The Royal Oak - Holt Street, Nonington, Kent, CT15 4HT.
Posted by: MeerRescue
N 51° 13.309 E 001° 13.875
31U E 376484 N 5675979
This hand carved pub sign with a two faced 'Royal' sitting on a swing is sited at The Royal Oak, Holt Street, Nonington, Kent, CT15 4HT.
Waymark Code: WMEG5G
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/25/2012
Views: 1
The Royal figure perched on a swing in a huge oak tree is probably a reference
to the 'Majesty Oak', located in Fredville Park opposite. The late Alan
Mitchell, a famous dendrologist, and many others, stated that the 'Majesty Oak'
was the most impressive of all English Oaks (Quercus robur). The enormous trunk
of the Majesty Oak has been measured at 12.3 metres. Although there are 6 oaks
in Britain that have a larger girth, they are all short-trunked pollards,
whereas the Majesty Oak is a maiden tree, with a long trunk, measured at almost
9 metres in height. In total, the tree is almost 19 metres tall.
History of The Royal Oak : (from Nonington History
website)
William Wanstall junior was last licencee of
“The Hawks Head”, formerly “The White Horse”, next to St. Mary's church which
closed in March,1832, possible because the then Hammond owner had become opposed
to the sale of alcohol. At the next annual Wingham licensing sessions in
September,1832, William, along with John Wood at the nearby "Walnut Tree", was
granted a licence for a new alehouse called "The Royal Oak", possibly
so named because of the close proximity of the 'Majestie Oak' in nearby
Fredville Park, in the Drove (Lower
Holt Street) just over Church Hill from “The
Hawks Head”. Church Hill was later renamed Vicarage Lane, but is always
referred to by locals as "Oak Hill". .
For some six months or so after the
closure of "The Hawk's Head" the only alehouse in the parish was "The Redd Lyon"
at Frogham, and William Wanstall and John Wood obviously saw the need for an
alehouse, or two, in the more heavily populated Church Street, Holt Street and
Easole Street area. The new "Royal Oak" premises was owned by by
J. P. Plumptre, Esq., of Fredville as
was the long established "Redd
Lyon".
Alehouses at this time opened at six
o’clock in the morning and closed at ten o’clock at night. With the granting of
the licence he became liable to pay the Parish Poor Rate on the premises.
William Wanstall's father, also William, was the Parish Clerk in the mid-1830’s
and listed for many years in parish records as a shoemaker and cordwainer.
William senior first had a house and
shop premises in Easole Street but later moving to premises, now
called the Old Post Office, in The
Drove which adjoined the southern end of the "Oak" garden.
The Parish Vestry, an early form of the Parish Council had for many years met
in “The Hawks Head”, and after it closed in March, 1832, "The Oak" became the
venue for the fortnightly meetings when it opened in September of that year.
These meetings normally began at “eleven
of the clock in the forenoon” and
decided on such important matters as raising revenue through parish rates for
the administration of the Poor Laws and the maintenance of the roads within the
parish.
John Hopper, previously the landlord
of "The Redd Lyon" at Frogham took over "The Royal Oak" from William Wanstall
on November 1st, 1836 and was land-lord for some nine years or so until he was succeeded
in 1845 by John Nash, who in addition to being the pub landlord was also
recorded as being the receiver of mail as " The Oak” , along with many other
village alehouses served as the parish post office during the 1840’s and 50’s.
Prior to its closure “The Hawks Head” had fulfilled a similar function.
On his
death in 1855 John Nash's widow,
Harriet, took over and ran the pub until 1870 when Leonard Woodruff became
licencee, and was in turn succeeded on his death by his widow, Fanny Charlotte
Woodruffe.
In his memoirs taken down 1936 by Dr. Hardman, a local historian, Richard Jarvis
Arnold, born in the parish and resident there in the 1880’s and 1890’s recalls: “The
public houses were the Royal Oak kept by Woodruff and the Walnut Tree beer
house kept by Sheaf”. Dr. Harman noted on the
memoirs that "The Oak" had "since
been rebuilt" indicating
that the pub underwent alterations at some time from the late 1890’s to the
early 1930’s when the memoirs were taken down. These must have been mainly
internal as the building appears to have retained its original external features
including windows and doors. In January of 1987 the ground floor interior
underwent extensive alterations, with the unusual horse-shoe shaped bar
installed during the previous alterations being replaced.
The widowed Fanny Woodruffe married
James Stow in 1876 who became the new landlord and continuing as such until his
death in 1896 when the again widowed Fanny Charlotte Stow again held the licence
in her own right until giving it up in 1899, when William Henry Sayer became the
new land-lord.
William Sayers, the landlord's nephew,
opened a cycle repair and taxi service in 1918 in stable buildings to the rear
of the pub and when the business expanded to include motor vehicle repairs and
fuel sales he moved it in 1926 to the present garage premises in Holt Street,
which had previously been the public laundry and continued to run the business
until his retirement in 1948 when the business was taken over by his
nephews, Charles and Arthur Betts. Since Arthur’s retirement the business has
been run by his son, Terry.
Subsequent landlords of "The Oak"
included Arthur Balcombe, land lord during the Second World War and who's
daughter, Margaret, married my uncle, Frank Webb. Reg Deal and Reg Reynolds,
who's daughter Coralie still lives in the parish, were landlords during the
1950's followed by Tony Usher and Nick Larsen during the 1960's with Nick
leaving in 1975 to be followed various managers who included Nigel Turnbull and
John Nicholson. Roy Faye became licencee at the end of the 1970's with Peter
Addis taking over from him in 1988.