DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated Abbey Wood:- Tuesday, 20 July, 2021.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1715

Harrow Inn

Demolished 2009

500 Abbey Road

Abbey Wood

https://www.whatpub.com/harrow-inn

Harrow Inn

Above postcard, date unknown.

Harrow Inn

Above postcard, date unknown.

Harrow Inn

Above photo, date unknown.

Harrow Inn 2006

Above photo, 2006 by Steve Thoroughgood.

Harrow Inn 2009

Above photo 2009.

Harrow Inn location 2016

Above Google image, June 2016.

 

Abbey Wood now being Greater London from 1965 but was part of Kent prior to that, I will be focussing my research on Kent itself, but as the information is found or sent to me, including photographs, it will be shown here.

Thanks for your co-operation. All emails are answered.

 

Bexley Heath and Erith Observer, Saturday 5 July, 1879.

Abbey Wood. The Alleged Murder.

An inquest was held at the "Harrow Inn," Abbey Wood, on Friday afternoon upon the body of the wife of Charles Hardy, who was found dead on the previous Wednesday, and the circumstances related in our last, the husband of deceased being then in custody on the charge of Murder.

The following was sworn in as the jury. Messrs. R. Lambert (foreman), F. Webb, C. Ginger, Warren Smith, A. Bowie, F. Idenden, G. Stapley, A. Skinner, H. Cook, W. Whitmore, W. Keeler, W. J. Cross, J. Millington, L. Vickery.

The jury procedure to view the body, and on their return the witnesses Emily Smith and her mother, and Edwin Haynes repeated in substance the evidence they gave before the magistrate.

In reply to the coroner, Emily Smith said she went three times a day sometimes to assist deceased, and fetch beer and gin for her. Had seen deceased tipsy, but she did not know that she had ever seen Mr. hardy in such a state. Heard no quarrel between deceased and her husband on Wednesday morning before 11 or 12; they were both sober.

By a juror:- Fetched a quartern of gin and two pints of beer on Wednesday morning. They seemed good friends then.

By Coroner:- Left the table whole and entire when I took the things off.

Inspector Mearing said the police found the table smashed up.

Emily Smith, mother of the girl Smith, said, in reply to the coroner, she only noticed one mark upon deceased's face, which had been done outside by falling against a wall. Mr. Hardy told her so; she only knew from what he told her. When she went in Mr. Hardy was walking about the room like a crazy man. Deceased was not sober at 9 o'clock in the morning, when witness went in. Had seen deceased intoxicated several times. Was sorry to say she was very far from being a sober woman. Could not say how Mr. Hardy was in this way, as she had been very little in his company. Mr. Hardy told her he had cautioned her several times, and that she had brought it all on herself. On Tuesday evening deceased was drunk, and would have fallen had she not caught her.

Edwin Haynes and reply to questions, said the deceased and her husband were quarrelling all night, and the the whole of Wednesday morning, with intervals. Had never seen Mr. Hardy drunk. He and his wife lived very unhappily together. Deceased generally commenced quarrying first, and her husband remained quiet for a time, but when aroused he was like an enraged lion. Heard him threatened to throw his wife down stairs, and sounds as if he had done so. Had never seen Mr. Hardy strike or kick deceased. He heard them quarrelling night and day, for 3-weeks in succession; deceased had often cried out "murder!" Often when Mr. Hardy came home he would find the fire out and no dinner awaiting him. Had seen deceased break the windows. The first night Mr. Hardy and his wife came into the house they quarrelled, and witness remarked that they had fine neighbours now.

Mrs. Ann Ayling, a neighbour, spoke to hearing deceased and a husband quarrelling frequently, and on Wednesday, but had never seen the latter strike or kick his wife.

P.C. Wilson, 250 R, said he was called at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday to deceased and thought she was dead. He said for Dr. Elliot, Belvedere; but Dr. Spurrell arrived, having been fetched by the husband. He pronounce life to be extinct. Found the table had been removed to the wash house; it was broken into pieces.

Mrs. Ayling, recalled, said the table had been very "shaky," and she thought it had fallen to pieces.

Inspector Collis spoke to arresting Hardy and conducting him to Erith. On a remark being made that blood had been found upon the throat of deceased prisoner said was stuff; he had had 20 years of it.

Dr. Spurrell said, on examining the body he observed several bruises about the chest, face, arms, a black eye, and there was an old bruise up on the left cheek. There was also a cut on the left shoulder and inch in length, and the collar bone was broken. There were, in addition, bruises about the hips. The mouth of deceased was shut, and the teeth were so firmly fixed that he was unable to separate the jaws. No blood was to be seen on the body, clothes or about the house, and there was nothing to bear out the theory of strangulation. On removing the scalp he counted eight or nine bruises; for the brain was gorged with blood. There were extensive clots of blood at the base of the brain. The lungs were gorged with blood; but the organs generally were healthy. There was some slight signs of the liver being that of a drunkard. He attributed death and apoplexy, from the effusion of blood found at the base of the brain, contributed to by the excessive drinking, and perhaps by violence. In reply to the Coroner, at the request of Inspector Mearing, witness said death would be accelerated by the bruisers described, but he could not say that they were the cause of death. Many of the bruises were of long-standing. The brain was unhealthy, and a violent fall would cause death when in such a states. The bruise at the top of the chest was slight. The collar bone, he thought, might have been broken by a fall, as deceased was a heavy woman.

