DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Sunday, 07 March, 2021.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1816-

Kits Coty House Inn

Latest 1830+

Boxley Hill

Blue Bell Hill

Little Kits Coty 1987

Above photo posted by Philippa Hoad on Facebook showing a photo of Little Kits Coty (the Countless Stones) 1987 when the Elm that had survived the onslaught of 1970 Dutch Elm disease came down in the storm.

 

Only references found of this Inn at present is from the sale of wood in 1816 and of its own sale in 1827.

Said to have been close to the "Lower Bell Inn." Obviously an inn situated near to the standing stones titles Kits Coty House, which is stated to have been "the Burial Place of Catigern," and to "Many old historic sites, Sacred to Legend and Poesy."

 

Kentish Gazette, Friday 24 May 1816.

Freehold Woodland. Chatham.

To be sold by auction by Charles Larkin. At the "Kits Coty House," Bluebell Hill, between Rochester and Maidstone on Friday June 21, 1816, precisely at 12 o'clock, in 6 lots (unless previously disposed of by private contract) upwards of 60 acres of excellent freehold wood, called Lord's Wood (excepting about 2 acres which is in Drew Hill Wood) situate near Gibraltar Farm in the parish of Chatham, belonging to and in the occupation of John Fowle esq.

The lots of extremely well situated midway between the great populations of the three towns and Maidstone, approached by good roads and are singularly well tillered, having been preserved and felled by the proprietor with the greatest care and attention.

To the proprietors of the other parts of Lords Wood, this offer is highly interesting, inasmuch as it affords them an opportunity of attaching to their respective Estates the Lots contiguous there to, which cannot fail proving a most desirable acquisition.

Printed particulars and conditions of sale, are prepairing and may be had at the principal Inns, Rochester, Chatham, Sittingbourne and Maidstone, at "Kits Coty House," and of Charles Larkin, Land Surveyor and Appraiser, City Repository, Rochester, where a sketch of the Lots may be seen, and who is duly authorised to treat for the Sale, either separate or together by Private Contract.

John Fryar of Bredhurst will show the Lots, and a sketch pointing them out, may be seen at "Kits Coty House."

 

From the Maidstone Gazette and West Kent Courier, 25 September, 1827.

To be let.

Kits Coty House Inn, situated on the declivity of Boxley Hill, leading from Rochester to Maidstone.

Immediate possession may be had.

Rent moderate.

The appraisement will not exceed £160. Apply to Mr Thomas Homewood, Appraiser, Maidstone.

 

From the Maidstone Gazette and West Kent Courier, 7 September, 1830.

Public house to be let. With immediate possession.

Kitts Coty House, delightfully situated on the the declivity of Boxley Hill, on the Turnpike Road leading from Rochester to Maidstone. The furniture &c. about £300 must be taken at a fair valuation, half of which may remain on proper security being given if required.

Apply to Mr. Thomas Homewood, Appraiser and Auctioneer, Gabriel's Hill, Maidstone, or to Mr. Alexander on the premises.

Rent very moderate.

 

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Tuesday 26 November 1844.

Whereas, a petition of John Robert Alexander, formerly of the "Lower Bell Inn," Aylesford, Kent, licensed victualler, then of "Kits Cotty House," Aylesford, aforesaid, out of business, then of Moat Road, Maidstone Kent, out of business, and then of the "White Hart" public house, Chatham, Kent, licence victualler, and late of the same place, waiter, having been filed in the Court of Bankruptcy and the Interim Order for Protection from Process having been given to the said John Robert Alexander, under the provisions of the statute in the case made and provided, the said John Robert Alexander is hereby required to appear in Court before Edward Holroyd, Esq., the Commissioners acting in the matter of the said Petition, on the 12th day of December next, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon precisely, at the Court of Bankruptcy, Basinghall Street, London, for the purpose of his first examination touching his Debts, Estate, and Effects, and to be further dealt with accordingly to the provision of the said estate; and notice is hereby given, that the choice of Assignees is to take place at the time so appointed.

All person's indebted to the said John Robert Alexander, or that have any of his effects, are not to pay or deliver the same but to Mr. James Foster Groom, No. 12, Abchurch Lane, Lombard Street, the Official Assignee, nominated in that behalf by the Commissioner acting in the matter of the petition.

James Johnstone. Messenger.

 

From the Maidstone Telegraph, Rochester and Chatham Gazette, 25 May 1861.

One of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity "Kit's Coty House" is situated on the brow of the hill, a little more than a mile from the town, above which various opinions have been expressed, but none appear to be more truthful than those in a recent work "Round about Kits Coty House," where it is an established fact that it is a druidical structure and an altar where the Druids sang "Songs in praise of the ancient warriors," and not Catigern's Tomb as it has been stated.

 

Information taken from http://www.english-heritage.org.uk 17 December 2017.

HISTORY OF KIT’S COTY HOUSE AND LITTLE KIT’S COTY HOUSE.

Kit’s Coty House and Little Kit’s Coty House are the remains of two megalithic long barrows standing in open fields. The sites offer fine long views across the North Downs and Medway Valley.

The burial chamber at Kits Coty House, surrounded by a protective black iron railing enclosure.

NEOLITHIC BURIAL RITES

The origin of the name Kit’s Coty is not known. For many years it was thought to be a corruption of Catigern, the name of a British prince slain in single combat with the Saxon Horsa in a battle at Aylesford in AD 455 at which the Britons were victorious. The monuments were therefore assumed to be a memorial to him.

There is no evidence to support this suggestion and the barrows predate this event by thousands of years.

Long barrows were constructed during the early Neolithic period, between about 4000 and 3000 BC. They represent the burial places of the earliest farming communities in Britain, and are among the oldest surviving prehistoric monuments.

Long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial – often with only parts of the human remains being selected for interment – and it is probable that they acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time.

KIT'S COTY HOUSE.

Burial chamber at Kits Coty House

Above photo showing the burial chamber at Kits Coty House.

The most distinctive surviving feature of this monument is the H-shaped arrangement of three large slabs of sarsen stone (a fine-grained, crystalline sandstone) capped by a further slab, which formed the main burial chamber of the barrow.

The stones were originally buried at the eastern end of a long earthen mound, of which only traces survive.

Earth and chalk for the construction of this mound was quarried from flanking ditches to the north and south and these can be seen clearly on aerial photographs of the site.

The mound was surrounded by a retaining kerb of sarsens, some of which may lie buried in the field.

LITTLE KIT'S COTY HOUSE.

Little Kits Coty House

Little Kits Coty House viewed from the south east.

Little Kit’s Coty House, also known as the Countless Stones, is a group of about 20 sarsen stones in a tight cluster. They represent the remains of a burial mound which was seriously damaged in 1690, before any reliable records were made.

A letter written at the time describes ‘13 or 14 great stones, 7 standing all covered with one large stone’. It is likely that this burial chamber was originally covered with a substantial mound, as at Kit’s Coty House.

In the 1880s, as concern mounted about damage to ancient monuments, Kit’s Coty House and Little Kit’s Coty House were among the first to be protected by the state, on the advice of General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. Railings were erected around the stones to prevent vandalism.

 

 

LICENSEE LIST

ALEXANDER John Robert 1830+ Next pub licensee had

 

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