Fountain Of Information
First published Dec '17
by Robin Gill
In the local news recently, has been the plans for the Fountain public house and the surrounding area. So, I thought it right to give interested parties some background on the early history of this Malden institution.
Opening Times
The house was built in late 1866/early 1867, next to a brickfield, and close to an old clay pit on the junction of the roads to New Malden (now High Street), Old Malden (Malden Road), and Kingston (now Kingston Road). It was built across the footpath to Merton which had to be moved alongside (now Burlington Road) Then known as the Hay Grove Hotel, it was run by Edward Lock formerly a butcher in Clarence Street Kingston. The premises were valued at £75 per year for rental purposes.
Already operating as a beer house after being granted a licence from the revenue office, Lock requested Kingston magistrates to grant him a licence to sell spirits and presented a petition in support signed by 25 people living nearby, surprising as there were little or few properties in the immediate vicinity. There were also no other licenced premises within half a mile, but the magistrates turned down the application, as the building had only just been constructed. Lock was disappointed, knowing that he would have to wait another year to reapply, as the officials only considered applications for one day each March. He had gone through the required procedure of displaying his application both on the hotel, and also on the door of the newly built Christ Church.
“Sports Venue”
After this setback, and with a view to endearing his establishment with the local population, and the local gun club held a contest of sparrow shooting (in March 1867) for a young pig, a silver cup (displayed in the bar) and a cash reward. Whilst we rightly regard this “sport” as barbaric nowadays, in the 19th century, sparrows, starlings, and pigeons were regarded as “fair game” amongst the shooting fraternity. The contest was held on land adjacent to the hotel.
Mr Lock also arranged for the first match of the newly formed New Malden Cricket Club to be played on a piece of adjacent ground in July (1867) between the local grocer Mr John Chilmans XI and the local baker Mr William Penfold’s XI. Afterwards all the players and their guests had dinner at the hotel courtesy of Mr Lock.
The Hotel was also the first home of the “The Pride Of Malden” the court of the Ancient Order Of Foresters which branch was formed in January 1870 at the Norbiton Park Hotel. The Foresters are one of the oldest friendly societies and all members are called Brothers. Later they seem to have become a more church based society.
Lock Out?
Lock was also getting adept at how to deal with unrulily customers, so when a James Simmons arrived at the Hotel at 11 o’clock at night for a pint, he was dealt with civilly, until he queried paying for a second drink, and was then forcibly ejected. Simmons took Lock to court saying that he had been knocked down and kicked during the altercation. Other witnesses declared otherwise and the case was dismissed. It seems that beer house opening times were 5am until midnight, but Lock was prosecuted for allowing beer to be consumed on a Sunday in September. Lock stated that the men drinking had been rewarded for helping pump out some water from his cellar, but the fact that seventeen men were found in his backyard with beer meant that he was not believed and find £1 12/6 (£1.62½ pence)
Another application was made for a spirit licence in 1868 but as one had already been granted to George Collier at the Royal Oak, and Lock had been prosecuted for selling beer outside licensing hours, the application was refused.
The Haygrove was also one of the establishments where details of land and property for sale in the area could be found. In 1868, this was land on Kingston, Montem, Thetford, Malden, and Presburg Roads, prime sites for villas. It was also around this time that the name of the road leading from the Haygrove towards Kingston was changed from Cambridge to Kingston Road, to avoid confusion for travellers with the other Cambridge Road in the area.
A further application went to the magistrates in March 1869, and this was granted, provided Lock paid some outstanding rates and taxes. The name of the establishment was changed to The Norbiton Park Hotel almost immediately.
The Norbiton Park area was rapidly being developed, and the hotel found itself on the market in October as part of the sale of the Blagdon Lodge Estate which included the farm, hotel, houses, shops, and cottages in all 230 acres. Fortunately, the freehold was bought by Thomas Hunter Fricker (founder of Fricker’s Brewery in Kingston), who retained Edward Lock as tenant. The hotel took on the business of holding local property auctions, such as land sales in Raby, Penrith, and Montem Roads. But with extra prominence came extra responsibilities such as the upkeep of cesspools etc in constant use at a public house, and leakages had to be dealt with promptly (within seven days).
Hard times
Things did not go well, and Edward Lock declared himself bankrupt on 15th December 1869 with outstanding debts of £189 which he put down to “Stagnation in trade in the neighbourhood”. He already had a previous bankruptcy dating back to 1865 when he was a butcher. He was discharged from his bankruptcy in July 1870.
