The Green
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The Hare and Hounds
ADDRESS: Hare And Hounds The Green
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Historical Notes
Before the arrival of the railway in 1885, Claygate's shopping facilities were much smaller in number and variety than they are today. It is unlikely that Claygate boasted more than six shops prior to the 1880s. The Parade had yet to be built, and there were only three shops around The Green, plus a few others scattered around the old village mainly in the Telegraph Road (now Telegraph Lane) and New Road (now Coverts Road) areas.
We do not know when the first shop opened. But two of the first purpose-built shops, as distinct from cottages and farms that sold produce and goods as a sideline, were probably the Post Office and Singlehurst the butcher, both in the old village. The former was certainly a going concern as early as the 1860s, and for many years was owned and run by the Napper family. In Kelly's Directory of 1874, Edwin Napper is described as a postmaster, grocer, cheesemonger and baker. The Napper family at one time owned quite a lot of property in the locality and were also coal and coke merchants. But it was the arrival of the railway that led to the building of the majority of shops that we have today.
Before The Parade was developed, Claygate's shopping area was centred around The Green. Two of the first purpose-built shops are still evident: one, now occupied by Matthew Pierce, estate agent, was previously Singlehurst, the butcher; the other, now a private house with the shop front retained, was previously the Studio Bakery and originally the Post Office.
The drinking fountain was presented to the village by Lord Foley in 1893 to commemorate the wedding of the future King George V and Mary of Teck.
The granite horse trough was donated by the Metropolitan Cattle Trough Association in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George V.
The large ash and oak trees commemorate Queen Victoria's gold and diamond jubilees (1887 and 1897). The two apple trees are Claygate Pearmain and Braddick Nonpareil, planted in 1996 by the CVRA. Both varieties were discovered in local hedgerows in 1822. The Green was redesigned by the CVRA in 1986, winning a Civic Trust award.
As well as the Post Office, other traders listed in Kelly's Directory of 1874 were James Brown, grocer and dairyman; William Goddard, boot maker; James Wood (no trade specified); Thomas Wood, timber merchant, and three beer retailers. Obviously not all of these were located around The Green and it is recorded elsewhere that between 1885 and 1901, the number of shops around The Green increased from three to 14.
By the early 1900s the shops in the area included a saddler, grocer, bootmaker, butcher, tea shop, post office, builder, tobacconist, newsagent and draper. It was a Mr. Smith who established the draper. In 1904 he moved his business to the nearby newly-built premises: 5 Sidney Terrace. In 1912 Charles Darby bought the business and ran it, with the help of his wife when he was on active service during the Great War, until 1946 when he handed over to his son, Charles, better known as Jack, on his return from service with Bomber Command. Between times Darby's expanded into the adjoining premises (No. 6, built in 1907) and trade in ladies' hats was such that at one time they employed two full-time milliners. Subsequently, Darby's became the official clothing stockists for several local schools.
On 25th September 1982, Darby's the draper closed its doors for the last time — the adjoining boys' and mens' clothing department having been sold a few years earlier — when Jack Darby retired to Billingshurst, Sussex. So ended 70 years of continuous trading in Claygate by the Darby family.
In the early 1900s, next to the Hare and Hounds, there was a pork butcher's stall, a police call-box, and a small fire station building equipped with a hand-drawn manual appliance. A photograph of the period taken in front of this station shows 21 firemen resplendent in their button-up uniforms, broad leather belts and brass helmets. Presumably a number of these firemen were from neighbouring stations as it is unlikely that Claygate's detachment would have exceeded half a dozen or so part-time volunteers.
Another personality connected to The Green was Jesse Hogsden senior. He learnt his trade in Dudman's smithy before it was burnt down. With the encouragement of Lord Foley and others he started up a new blacksmith business at The Forge, Common Road, in 1896. When he died suddenly seven years later, his two sons, Jesse and Herbert, then aged only 16 and 12 respectively, carried on the main business of shoeing horses at the rate of some 20 to 30 per week. This business is still in the hands of the family, but now concentrates on the repair and servicing of lawn mowers rather than the more traditional activities of a village blacksmith.
Another personality associated with The Green was Henry Hibbert who ran the greengrocers at 3 Sidney Terrace for over fifty years from 1915 to 1967. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First World War and was an ARP Warden in World War 2. Henry Hibbert retired at the age of 84 and died on 6th June 1975 aged 91.
The Hare and Hounds
The earliest surviving deed of the Hare and Hounds is dated 1843, when it was already a public house and owned by John Ward with Thomas Weller as tenant. Before then it was a farmhouse. Weller also rented or owned the greater part of the land that is now bounded by Church Road, St Leonards Road, Common Road and The Causeway. On parts of this land he paid rent to the Curate and to the Earl of Lovelace. But Weller did not own or rent the strip of land which fronts Common Road on which The Griffin, Ash Cottages and Mathews Terrace were built, nor the triangular-shaped piece of land between 'The Hare and Hounds' and the shops called Claygate Hurst, now known as The Green.
In June 1866, the Hare and Hounds was auctioned by Messrs Norton, Trist and Co at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street. The lot comprised the Hare and Hounds public house which consisted of a bar, parlour, tap room, kitchen, cellar, sitting-room, three bedrooms and two attics, together with stables for six horses, a coachhouse, barn, skittle alley, sheds and a yard. Included with this lot were an orchard fronting Church Road, arable land of over six acres fronting St Leonards Road (known variously as Capel or Chapel field), and Claygate Hurst. In all, some eight acres and eighteen perches were on sale, and were purchased by RW Burrows on behalf of the Twickenham Brewery.
In 1896 the pub was purchased by Brandons Putney Brewery who sold it to Mann, Crossman and Paulin in 1950. Around 1900 the orchard on which Farley, (now Brynhyfryd), Appledore, Scoreby (now Dunelm) and Half Acre were built, and the land fronting St Leonards Road, were sold off separately by Brandons for building purposes.
In 1931, the Hare and Hounds was extensively altered to become much in line with its present exterior appearance, although the facade was subsequently simplified by the removal of some glass-covered porchways. And in the early 1970s the interior was modified and refurbished. In 1969, Mann, Crossman and Paulin became Watney Mann, which in turn subsequently became part of the Grand Metropolitan plc who are the present owners.
From time to time references are made to the Hare and Hounds as being an hotel, implying that in the past it provided overnight accommodation for travellers. It is also most likely that this public house, or hotel, took its name from the hunt that used to meet regularly for beagling — the pursuit of hares on foot with beagle hounds — at nearby Fee Farm. 'Capel Field' adjoining the Hare and Hounds was once the venue of the Leveret Cricket Club, before it became Elm Nurseries, and then in the late 1960s Elm Gardens and Blakeden Drive.
Sources
- Claygate Heritage Trail, (leaflet produced by Claygate Parish Council)
- Peebles, Malcolm (1983). The Claygate Book. (Millennium edition). Stockbridge: by BAS Printers Ltd. ISBN 0-9508978-0-9.
- Many thanks also for the photos, many supplied by Terry Gale, from the Claygate Local History Facebook group.
