Aspects of Kentish Local History

   [Prefatory Note.—Much of the matter in this first section was collected by the late Colonel A. H. Bagnold, C.B., C.M.G., R.E., of Shooters Hill, and was published by him in the local church magazine. The ephemeral nature of these publications is such that very few of his papers on Shooters Hill can still be available. Owing to the kindness and generosity of his family, the great bulk of his notes on the district was handed to me with permission to use as I saw fit. The subject is of more than local interest, and worthy, I hope, of a place in Archaelogia Cantiana.]

ROYAL Coats of Arms in churches are, of course, of common occurrence and the volumes of Arch. Cant. contain many references to, and descriptions of, them. But to find an early example in the tap room of a humble wayside inn is, I think, a matter of so unusual a character, that some details are worthy of record. For such was the locus of the coat of arms here illustrated (Plate I). It was found in the tap room of the old Bull Inn, the last surviving fragment of the well-known and extensive hotel that formerly stood on the top of Shooters Hill. This tap survived till 1882 when it was destroyed to make room for the more modern hotel that

is built on an adjacent site. Before this, however, in 1880, the old coat of arms had been removed to the offices of the North Kent Brewery, Plumstead, where it is now preserved, with an inscription to the effect that it was presented to the Bull Inn circa 1689 by William of Orange (William III).
   Shooters Hill, which rises to 446 O.D., is the highest part of Kent near London, and not till the North Downs are reached is there land of greater elevation. It was a formidable obstacle on the main road from London to Dover, even though the road had been cut down some feet by the Turnpike Trust as is clearly shown in the illustrations of the old buildings (Plate II); and the steep gradient, the ill-constructed and, especially in winter, muddy track made the passage of horse-drawn vehicles a matter of some difficulty. There is evidence that alternative routes through Eltham or Greenwich were in greater favour at this season of the year because of their drier and more level character and it is a worthy comment on modern things that, with the advent of the much more powerful motor car, the hill was by-passed!
   The road, variously known as the "Roman Road", the "Dover Road" or the "Watling Street" is in fact more correctly termed