The exhibition will be held in the Museum in
Orpington in Autumn 2006. You will have the
opportunity to visit the exhibition as many times as you wish, as it is there
for several months. If you have any old photos etc school books and memories of
Pratts Bottom that you wish to share, contact Sue Short on 01959 533690.
Sue has written a long chapter about farming
in Pratts Bottom. This includes a great deal of information about Norsted (Northstead Manor), Fairtrough Farm and Charmwood
Farm. She has produced a chart showing the history of the fields in PB. If you
are able to help with information and memories of farming, please contact Sue.
Other chapters are well on the way to be finished including shops and
businesses and the church. We now have large archive of material about Pratts
Bottom which includes hundreds of scanned photos. Watch this space for other
events re: THE HISTORY OF PRATTS BOTTOM
Meanwhile here are some of Sue's tantalising notes.
The name of the
village.....In a book entitled “The place names of
“Pratt’s Bottom and Grove. They derive their name from the family of Stephen Prat (1332)”
The Pratt family are mentioned in the “Chelsfield Chronicles” by G. Copus
Was Pratts Bottom originally Locks Bottom because of the toll gate?
A map of 1761 shows Pratts Bottom as Locks Bottom. It seems likely that this was just a mistake, as Pratts Bottom was linked with the toll gate at Locks Bottom.
In 1791 a bill of sale of the Porcupine Inn refers to PB as Spratts Bottom. Spratts may have been a personal name and later used for the village being at the bottom of the hill.???
According to Judith Hook there are few references to Pratts Bottom in old documents. It was probably never a Parish, or related to old manor or ancient village.
Old maps of the area...what do they show us?
Pratts Bottom has been linked with Knockholt, Chelsfield and Halstead as well as Green Street Green.
Any prehistoric references/geological information.(see geological section of the Green Street Green book)
Mr Tom Horwood
found a mammoth tooth and tusks in a gravel pit near Pratts Bottom and they
were presented to the
There are unconfirmed finds of a Roman mosaic pavement at Pratts Bottom.
According to Martin Lee’s “Calendar” 1946(and) “365 Facts of Interest in the District” (1945?) there was a Roman settlement overlooking Pratts Bottom.
Chelsfield Parish’s poor houses were built at Pratts Bottom early in the 17th century, on land taken from the waste (common land) See Judith Hook’s book
The Turnpike Acts
“These acts enabled groups of local landowners to undertake the maintenance of a stretch of roadand to charge for its use by erecting tollgates or turnpikes. Each section of road required its own Act, before the local gentry could institute the turnpike system and this led to piecemeal development.” The Green Street Green, Pratts Bottom stretch was turnpiked in 1748(Warlow p.41) Local landowners contributed for reasons of their own convenience and perhaps a sense of duty but certainly not as a financial investment” ( Marjorie Ford and Geoffrey Rickard “The Story of Green Street Green”) Drawing of the Pratts Bottom Toll house, From Harper “The Hastings Road”.
The Turnpike Act 1748
established a turnpike road from the “ well at
Farnborough to Riverhill in Sevenoaks(about 11 miles)
which was part of the post road from
Prior to turnpiking this road was described in 1748 as greatly in decay” because of heavy carriages passing through and had become “very bad in the winter season” being “in many places very narrow and incommodious”(G .H. Warlow p41 History of Halstead” 1934)
With improved roads and Tunbridge Wells becoming fashionable, traffic must have increased. One of the coaching stops was the Bull’s Head in Pratts Bottom. The hilly nature of the route must of been hard on the horses, with heavy coaches to pull. It became an offence to drive horses to hard up or down Rushmore Hill (Martin Lee)
The Old Rushmore Hill is now
The turnpike cottage
A gentleman who was born in the cottage and lived there for some years may be able to tell us more about his life there. See Ernie Bowen.
The turnpike cottages were demolished in 1927-28
Gas street lighting arrived prior to the first world war.
The
Porcupine Inn. In the 18th
century the stage coach journey from
The Bulls Head has stood on this site for about 400 years. The lime trees opposite are of a great age...Coaches would stop at the inn overnight ....
Dick Turpin
There is a story that Dick Turpin frequented the Bull’s Head Inn at Pratts Bottom before being caught horse stealing in 1739 and hanged for his crime. He is reputed to have slept in Pear tree Cottage, escaping through a tunnel now bricked up.
Highway robbery
“The most documented hold up was described in “The Times” of Wed. 3rd October
1798 having taken place on July 31st of that year. A reward was offered of £240 for information leading
to the capture of the thief. The robbery had taken place on the road to Pratts
Bottom, when a man on horseback held up the mail late that night. It is said
that the post boy in charge tried to deter the armed robber with the offer of
half a guinea but the highway man made off with the six bags of mail instead.
Earlier that day a man on horseback had passed through the turnpike at Pratts
Bottom towards Sevenoaks. He returned later asking his way to Croydon and it was considered likely that this was the
highwayman. There is no record of an arrest which given the eyewitness
description of a young man of middle size wearing a drab coat and riding a
horse with a white face, is hardly surprising. (Marjorie Ford and Geoffrey
Rickard)
The gibbet
It is popularly believed that a gibbet was sited at the end of the present World’s End.(hence the name) If a robbery had taken place at or near the toll gate at Pratts Bottom, then the hill overlooking it would have been a good place for the gibbet to be placed. There was a property named World’s End at the junction of the lane with Chelsfield Hill overlooking Pratts Bottom, documented as far back as 1730 (Copus 2 p.1) but no confirmation of a gibbet on that spot.
Mr Pratt operated a lime kiln and chalk pit (Pratts Grove)
Light industry.
Garages.
The village green...the village fair, Evangelist tent meetings, other activities ?
All Souls Church was built in the 19th century and the Congregational Free Church built in the 1900’s? In September 1940 All Soul’s Church could not be used for a few weeks because of damage from a land mine which fell nearby. On the night of the great storm in October 1987 a fallen tree caused some damage to the roof of All Soul’s Church.
The village hall/activities The village hall was built in 1931. Activities include:- amateur dramatics, flower shows, dances, jumble sales, exercise classes, wedding receptions, Womens Institute meetings, a nursery school. The administration of the hall is by committee,
The Village school
The school was built in 1894 in Hookwood Road (originally the old Rushmore Hill) A playing field adjoins the school and an annexe to this school was built to provide extra facilities.
Clubs etc.
Sunday school groups etc.
The Green belt
“The green belt was instituted to protect areas of great landscape value” surrounding urban cities. The countryside around Pratts Bottom comes within this province.
Birthday Wood
This is on private land at Hillside Farm, Rushmore Hill. A Californian redwood was planted here to mark the birth of a child, hence Birthday Wood.
To be continued...
THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE OFFERED THEIR HELP.