Kennington

Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo, date unknown.

Not a lot known about this pub at all as yet, other than the change of license as mentioned in the Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette 11 November 1865.

Further information found from ASHFORD KENT REMEMBERING THE WAY IT ONCE WAS by Robin Britcher accessed 17 Jun 2021.

Laurel Tree House, a Grade II Listed Building in The Street, Kennington, was once an inn and later an almshouse.

The first record of it being an inn appears in the 1861 Census. The licensee was Frederick Cutbush who had lived in The Street since 1840. In Kelly's 1855 Directory he is listed as a seedsman and beer retailer.

Frederick and his wife Anne had 12 children.

There were several other licensees before the freehold of the inn was sold by auction in 1870 at the "Saracen's Head Hotel," Ashford.
It ceased being an inn when it became the property of George Herbst Lake, a wealthy solicitor. He retired in his mid 40s and moved from London to Kennington with his wife Harriet. In the 1871 Census they were living at Kennington Cottages and Mr Lake was a "retired solicitor and landowner." When he died Laurel Tree House was bequeathed to the village. A plaque on the wall reads:-

The Gift of George Herbst and Harriet Mary Lake to the poor of Kennington, A.D 1890.

'Blessed is he that considereth the poor'

The couple, who did not have any children, were generous benefactors and contributed a third of the cost of building Kennington School which opened in 1872.

A few years later they moved to St Leonard's, in Sussex.

George Lake died in 1889, aged 75, leaving Harriet £35,000 (equivalent of £4.5m today.) Harriet died in 1904, aged 83. They are buried in St Mary’s Churchyard. An inscription on the headstone reads:

"The memory of the just is blessed.”

The timber-framed almshouse was managed by the Lake Trustees, and later by the Kennington Parochial Charity, until it was sold in 2007 and renovated as a private residence.

The Lakes also owned the patch of land opposite the school in Upper Vicarage Road which is now the Garden of Remembrance. Although the Trustees gave it to the parish in 1921 as a site for the First World War Memorial, it was decided to put the Memorial on its present site "on the corner of the Charity allotments opposite" where it would be more visible.

The Kennington 1939-1945 Garden of Remembrance and Shelter was opened in 1950.

LICENSEE LIST

CATBUSH Frederick 1861+ (also seedsman age 50 in 1861)

HALSE Edward to Nov/1865

PARSONS George Nov/1865+

Census

Kentish Gazette