (and vice versa). I don't have any pictures of the interior, but tales abound of the large open staircase between the two floors, with a long polished banister that the children of the club punters used to enjoy sliding down!

No-one quite seems to know why the Institute closed, but it clearly fell into a state of disrepair. I can only surmise that the owners were unwilling to subsidise the extensive remediation works needed to bring it up to modern standards (a common theme throughout Cuxton and Halling). 

Demolition of the Halling Institute, c.1987... (image credit - Frank Smith, Facebook)

Instead, it and its land were sold off for the inevitable (and doubtless highly profitable) housing, with the provision of a new community centre and doctor’s surgery being part of the deal. Both facilities were, of course, very welcome, but some people felt that the loss of the Institute pretty much ripped the heart out of the village.

Halling Community Centre, July 2022, built on the site of the old Institute...

Staggering out of the Institute, we now continue our 1930 pub crawl by crossing the High Street again and going into the Rose and Crown (6). 

The Rose and Crown PH, 1974...

The pub sits on the corner of the “Cam Path” that leads up to the cemetery (the land for which was another Hilton and Anderson endowment) and at one time had a balustraded frontage somewhat similar to that of the Black Boy.

Records show that a Mr. George Cock was the licensee in 1881. In 1876, the pub was sold for the princely sum of £200.

The reason Halling Village was so well-endowed with pubs may be deduced from the activities of a Mr. Jack Gooding, landlord of the Rose and Crown prior to WW1. He had a cart built to carry barrels and bottles, which he used to push round to the local factories each day, with workers paying their accounts on a weekly basis.

The Rose and Crown in Halling High Street, c.1920...

It seems considerable amounts of beer were drunk at the local factories and cement works at the time (possibly contributing to the accident rate?). This may seem surprising by today’s puritanical views of workplace culture but back then, beer was still the staple beverage for many.

The Rose and Crown closed in the late 1990s, around the same time as the Plough, and has now been sub-divided into private flats. Fortunately, the exterior remains largely unchanged.

Rose and Crown PH, now private flats, July 2022

There is a sign that refers to the building as “Bellringers Place”, one which reflects the former pub’s support for the practice of ringing hand bells, rather than church bells. (Ironically, it seems that the church bell-ringing team preferred to frequent the Plough rather than the Five Bells).

Hand-bell ringing at the Rose and Crown, c.1905...

A short walk northwards along the High Street brings us to the final pub on our 1930 pub crawl: The Homeward Bound (7). This is the other pub in Halling (along with the Five Bells) that is still open (link to its web site here). 

Very little historical information about the pub is readily available: Walter Mills was the licensee in 1881, and in 1993 the pub was awarded the Halling community award.

The Homeward Bound, July 2022...

In some ways The Homeward Bound rather reminds me of the Cock Inn at Luddesdown: it doesn’t open until 4 p.m. during the week, and (thanks to Covid) it doesn’t do food any more, but the beer is always very good (if you like Shepherd Neame beer - which I do!). It is a small, friendly pub with a loyal local clientele, which has managed to survive the Covid lockdowns and has gone back to doing what it has quietly done for the past 150-odd years; pulling pints for thirsty patrons, without fuss or bother.

We now walk out of Halling High Street, cross over the railway bridge and walk up the hill. Our final venue on this long evening is the Newtown Social Club on Kent Road, still known by some locally as “The Bolshie” (8). The club is still with us today, albeit in a slightly different place, and has a long and interesting history.

"The Bolshie", 1984, just before demolition... (image credit - Frank Smith, Facebook)

The Halling Institute was the first working men’s club in Halling, opening in 1885. However, it seems that men returning from the 1914-18 war found it difficult to get membership. As these brave men returned to working civilian life, many also apparently began to object to the rigid Edwardian-style rules and regulations of the Institute – and as a result became branded as “bolshie” (a shortened form of the term “Bolshevik”, after the instigators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, meaning rebellious or uncooperative).

In 1927, Thomas Chapman (owner of the butcher’s shop that used to be opposite the access road the Station), took a sympathetic view towards those disaffected workers who just wanted a cheap pint and somewhere to meet. 

Kent Road, looking south, c.1920. The fence on the right is the chapel site where the "Bolshie" was to be built... 

He bought the old chapel and some surrounding land that was on Kent Road, just down the slope from what is now Jade Hill (formerly Wraights Hill), and subsequently rented it out for creation of the Newtown Social Club: thus, the “Bolshie” was born.

The club continued to thrive, with summer outings for its members being particular popular. In the summer, queues of local coaches could be seen waiting along Kent Road to pick up club punters for day trips to the seaside.

New Town Social Club members waiting outside the club for their coach, c.1957 (credit Paul Bullivant, "Old Pictures of Halling" Facebook page)

However, the advent of the Halling by-pass meant that the old club was scheduled for demolition.

