Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1800 to 1832

Summary from record TR 15 NW 804:

In 1941 there was a rest centre, with room for sixty persons rendered homeless by enemy action, in Arnett House on Hawk’s Lane.

Summary from record TR 15 NW 972:

Arnett House had been adopted as a fortified house by November 1940 - it proabaly already housed important military headquarters by this time. By about September 1941 a regimental aid post, serving No. 3 Group of the Canterbury Fortress garrison operated here. The Joint (military and civil-defence) Headquarters of Canterbury Fortress had moved here by the end of 1941.

Monument Types

• INN (Post Medieval - 1800 AD? to 1900 AD)
• FORTIFIED HOUSE (Modern - 1940 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• FORTIFIED HOUSE (Modern - 1940 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• CIVIL DEFENCE BUILDING (Modern - 1941 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 944 HAWKS LANE (North East Side)
No 22 (Arnett House) TR 1457 BE 4/354
II
2. Originally 3 houses. Early C19. 3 storeys faced with cement, the ground floor rusticated. Parapet and stringcourses, Cartouche of the Royal Arms above the centre. 6 sashes with glazing bars intact.
Listing NGR: TR1481857759

Description from record TR 15 NW 804:
In 1941 there was a rest centre, with room for sixty persons rendered homeless by enemy action, in Arnett House on Hawk’s Lane. This may subsequently have lapsed, but was reinstated a couple of months after the ‘Baedeker’ raid of 1 June 1942, which caused extensive destruction to other rest centres in Canterbury. This large and dignified building had a range of civil-defence and military uses during the Second World War. The latter are detailed in a separate entry.
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : No

Description from record TR 15 NW 972:
Arnett House, an early nineteenth-century building on the north side of Hawk's Lane, in central Canterbury (Military Grid Reference R 589759), had been adopted as a fortified house by November 1940; it was fortified house No. 57 in a list of such structures made 2 December that year. The most likely explanation for this is that the building already housed an important military headquarters by this time - although it is not yet clear what unit might have been based here. This large and dignified building had a wide range of military and civil-defence uses during the Second World War (the latter are detailed in a separate entry). By about September 1941 a regimental aid post, serving No. 3 Group of the Canterbury Fortress garrison operated here. From mid February 1941 there had been plans to establish joint headquarters for the civil-defence services and military garrison of Canterbury Fortress, ‘on ground adjoining Arnett House’, but Higher Command had not yet approved their construction and had instead suggested the ‘utilization of "Elephant" shelters made splinter-proof with concrete and sited within small buildings for concealment’, or, failing this, a scheme for the Military headquarters on ground behind the municipal buildings adjoining the existing civil-defence Control Centre. In mid December, however, the Military authorities again suggested the forecourt of Arnett House for the ‘use of both military authorities and civil defence services.’ By this time Arnett House was in use as a civil-defence rest centre so Emergency Committee suggested yard of Royal Fountain Hotel. Nevertheless, the joint headquarters had been established here - probably on the forecourt - by the end of the year. The military headquarters seem to have moved here directly from the Barracks on Sturry Road.
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Unknown
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Unknown

Imported from the Canterbury UAD: Formerly Rigden's Brewery.
According to Wilmott, this brewery was situated in Hawks Lane, perhaps a little further west than sited on the accompanying map info plot, perhaps fronting Stour Street and possibly on the south side of the street backing onto Beercart Lane.

It is definitely listed in Pigott's Directory for 1828-29 and for 1832-34 as Rigden & Co. Brewers, but its address is given as Beercart Lane. In Pigot's Directory for 1840 it is listed as Rigden and Delmar Brewery, Beercart Lane. In 1849, William, Edward and George Rigden purchased the neighbouring Flint's Brewery, fronting Stour Street and Beercart Lane, from Thomas and Priscilla Flint, and perhaps the Hawks Lane premises were closed down, they are not shown on the 1st edition O. S. map of 1874.

Steven's Directory of 1882 shows Rigden's Brewery as Faversham Brewery, Beer Cart Lane with William, Edward and John Rigden as Brewers. In Pike's Local Blue Book of 1897-98 it is listed as Rigden & Co. Faversham Brewery, office and stores, Beercart Lane. The brewery closed down sometime between 1900 and 1930 as it is no longer listed in Kelly's Directory for 1931. The brewery complex was eventually demolished in 1932 and the site was then used as a yard.

CBA Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE15564.

English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE15565.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE14844.

43 Division General Staff, 01/01/40, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). SKE15566.

Canterbury Fortress headquarters, 01/01/42, War Diary Canterbury Fortress 1942 (Unpublished document). SKE15567.

Pigot & Co., 1828, Pigot & Co's. London and Provincial Directory (Article in serial). SKE29961.

Pigot & Co., 1832, Pigot & Co's. Commercial Directory (Article in serial). SKE29960.

Pigot & Co., 1840, Pigot & Co's. Royal, National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the County of Kent (Article in serial). SKE29962.

Steven's Directories, 1882, Steven's Directory of Canterbury and Neighbourhood, with Faversham, Herne Bay, Whitstable and all villages within a circuit of six miles from Canterbury. (Article in serial). SKE29959.

Pikes Directories, 1897, Pikes Local Blue Book for Canterbury and District, Herne Bay & Whitstable (Article in serial). SKE29958.

Kelly's Directory, 1931, Kelly's Directory of Canterbury, Whitstable, Herne Bay, & with map (Article in serial). SKE29963.

Enderby, H. M., 1950, The Inns of Canterbury Parts I & II, Lecture to the Canterbury Archaeological Society (Unpublished document). SKE29964.

Bennett, P., 1980, 68-69 Stour Street (Serial). SKE29956.

Wilmot, E., 1992, Eighty Lost Inns of Canterbury (Monograph). SKE29747.

Bateman, S., 1995, One Small Part of Canterbury, A History of the SMAC's Area (Collection). SKE29957.

Sources and further reading