Street lighting was at a minimum in early New Malden, the one light which covered the junction where the Norbiton Park Hotel stood, had been obscured by recent building, and it was decided to site it in the middle of the junction (predating the drinking fountain by 24 years) until it was pointed out that the Board did not light the street lamps all year round, and it would therefore be a danger to traffic. In addition, there would be very little room for vehicles to pass either side. The resultant compromise was to place the lamp outside the hotel.
Things went from bad to worse for the Lock family as two of the younger children died within a day of each other in September. Phoebe was aged five, and Emily was two. It was first thought that they had eaten poisoned berries gathered in the fields, but as Emily had had measles for some time this was given as the cause of death, and after no poison was found at a post mortem of Phoebe, death was attributed to convulsions.
More serious events occurred as Edward was charged with a violent assault against William Heave (a blacksmith) at the Wellington Inn in Kingston Road. Heave had been punched in the eye, and then stabbed with a knife. There were witnesses who saw Lock with the knife (which he denied), and the assault was proven with Edward being jailed for two months with hard labour. There was a history of bad blood between the two relating to money and a county course case, but as a result of the assault and subsequent prison sentence it was unlikely that Lock could have retained his licence at the Hotel.
Not The Queen Victoria
So, in February 1871 the licence was transferred to Thomas G Johnson, who retained it for a couple of months before transferring it to John Mitchel(l) a former builder from Deptford.
Life with the Mitchells in charge was quiet, plans for local land purchases could still be viewed with roads such as Kingston and Westbury to be built on, this was part of what was called the Norbiton Park Estate, with plots of land up to an acre in area for “residences of a superior class”, but the only reports about the hotel locally, concerned robberies from the premises.
One of these was the theft of some carriage springs which were kept in the yard behind the building. The hotel was often the place where coach and horses were changed for the stage from London to Brighton, so spares were kept in reserve. William Dean was seen carrying the springs by the local policeman PC Dunn who gave chase, catching and restraining him after a struggle.
John Mitchell left the Hotel and was replaced by John Radford from Aylesbury and his wife Emma in 1878. Emma was to remain landlady of the Hotel for the next 37 years in three different guises, but that is for the next chapter.
First published Dec '17
by Robin Gill
In the local news recently, has been the plans for the Fountain public house and the surrounding area. So, I thought it right to give interested parties some background on the early history of this Malden institution.
Opening Times
The house was built in late 1866/early 1867, next to a brickfield, and close to an old clay pit on the junction of the roads to New Malden (now High Street), Old Malden (Malden Road), and Kingston (now Kingston Road). It was built across the footpath to Merton which had to be moved alongside (now Burlington Road) Then known as the Hay Grove Hotel, it was run by Edward Lock formerly a butcher in Clarence Street Kingston. The premises were valued at £75 per year for rental purposes.
Already operating as a beer house after being granted a licence from the revenue office, Lock requested Kingston magistrates to grant him a licence to sell spirits and presented a petition in support signed by 25 people living nearby, surprising as there were little or few properties in the immediate vicinity. There were also no other licenced premises within half a mile, but the magistrates turned down the application, as the building had only just been constructed. Lock was disappointed, knowing that he would have to wait another year to reapply, as the officials only considered applications for one day each March. He had gone through the required procedure of displaying his application both on the hotel, and also on the door of the newly built Christ Church.
“Sports Venue”
After this setback, and with a view to endearing his establishment with the local population, and the local gun club held a contest of sparrow shooting (in March 1867) for a young pig, a silver cup (displayed in the bar) and a cash reward. Whilst we rightly regard this “sport” as barbaric nowadays, in the 19th century, sparrows, starlings, and pigeons were regarded as “fair game” amongst the shooting fraternity. The contest was held on land adjacent to the hotel.
Mr Lock also arranged for the first match of the newly formed New Malden Cricket Club to be played on a piece of adjacent ground in July (1867) between the local grocer Mr John Chilmans XI and the local baker Mr William Penfold’s XI. Afterwards all the players and their guests had dinner at the hotel courtesy of Mr Lock.
The Hotel was also the first home of the “The Pride Of Malden” the court of the Ancient Order Of Foresters which branch was formed in January 1870 at the Norbiton Park Hotel. The Foresters are one of the oldest friendly societies and all members are called Brothers. Later they seem to have become a more church based society.
Lock Out?
