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Lee Road / 16 Blackheath Village
Blackheath
020 8852 2390
https://www.therailwayblackheath.co.uk/
https://whatpub.com/railway
Above photo 1955. |
Above photo 1980, from the Blackheath
Society. |
Above photo 1991, from the Blackheath Society. |
Above photo, date unknown. |
Above photo, date unknown. |
Above photo 2019. |
Now part of Greater London, this area was indeed Kent before 1965. Hence,
I will be adding information regarding this pub as and when I find or it is
sent to me, but at present I'll be concentrating on the areas that are
within the Kent boundary today.
Your help is appreciated, and every email is answered.
Above matchbox, date unknown. |
This was opened in 1851 and originally licensed with only a beer license
as landlords from the the "Three Tuns" and the "Crown" opposed the
application to sell spirits.
In 1877 the licensee, Alfred Alexander Cole, created the Blackheath
Pandocheion, writing "Whilst fully believing that the partaking of bodily
refreshment and pleasant surroundings not only enhances the zest of
consumption but ought materially to assist digestion, the process of which
requires tranquillity of mind, the new proprietor of the Railway Hotel...has
therefore fitted up his premises in an elaborate style (Jacobean) as
luxurious as it is unique in England and adopted for it the euphonious Greek
title Pandocheion".
The Pandy as it quickly became known did not last long, although the
diminutive was used until the 1930s and in 1893 the proprietor stripped out
all the Jacobean fitments and installed a new staircase and dining room on
the first floor.
All vestiges of its Victorian origins were removed in the 1950s when
Taylor Walker removed the Doric porch and columns from the front.
This has also gone under the name of the "Fairway and Firkin"
from 1999, but not sure when it finally changed back, probably in 2001 when
the Firkin chain was closed by the then owners Punch Taverns.
Closed in 2018 but reopened Tuesday 27th February 2018 after a
significant refurbishment which shortened the length of the bar counter to
make way for more restaurant seating at the rear.
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Southeastern Gazette, 11 January 1853.
Alleged Assault at Blackheath.
Joseph Pryce, 59, a mail of gentlemanly appearance, was charged with
having assaulted Jane Box, with intent, &c. A second count charged
him with an indecent assault. Mr. Russell prosecuted; Mr. Horn
defended the prisoner.
It appeared that the prisoner, who is a stockbroker, went to the
"Railway Tavern," at Blackheath, where the prosecutrix was employed
as nursemaid. On her taking him up some coffee, it was alleged that
he kissed her, and took other liberties, but there was no evidence
to support the first count in the indictment, and after hearing the
evidence, the jury acquitted him on the second count.
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From the Borough of Greenwich Free Press, 29 May, 1858.
FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT TO A RAILWAY PORTER.
On Tuesday morning last, a fatal accident occurred to William
Diggins, a potter in the service of the South-Eastern Railway
Company, and employed at the Blackheath Station on the North Kent
line. It appeared that the unfortunate man was on the line of rails
for some purpose, when the express train, leaving London at
quarter-past ten for Strood, came along at the usual speed. It would
seem that he could not have heard the advancing train, as it passed
over him, death being instantaneous. The unfortunate man’s head was
completely severed from his body, and on the arrival of the train at
the Woolwich Arsenal Station, a portion of the skull was found on
one of the carriage buffers.
THE INQUEST.
On Thursday morning an inquest was held at the "Railway Tavern,"
Lee, before Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, on the body of
John Diggins, aged 27, a porter employed at the Blackheath station
of the North Kent Railway, whose head was completely severed from
his body by an express train on the previous Tuesday morning. The
following witnesses were examined:-
Samuel Hopkings, a porter employed at the Blackheath station,
deposed on the previous Tuesday morning, about twenty-five minutes
past ten o'clock, he was about to clean the points, and for that
purpose he had an oil-can and scraper, which he left on the platform
whilst he went to attend to a truck. He then heard the express
train, which leaves London at 10.15, advancing, and when near the
station the engine-driver gave two shrill whistles for danger. The
train passed by the station, and witness then saw the mutilated
remains of the deceased on the rails, the body lying on one side and
the head, which was completely severed, on the other.
Barnaby Barber, signal-man at the Blackheath station, deposed he saw
the deceased on the down line of rails, engaged in oiling the
points. The express down train approached, but the deceased appeared
to take no notice, and the train passed over him. Witness was at the
time employed at the signal-post, and he distinctly heard the noise
of the crushing of deceased’s bones.
By the coroner:- His back was towards the advancing train. I made no
signal to him, as I feared that I might divert his attention from
the danger.
I felt, in fact, spellbound when I found that he did not move when
the train arrived close to him. By one step he might have been out
of danger.
Christopher Cockfield deposed:- He is an engine driver, in the
service of the South Eastern Railway Company, and had charge of the
express down train, which left London on Tuesday morning, at 10.15.
