Above photo, 1916. Kindly sent by John Whittle.

Above image from Google, April 2010.

From an email received 14 August 2016.

HI re Bricklayers Arms,

Just to let you know that after 1911 and until it closed in 1916, when the premises were deemed unfit for public use due to poor lighting, low ceilings and being situated at the top of a steep hill which could prove hazardous for parked vehicles.

My Great uncle John Edward Whittle was the licensee. Many of the family and their cousins went to the school next door.

The 'Whittles' were a family of steam engine drivers who were driving engines on the LBSCR, London Chatham and Dover and in France. John's father, also John Whittle born Salford 1837, drove engines in France in the Prussian war alongside his father in law and uncle Edward Whittle.

Hence the plaque bearing the name 'The Bricklayers Arms' together with a motif of a steam engine.

Yours sincerely,

Diane Ruff.

Above photo showing John, Caroline Whittle and Eunice Edmonds.

Whilst John Whittle senior and family were living in 'The Bricklayers Arms' (formerly known as 'The Brick'), both he and his son Bertram (known as Bertie) went off to WW1 to drive steam engines in both France and Salonika, Greece. When they returned in 1918, their discharge papers gave an Eastbourne address so the pub must have closed by then. John drove and Bertie was his fireman.

My cousins said that the plaque was put up by the new owners when it became 'Holly House'. The new owner was a railway enthusiast and when he read the deeds and history of the house ,He decided to make a plaque. The new owner used to frequent a railway in London which goes by the same name and he wanted to keep the railway connection!

Regards,

Diane Ruff.