Lock was also getting adept at how to deal with unrulily customers, so when a James Simmons arrived at the Hotel at 11 o’clock at night for a pint, he was dealt with civilly, until he queried paying for a second drink, and was then forcibly ejected. Simmons took Lock to court saying that he had been knocked down and kicked during the altercation. Other witnesses declared otherwise and the case was dismissed. It seems that beer house opening times were 5am until midnight, but Lock was prosecuted for allowing beer to be consumed on a Sunday in September. Lock stated that the men drinking had been rewarded for helping pump out some water from his cellar, but the fact that seventeen men were found in his backyard with beer meant that he was not believed and find £1 12/6 (£1.62½ pence)
Another application was made for a spirit licence in 1868 but as one had already been granted to George Collier at the Royal Oak, and Lock had been prosecuted for selling beer outside licensing hours, the application was refused.
The Haygrove was also one of the establishments where details of land and property for sale in the area could be found. In 1868, this was land on Kingston, Montem, Thetford, Malden, and Presburg Roads, prime sites for villas. It was also around this time that the name of the road leading from the Haygrove towards Kingston was changed from Cambridge to Kingston Road, to avoid confusion for travellers with the other Cambridge Road in the area.
A further application went to the magistrates in March 1869, and this was granted, provided Lock paid some outstanding rates and taxes. The name of the establishment was changed to The Norbiton Park Hotel almost immediately.
The Norbiton Park area was rapidly being developed, and the hotel found itself on the market in October as part of the sale of the Blagdon Lodge Estate which included the farm, hotel, houses, shops, and cottages in all 230 acres. Fortunately, the freehold was bought by Thomas Hunter Fricker (founder of Fricker’s Brewery in Kingston), who retained Edward Lock as tenant. The hotel took on the business of holding local property auctions, such as land sales in Raby, Penrith, and Montem Roads. But with extra prominence came extra responsibilities such as the upkeep of cesspools etc in constant use at a public house, and leakages had to be dealt with promptly (within seven days).
Hard times
Things did not go well, and Edward Lock declared himself bankrupt on 15th December 1869 with outstanding debts of £189 which he put down to “Stagnation in trade in the neighbourhood”. He already had a previous bankruptcy dating back to 1865 when he was a butcher. He was discharged from his bankruptcy in July 1870.
Street lighting was at a minimum in early New Malden, the one light which covered the junction where the Norbiton Park Hotel stood, had been obscured by recent building, and it was decided to site it in the middle of the junction (predating the drinking fountain by 24 years) until it was pointed out that the Board did not light the street lamps all year round, and it would therefore be a danger to traffic. In addition, there would be very little room for vehicles to pass either side. The resultant compromise was to place the lamp outside the hotel.
Things went from bad to worse for the Lock family as two of the younger children died within a day of each other in September. Phoebe was aged five, and Emily was two. It was first thought that they had eaten poisoned berries gathered in the fields, but as Emily had had measles for some time this was given as the cause of death, and after no poison was found at a post mortem of Phoebe, death was attributed to convulsions.
More serious events occurred as Edward was charged with a violent assault against William Heave (a blacksmith) at the Wellington Inn in Kingston Road. Heave had been punched in the eye, and then stabbed with a knife. There were witnesses who saw Lock with the knife (which he denied), and the assault was proven with Edward being jailed for two months with hard labour. There was a history of bad blood between the two relating to money and a county course case, but as a result of the assault and subsequent prison sentence it was unlikely that Lock could have retained his licence at the Hotel.
Not The Queen Victoria
So, in February 1871 the licence was transferred to Thomas G Johnson, who retained it for a couple of months before transferring it to John Mitchel(l) a former builder from Deptford.
Life with the Mitchells in charge was quiet, plans for local land purchases could still be viewed with roads such as Kingston and Westbury to be built on, this was part of what was called the Norbiton Park Estate, with plots of land up to an acre in area for “residences of a superior class”, but the only reports about the hotel locally, concerned robberies from the premises.
One of these was the theft of some carriage springs which were kept in the yard behind the building. The hotel was often the place where coach and horses were changed for the stage from London to Brighton, so spares were kept in reserve. William Dean was seen carrying the springs by the local policeman PC Dunn who gave chase, catching and restraining him after a struggle.
John Mitchell left the Hotel and was replaced by John Radford from Aylesbury and his wife Emma in 1878. Emma was to remain landlady of the Hotel for the next 37 years in three different guises, but that is for the next chapter.