The train is express from London to Woolwich, and was proceeding at
the rate of twenty-five miles per hour. When within about 100 yards
of Blackheath station, witness saw the deceased in a stooping
posture, in the act of working the handles of the points. He then
gave two shrill whistles, and immediately reversed the engine, and
put on the break. The deceased did not move, and witness kept the
whistle open; but it was impossible to stop the train until it
passed over the deceased.
Abraham Forsham, the fireman, corroborated the evidence of the last
witness.
Sarah Skelton deposed that the deceased had resided at her house in
Blackheath. He had recently complained of ear-ache, and stated on
Tuesday morning that he had put some tobacco in his ear.
Mr. Chapman, station-master at Blackheath, deposed the deceased had
been in the service of the company about six weeks. He was a most
active, intelligent man, and was very anxious to become a good
railway servant. It was not his duty to clean the points, but he was
always desirous to be learning.
The coroner said the evidence was conclusive that no blame attached
to any person. It was strange that the deceased should remain on the
rails, when one step would have saved his life. It was probable that
the tobacco which was in his ear had affected him and produced
deafness.
Verdict "Accidental death."
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South Eastern Gazette, 11 September, 1860.
BLACKHEATH. The late Fatal Accident in the Railway Tunnel.
On Tuesday afternoon last an inquiry was held by Mr. C. J. Carttar,
coroner, at the "Railway Tavern," adjoining the Blackheath station
of the North Kent Railway, on the body of John King Charles, aged
22, the young man whose body was cut in two in the above tunnel on
the night of Friday week.
Mr. Robinson, from the office of Mr. Rees, solicitor to the
South-Eastern Railway Company, was in attendance on behalf of the
company; and Mr. Fletcher, solicitor of Stepney, appeared for the
widow of the deceased.
From the evidence given, it appeared that the deceased, who resided
at 12, Hatfield-street, St, Luke’s, followed the occupation of
superintending the posting of advertising bills for the proprietors,
of several London newspapers, and was a passenger from Woolwich to
London by the 5.26 p.m. train. He was seated in a second-class
compartment next the box of the head-guard, a young woman being the
only passenger with him. According to the statement of the guard,
George Abbott, on the train leaving the Charlton Station he observed
the deceased and the young woman romping together, and after
entering the Blackheath tunnel he observed other acts between them
which induced him to make known that he was witnessing by knocking
at the carriage window with a key and shaking his finger. On the
train leaving Blackheath Abbott missed the deceased from the
carriage, and conjectured that he had alighted at that station. The
young woman in question, when her ticket was demanded at New-cross,
remarked that she had none, but that her friend (the deceased) had
it, and she would wait for his arrival by a subsequent train. This
she was allowed to do, and left at 6.50 with a person who got in at
New-cross, she giving up a third-class return ticket from London to
Woolwich. When Abbott, the guard, arrived in London with the train,
some of the passengers called his attention to a severe jolting
which was felt on the train coming through the tunnel, in
consequence of which a search was made, but nothing was then
discovered. Shortly before ten o’clock the same night, Mr. Chapman,
the station-master, not feeling satisfied at the search which had
been made, directed three of the porters to walk through the tunnel
with lights, and on reaching a distance of about 300 yards they
found the body of the deceased cut in two, the upper portion, from
the waist, lying between the upline of metals, and the feet and legs
near the wall, against which it is supposed the deceased struck
while endeavouring to get from one carriage to another, to avoid any
complaint being made against him by the guard. At this stage of the
proceedings the inquiry was adjourned for a week, the Coroner
remarking that as no doubt the case would obtain publicity the young
woman might feel it right to come forward and give evidence in the
case.
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South Eastern Gazette, 18 September, 1860.
BLACKHEATH. The Fatal Accident in the Blackheath Railway Tunnel.
On Tuesday afternoon last, Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner, held an
adjourned inquiry at the "Railway Tavern," adjoining the Blackheath
Station of the North Kent Railway, touching the death of John King
Charles, aged 22, whose body was cut in two in the
Blackheath-tunnel, on the afternoon of Friday, the 31st alt.
Two of the ticket collectors at the New-cross station, having given
confirmatory evidence to that which has already appeared, of the
arrival of the young woman, with whom the deceased was seen by the
guard Abbott riding in the same carriage on the arrival of the train
in the Blackheath tunnel, the coroner observed that the inquiry had
been adjourned in the expectation that the young woman in question
would have come forward and given evidence in the matter.
Notwithstanding, however, every publicity appeared to have been
given to the case, she had not been discovered, or made her
appearance, and his opinion was that the jury could do no other
than, in the absence of direct testimony, return an open verdict.
The jury having concurred in these observations, returned the
following verdict:— "That the deceased was found dead in the
Blackheath tunnel, cut in two from a train having gone over him, but
how or from what cause originating there is no evidence before the
jury to show.
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LICENSEE LIST
MOORE James 1852-58+
MOORE Edwin Davis Aug/1866+
COLE Alfred Alexander 1877-81+ (age 45 in 1881 )
TAYLOR Joseph 1891+ (age 44 in 1891)
FOX William 1907-11+
???? Bill & George 1980s
https://pubwiki.co.uk/RailwayTavern.shtml
Census
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