Stourmouth

(Plucks Gutter)

Above photo kindly supplied by Edney Abbott, date unknown.

Above photo kindly supplied by Charles Gibbes-Paveliev circa 1936. Who says the man on the right, in the lighter coloured suite, is my father George who ran the small farm attached to Stourmouth House until he joined the RAF in 1940.

Again supplied by Charles Gibbes-Paveliev circa 1936.

Photos above 2007.

The above pub was built in 1902 after it replaced the original Dog and Duck and is built on the river Stour and is now a public house and caravan park. Just above the pub is the Stour Bridge, rebuilt in the 1990's. In the late 50's it was an iron structure with high girders and the Army Disposal Unit had to be called out as a bomb was found during routine repairs.

A local story I have heard says that during the building of the bridge here last (19th) century, a Pluck is said to have ferried the builders to and fro across the river, and in friendly appreciation of his services they nicknamed this stretch of the Stour "Pluck's Gutter". It seems from further information, this must just be a local rumour as the name Plucks Gutter is listed from the 1700's and certainly long before the Road Bridge was built in 1902; so the tale that it was named after a Mr Pluck during the bridge building is wrong.

However, the real story of how the name Pluck came to be goes back far before the bridge and according to local tradition, the river Stour at this point takes its name from a Mr Pluck, a landlord of the Dog and Duck inn although the current landlady of the pub (Susan Fagg) says Mr Pluck never held a license for the pub, he was the Dutch immigrant who drained the land in the 1500s and was given some acres "in perpetuity" in lieu of pay!!

The ferry Cottage was originally built about 1530 when it was a timber framed farmhouse and ferry; it is first recorded as an alehouse as well in 1622 when it was called The Dog and Duck. Many pubs are called this, especially where dogs were used to flush out ducks to guns and retrieve them.

The ferry cottage remained as an alehouse until Francis A White (owner of the Stourmouth Brewery, and a local councillor) contributed to the building of the new road bridge and the building of a new pub in 1902. He closed the old Dog and Duck at this time together with the ferry, and the cottage passed eventually to the water board as a sluice keeper's cottage.

Maps drawn in the first half of the 19th century sometimes show Plucks Gutter as Plux Gutter. In 1821-23, the notorious North Kent Gang of smugglers made use of Pluck's Gutter. They travelled some fourteen miles, on foot, through Trenleypark Wood to Stodmarsh, via Grove Corner to Pluck's Gutter where they crossed the river, northeast to Mount Pleasant then up to Marsh Bay.

Modern day maps still show Plucks Gutter, where the ferry used to run. Just under the bridge, right alongside the river, is a small cottage that was owned by the Water Board. During the '50s and '60s Mr and Mrs Fred HODGES lived here; Mr Hodges worked for the River Board. The writer (Maggie Baldwin) whom this information was taken, used to visit the cottage regularly as Mrs Hodges was her mother's best friend. This building was the original Dog & Duck - it had low ceilings, tiny windows, and small rooms. Moored on the river bank was a wooden boat known as a "blow boat" which the River Board used to clean the river. It was built by Maggies' father, who worked on it at one time and brought home lovely fresh eels that we stewed in a parsley sauce.

Dog and Duck web site:- www.dogandduck.co.uk

LICENSEE LIST

PLUCK Mr 1800's

ADAMS Jesse 1874+ ( Beer retailer, Pluck's Gutter Ferry)

TOBIN Sydney 1934+ (Ye Old Dog and Duck)

CHELL Frederick David 1942-50+

CASH Susan 1950's

ANNING Edward 1958-61

CASH Elizabeth 1961-late 1990s

CASH Elizabeth & FAGG Susan late 1990s-2004

FAGG Susan & EMANUEL David J 2004+

Susan Fagg is Elizabeth Cash's daughter.

From the Post Office Directory 1874

From the Kelly's Directory 1934

Library archives 1974