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The following information has been taken from
http://www.cliffehistory.co.uk/pubs.html
The "Three Merry Boys" Public House stood at Cooling Common and was
the only beer house in the vicinity of Cliffe Woods. The building still
remains although Cooling Common has now been renamed Merryboys Road: a
fitting memorial to the beer house indeed. The family names of the
first publicans between 1855 and 1872 are evident throughout Cliffe's
history as they are so today. It is, however, the family that operated
the "Three Merry Boys" for at least 85 years that really helped to make
the "Three Merry Boys" a success. Frederick Cornford is first noted as
being the licensee in 1872. Frederick, who was born at Tunstall near
Sittingbourne in 1819, worked at the "Three Merry Boys" with his wife
Eunice and their four sons and three daughters. When Frederick died in
1877 he left the running of the pub to his forty-five year old wife,
Eunice. Towards the end of her life Eunice still had four of her
children with her – Annie, who will hear more of later, Frederick and
the twins Minnie and Robert as well as her grandson Harry. At this time
Eunice's eldest daughter, Rebecca, was working in Hawkhurst as a
housemaid to William Aston, a Magistrate Barrister at Law and Warden Of
All Souls College Oxford. It was whilst in Mr. Aston's employment that
Rebecca learned of her mother's death on 24 June, 1891 and that her
mother had left her £201 and 4 shillings. Rebecca returned home and took
on the running of the "Three Merry Boys." It was also about this time
that a young cement labourer from Ramsgate, who had taken up residence
in Turner Street Cliffe, took a shine to Rebecca's younger sister, Annie
and in the summer of 1895 they were married. The young gentleman in
question was a Mr. John Paul Potter. In the September of 1901 John
Paul Potter became the new licensee of the "Three Merry Boys" and
together with Annie ran the pub for the next twenty-seven years until
his death in March 1928. After his death, Annie continued to run the
pub for the next twenty years until eventually she too died in 1948 and
the running of the "Three Merry Boys" was entrusted to Evelyn Annie
Smith, John and Annie's daughter and the granddaughter of Frederick and
Eunice Cornford. It stayed with Evelyn and, after her death, the "Three
Merry Boys" closed its doors for the last time. It is now a private
dwelling.
Above photo showing the pewter tankard from the "Three Merry Boys"
inscribed with 'E. Cornford', which suggests that perhaps the surnames
of the licensees listed below are spelt incorrectly. |
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