Starting Again?

  Ok, I’ll be honest, I’d forgotten about this. However, having stumbled upon the excellent Faded London blog http://faded-london.blogspot.co.uk/, enough of an inspirational kick has been delivered to make me pull my socks up so to speak. I’m not familiar with South West London at all but the principal remains the same, even if the ‘talking points’ are thinner on the ground in Canterbury. So with thanks and salutations to Faded London and to start things off again, I’ll take a stroll along St. Dunstan’s Street.

  This thoroughfare runs from the junction with Whitstable Road and London Road south east to the Westgate Towers and forms the historical entry into Canterbury from London. The lower part of the street between the Towers and Station Road West was at one point known as Westgate Street or sometimes Westgate Without but for now I’ll refer to this section as lower St. Dunstan’s. I’ll take a look at the street in two halfs with the lower part first.

  Like most of Canterbury’s main roads St. Dunstan’s is usually full of traffic (going nowhere slow) so on the rare occasion when it is traffic free a photograph must be taken.

Looking south, October 10th 2010.

  A quick walk along lower St. Dunstan’s begins with a cover plate which may not be long for this world judging by its sudden highlighting. Strictly speaking this is in North Lane but as it may soon be replaced I thought I’d better record it. MKWC presumably stands for Mid Kent Water Company but why it is so precisely dated is another little mystery. There are at least three other ‘dated’ plates in the city although one of these is also highlighted so may also be due for retirement.

  Into the street proper and we see the impressive ironwork supporting the inn sign for the Falstaff Hotel. Of the many incarnations of this sign it has to be said the current one is a bit dull. The recent brown repaint hasn’t inspired much positive comment either. Incidentally the iron bracket used to project much further into the street but was accidentally shortened once too often by passing lorries.

April 1st 2017

  The entrance to Kirby’s Lane gives us a CWW, Canterbury Water Works, cover plate. These are a particular target of mine – I am always on the lookout for more survivors. So far I have spotted about fifteen around the city, although with a number also having been highlighted in red recently this figure may be about to be reduced.

 

  Hedgers Butchers, in 2017 the only surviving butchers in the city and the home of the best smoked bacon to be found in Canterbury. Formerly the Catherine Wheel public house until closure in 1920, the defunct cellar drop is still in place. The bollards on the pavement outside are perhaps there to protect the cellars from unwisely parked vehicles? 

 

  After crossing the road to return back down the street the first item of interest is the iron grille of the chemist’s cellar. This would seem to be for air circulation in pre-traffic days – this building was a chemist at least as far back as 1940 – but beyond that guess I do not know.

  Next door we find an isolated piece of decorative tiling on the chip shop, perhaps it had a partner on the opposite side at one point? This building also has a long history as a fried fish shop with Harry Baker the incumbent for at least 21 years between 1940 and 1961 according to Kelly’s Directories. There are a few more tile remnants around the city which I'll be looking at in due course.

  Another defunct cellar drop, this time outside what was (in its final licensed incarnation) the CT2 Bar & Terrace. Before that this pub had many names over a shortish period of time but for most of its history it was the Rose and Crown. I seem to remember it didn’t have a very good reputation towards the last part of its life as the Rose & Crown which may have been the reason for its renaming.

Former Rose & Crown cellar drop.

  Templar House at 81 St. Dunstan’s is one of those buildings which I keep meaning to find out more about...

 

Templar House.

  One of the city’s few ‘ghost signs’ can be seen above the current street sign for Linden Grove. As this thoroughfare is named as Linden Grove on the 1907 O.S. map it seems that it hasn’t been Water Lane for over 110 years which makes its survival all the more baffling.

  Another ghost sign at number 88 is now pretty hard to read with any certainty. I think this has deteriorated in the past few years as I am sure I have a photo where it is more legible. This property was occupied by Sidney Terry electrician, and later electrical engineer, from at least 1917 until 1961 and I can possibly make out the word ‘Electricic…’ amongst the faded lettering.

  Yet another cellar drop for a former public house, this time the Gun Tavern. Given that this ceased to trade as a pub in around 1912 it does make you wonder why this hasn’t been removed in the intervening years.

Former Gun Tavern cellar drop

  Finally, to conclude this walk. a nice reminder of Canterbury’s former county status at the entrance to the Westgate Gardens. There’s more of course, but for another time.