Inspector Mearing put in a letter from Mr. Frank Soaper, late surgeon to the convict prison, Gibraltar, stating that the deceased had been under his care many times from the effects of intemperance, and was a fearfully violent woman - a perfect maniac in abuse. Hardy he described as a steady, upright fellow.

The Coroner summed up, the jury were left to deliberate, and in about half an hour a verdict was returned of "Death from apoplexy, accelerated by habits of intemperance."

 

I am informed that the pub closed for some time but in 1971 an off licence was being operating at 498 Abbey Road by Arthur Cooper.

The building was demolished May 2009.

 

From the https://www.bexleytimes.co.uk 4 June 2009.

Historic pub demolished.

A LANDMARK pub with a history dating back 300 years has been demolished.

Developers HFHA Ltd this week admitted it has no plans in the pipeline to redevelop the Harrow Inn pub site, in Abbey Wood Road which was bulldozed last month.

The British Beer and Pub association reported on Tuesday that some six pubs close in Britain every day, blaming disproportionate EU taxes for the decline.

A former regular at the pub, Colin Manning, 26, of Abbey Wood Road, said: "It's a real shame. Pubs like this are disappearing right from under your nose.

"We can see from old pictures that this used to be a real landmark for the area. With a Crossrail station opening eventually you'd think they'd want to keep some old culture. Our councillor did get it locally listed, but that didn't seem to help save it. No one knows what their plans are for it now."

HFHA has taken on a number of old south London pubs to develop into flats.

It has twice submitted unsuccessful planning applications to build flats on the Harrow Inn, which is thought to have existed on the lot in various forms since 1715.

The decision to demolish the building was made due to 'safety concerns', though Mr Manning said the site had for a period been left unlocked.

Fancyapint.com described the pub as "a moderately rough locals' pub with quite the mankiest beer 'garden' that we recall seeing in a long time".

However its demolition was lamented on a Facebook group set up by Mr Manning called RIP The Harrow Inn 1715-2009, where residents recalled the loss of pubs like the "Abbeymead" and the "Pegasus."

Jeanie Oliver-Brown, from Abbey Wood, said: "This is a sad loss for the original Abbey Wood Village."

The agent responsible for the site was not available for comment as the Times went to press.

An HFHA spokesman said: "There are no plans for the site at the moment. We acquire sites and then put together different schemes so we can either sell them or complete the scheme and operate on it."

 

From the https://www.newsshopper.co.uk By Tom Bull, 27th August 2019.

Harrow Inn Abbey Wood: Peabody put housing plans to council.

Harrow site flats design 2019

Major plans to redevelop a former pub in Abbey Wood into a ten-storey tower block have been submitted.

Peabody have put forward a scheme for 66 flats and shops set across a building climbing from three to ten storeys.

The site in Abbey Wood Road has been subject to several planning applications in the past, including a much larger scheme for hundreds of homes, which was eventually withdrawn by the applicant.

Abbey Wood, Thamesmead and Belvedere are set to be subject for major developments in coming years as developers look to benefit from the arrival of Crossrail.

Peabody said in its planning application: “The 66 new homes proposed will deliver much needed additional housing and will significantly improve the design quality of the area.

“The proposal will also deliver investment, environmental improvement and regeneration.

“The proposal will deliver a number of key planning benefits including making optimum use of this brownfield site and visual amenity improvements.”

Peabody say residents will benefit from regeneration brought by new shops, which will also bring jobs.

The developer, which owns the site, has proposed 31 one-bedroom homes, 20 two-bed and 15 three bedroom flats.

Peabody has earmarked 38 per cent of the new homes to be affordable, split between 78 per cent affordable rent and 22 intermediate.

The plans for The Harrow Inn site will be discussed by councillors in the coming months.

 

LICENSEE LIST

BECKLY James 1851+ (age 70 in 1851Census)

SEAKER James 1861+ Census

WEST John 1867-91+ (age 69 in 1891Census)

EVANS Frank Mar/1894+

MACQUIRE Sarah 1901+ (age 27 in 1901Census)

VINCENT Alfred 1903+ Kelly's 1903

MOGRIDGE Isabella Mrs 1913-22+

https://pubwiki.co.uk/HarrowInn.shtml

 

CensusCensus

Kelly's 1903From the Kelly's Directory 1903

 

If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-

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