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From Barclay, Perkins' Anchor Magazine. Volume XXI, No.4 - October 1949.
The "Harrow," Lidsing.
A little beyond the top of Boxley Hill, between Maidstone and Gillingham,
stands the "Harrow." A Games Room, a Private and Saloon Bar serve
the
few local farmers and the car trade. In the Saloon Bar stands a baby
grand
piano which, apart from the local talent, has been played on by
Oscar Rabin,
pianist and the Pauline Sisters, well known to many concert-goers,
both here
and abroad.
The "Harrow" has its own electric light plant and the bright and
pleasing
exterior finish dates from 1935.
During the war years the "Harrow" was well and truly in the front
line, having
several near misses from Doodlebugs and the constant noise of planes
overhead.
The unpleasantness of its position in those days is clear when we
learn that a
house nearby was offered to Mr Cunningham in 1941 for £450. That
same
building was offered to the writer last month for £2,300.
Before coming to Style & Winch Ltd., Mr Cunningham worked 18 years
for
Baron Henry Deville, the Wine Connoisseur, followed by four years
with
the Portsmouth Police Force. He tells an amusing story of when, in
1947,
he was visited at the "Harrow" by the Abbot of Buckfast (whom he was
able to serve a glass of wine made to the secret recipe of Buckfast
Abbey.)
It happened that while the Abbot was with him, a reporter rang up
saying
"Is it true that you have the Pope with you?"
Just across the road from the "Harrow" is an enormous pit,
approximately
100 feet deep and 40 yards across. This was dug on the instructions
of one
Major Templer in 1889. I learnt the story from Mr Pye, who lives
next door,
whose father had helped dig the pit. It's function was act as a
shelter in which
to inflate and repair balloons, used by the Balloon Section of Royal
Engineers,
the forerunners of the Royal Flying Corps. A stout anchor was fixed
in the
bottom of the pit and several flights started from there, some of
them, we are
told, being made unofficially by Mrs Templer when the anchor gave
way.
Mr C Cunningham, the Licensee, has been at the "Harrow" since 1941
and we
wish him every future happiness and success in the house. |
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