Ironically, the club committee was offered the now-closed Halling institute as an alternative venue. Given the ruinous state of the Institute building by then, the committee declined that offer and instead took up the option of building a brand new clubhouse on land further down Kent Road behind Stake Lane. It subsequently opened just after the old one was demolished in 1984 and was sufficiently successful as to warrant building an extension, giving us the club as it is today.

The New Town Social Club, July 2022...

As elsewhere in history, it seems that the Bolsheviks have emerged victorious...

And as we wend our weary way home on this 1930 summer’s evening, we should consider one more beer house in Halling, even if we are no longer capable of walking in a straight line to it: The Walnut Tree (9).  

The Walnut Tree, c.1930.  Cricket stumps drawn on the front wall are evidence of the absence of traffic in those days...

This handsome thatched building was of timber-framed construction, suggesting it was at least 300 years old. In the 1881 census it was listed as “Whitings Walnut Tree Beer House.” William J. Adams was then the licensee. By 1901 it was a Style and Winch off-licence. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gowers (parents of Ted Gowers) in front of the Walnut Tree, c.1920...

It seemed to be primarily an off-licence for most of its days, hence we didn’t pop in. It closed in 1950, and continued as a private house for a few more years. Regrettably, it did not find a Prings Cottage-style benefactor to undertake the necessary restoration work, and it was finally demolished in the mid-1950s.

Some flats, numbered 185-195 High Street, now exist on the plot.

Flats on the site of the former Walnut Tree...

So what future have our pubs?  They have taken a battering as a result of Covid lockdowns, and now face a twin threat in the face of spiralling costs and dwindling clientele, thanks to our collapsing economy. 

The way people socialise is changing as well. Communications and entertainment seem to have gone on-line. Many people, instead of going to a pub with their friends, will often instead invite them round to where they live instead, buy in cheap booze from a supermarket and get in a takeaway. 

Entertainment, c.1890...

Many can’t even afford that luxury these days. Times are harder than they have been for years.

Pubs simply can’t compete with the big supermarkets on price, with some also having to carry the burden of rapacious "PubCo." owners, who price-gouge their struggling tenants on wholesale beer prices and rents, just to pay their wealthy shareholders and executives.

And why would such owners want to subsidise a failing pub, when they can just sell them off to developers for yet more shoebox flats and houses to make a quick and substantial windfall?

So if you are of a sociable inclination and can afford the luxury of a pint or two in a nice, quiet pub with good company, just enjoy it while you can. Cheers... 

References:

Across the Low Meadow, by Edward Gowers and Derek Church, 1979

Kent Pubs listings (dover-kent.com)

Old Pictures Of Halling (Facebook page, group membership required to view)

Vanished Halling - Pomphery Cottages...

Off the North Downs Way track at the parish border between Halling and Luddesdown (just before the path drops down to Great Buckland Farm) is a clearing in the woodland...

Woodland clearing - once the site of Pomphery Cottages...

On the corner of the crossroads can be seen three large blocks of masonry, sitting on top of some old chalky concrete foundations...

Old masonry blocks at site of Pomphery Cottages...

Masonry blocks as above - the foundations can be seen below them...

This is all that remains of Pomphery Cottages, a small group of dwellings that once stood there and were home to the farm workers who once served Buckland Farm at the turn of the twentieth century and before. The 1844 census tells us there were three cottages at “Pomphery Castle”, as the area was also called, all inhabited by agricultural workers and their families…

The OS Map for 1869 shows the three cottages and what appears to be the track to the well that served them…

1869 OS map, with the three Pomphery Cottages indicated at upper right...

By 1908, the OS map suggests that the cottages appeared to have been sub-divided into seven dwellings…

1908 OS map showing seven cottages...

By 1938 however, the OS map shows no trace of the cottages, and it appears they had been demolished in the intervening time... 

1938 OS map of the Pomphery Cottage area..

All that remains are the clearing and some masonry blocks and scattered foundations as described.  I looked for the remains of the old well as shown on the 1869 map, but the area is rather overgrown.  I did find a weed and bramble-choked depression in the ground that is in the right place, and may possibly be the remains of a filled-in well.

The Pomphery Cottages well...?

Reference: 

p9.  Snodland and ‘Cementopolis” 1841-1881

Vanished Livelihoods: Halling Ferry...

Peters Bridge

Even though it only opened in September 2016, Peters Bridge (which crosses the River Medway between Wouldham and Halling) is already very much taken for granted.

Prior to that, pedestrians or motorists from the Halling or Cuxton area had to cross the Medway over the M2 bridge, or use the bridge at Aylesford. Before that, the old A2 bridge at Rochester would have represented the nearest river crossing to the communities of Halling, Cuxton and Wouldham: communities separated by only fifty yards of river and yet miles away from each other by road!

As far back as the 16^th century, the lack of a bridge between Wouldham and Halling was lamented.  As William Lambarde wrote at the time in his Perambulation of Kent: “And now, for want of a bridge at Halling, we may use the ferry and touch at Wouldham”.

Halling Ferry, c.1920, as seen from the Wouldham side...

Different sets of local government officials met several times over the years (in 1876, 1892 and 1909) to consider a bridge across the river at Halling, but nothing ever came of such discussions.

However, for 800 years, travellers between these villages had the option of crossing the river by boat, using the ferry crossing which ran from the riverside at the Bishops Palace at the bottom of Ferry Road in Halling, across to the bottom of Ferry Lane in Wouldham. 

The Halling ferry almost certainly began with the advent of the Bishop’s Palace and nearby Halling Manor (latterly Manor Farm House, still there on the High Street) which were built in the 12th. century.

"View Of The Medway", painted by Francis Wheatley, 1776, showing the ferry and the ruins of the Bishops Palace.

The ferry was part of the surrounding lands owned by the Bishop of Rochester until 1551, when Bishop Scory leased the Manor and its lands to a Robert Deane, whose daughter Sylvestre married William Dalison. The Dalison family held the lands (and presumably responsibility for the ferry) until the middle of the 19th. century, when the riverside area became the property of the Hilton and Anderson cement company.

Since 1898, the Halling ferry was operated by the Stevens family, whose involvement began as a result of an appalling accident.

Two men - one of them Uriah Stevens - were working in a kiln at Anderson's Cement Factory when it collapsed on them. They were taken to hospital by horse drawn ambulance. Mr Stevens, then aged 46, had one of his legs amputated. His face and an arm had also been badly damaged.

Ferry Cottage, c.1930...

Mr Anderson, the factory owner, personally informed Stevens' wife, Hannah, of the accident, at their home in the Old Parsonage, Wouldham.

Once he learned that they were a family of 10 children, who would be forced into a workhouse (the Strood Union most likely: the local Halling workhouse at the Bishops Palace had closed in 1835...) unless something was done, he gave Mrs Stevens £50 to tide the family through. (I wonder how many of today’s employers would voluntarily take such trouble and care over their employees and their families?).

Against all expectations, Mr Stevens recovered from his injuries but could no longer work at the factory. Mr Anderson therefore gave him the ancient Halling Ferry business in perpetuity, and also set him up with a small chandlery catering for the numerous barges that plied the River Medway at the time.

The ferry was operated by Mr Stevens' sons, assisted by their remarkable young sister Mabel. With the advent of the First World War, the sons signed up for their patriotic duty and Mabel, just 16, was left to run the ferry.

It was a hard life for a young girl. Mabel often had to get up at 4.00 am to row cement workers across to their factories, with the ferry remaining open until 10.00 pm at night.  (More tales of the redoubtable Mabel Stevens here).

The ferry operation was suspended during the Second World War as a result of a temporary military bridge being built across the river, from the bottom of Marsh Road in Halling over to All Saints Church at Wouldham. 

Temporary bridge being built, from Wouldham to Halling, 1941...

Land had been purchased on both the Wouldham and Halling side of the riverside in around 1865 so that the army could hold summer bridging camps, which they did for many years.

Bridge-building exercise at Wouldham, WW1...

During World War II, the armed forces were trained for the building of bridges which would take place during the Normandy landings. Along with our own armed forces, American army soldiers also came over to learn how to build the bridges.

The WW2 military bridge ("Hamilton bridge") across the Medway between Halling and Wouldham...

Local residents tried to get the Hamilton bridge of 1941 left in place, but the district council would not pay for the maintenance. Industrial users of the river also claimed that their barges could not pass underneath during high tide and so, to much local disappointment, the bridge was removed in 1946.

The Stevens family had also operated local ferries at Snodland and at New Hythe, but these both closed in 1948. 

Ron Stevens, c.1960

Operation of the Halling ferry resumed once the Hamilton bridge was taken down, with a census in 1955 showing that around 300 people a day were using it. 

The Halling ferry continued to run until 1964, when its last ferryman, Ron Stevens, finally called it a day and took a job at the nearby Aylesford paper mills. 

Up until then, Mr. Stevens had been running the ferry for 18 hours a day, seven days a week for £8-15s, a poor weekly wage even by 1960’s standards. By then, the M2 motorway bridge had opened (on May 29th, 1963) which had a pedestrian path.  

People were also beginning to be able to afford private motor cars, reducing the need for the ferry.

At the time though, the loss of the ferry still greatly inconvenienced the local community. 

Mr. Stevens at work, October 1962. Price for the crossing was 6d.

It was to be another 52 years before a bridge finally linked Halling to Wouldham. 

The abandoned Ferry Cottage and the Chandlery, 1972 (now both demolished).

The £19 million Peters Bridge opened on 15 September 2016, being constructed by developer Trenport to facilitate the building of a new housing estate of over 1000 dwellings on the site of the old Peters cement works at Wouldham.

Construction of Peters Bridge, 2015 (picture by Clare French)...

Construction of Peters Bridge, 2015 (picture by Clare French).

References:

Across the Low Meadow: A History of Halling in Kent, by Edward Gowers and Derek Church (1979)

The Kent Messenger (1964)

Wouldham Village History – web page (link here)