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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 67 SW 1318
Type of record:Monument
Name:Former site of the Black Lion Inn

Summary

Former site of a Grade II listed building.


Grid Reference:TQ 6157 7074
Map Sheet:TQ67SW
Parish:SOUTHFLEET, DARTFORD, KENT

Monument Types

  • SITE (Medieval to Modern - 1439 AD to 2009 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5274 SOUTHFLEET RED STREET (south side)
The Black Lion Public House (formerly listed as The Black Lion Inn Cottage) TQ 6170 12/48 1.6.67
II
2. Former tiled roof cottage now part of the Inn. C17 or earlier timber-framed building, faced with weatherboarding on the ground floor and plastered above. Partly thatched and partly tiled roof, hipped at one end. C17 chimney stack. Five windows in all. C19 one storey extension to left hand side. Three C19 casements and 2 sashes with vertical glazing bars to extension. Four simple doorcases with tiled penticed hoods over.
Listing NGR: TQ6157870749
(1)

The building was destroyed by arson on 20th January 2009. It stood derelict for a number of years before being demolished in 2013. During this process the timbers were subjected to dendrochronological analysis and the remaining elements recorded. The building was a medieval open-hall house built between AD 1439 and 1467. A two-storey bay was added to its west end, in perhaps the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries. A single-storey weatherboarded range was added to its east end, in the late nineteenth century. Timbers from the building were largely of elm. There had been a crown-post roof, the decorated crown-post was found following the fire. (2)

In 2013 Canterbury Archaeological Trust carried out a watching brief on the site following demolition. The 18th century cellar of the pub was found. The brick-built cellar possibly dates from the time when the farm building first became a pub and potentially coincides with a date found carved on woodwork of 1740, probably commemorating a renovation of that date. All other traces of the building are likely to have been removed by levelling of the site. (3)

The Black Lion Public House, located at Red Street, was an end-jetty house with a formerly open 2-bay hall. The lower end only was formerly jettied. The 17th century or possibly C15 timber-framed building was faced with weatherboarding on the ground floor and was plastered above. It had a partly thatched and partly tiled roof and was hipped at one end. It had a 19th century one storey extension to the left hand side. The former tiled cottage The Black Lion Inn Cottage was incorporated and became part of the inn possibly in the mid 20th century. In the early 2012 the building was lost to fire and was subsequently demolished.(4)

Historic England archive material: BF040402 THE BLACK LION PUBLIC HOUSE, SOUTHFLEET File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.
RCH01/048/01/634 Labelled sheet of drawings of the Black Lion, Southfleet, with a sketch plan of the ground-floor, a dais beam profile, and a crown-post elevation


<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2013, The Black Lion Inn, Red Street, Southfleet, Kent: Historic building recording of a fire damaged medieval hall house, prior to and during demolition (Unpublished document). SKE24316.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2013, Archaeological Watching Brief at The Black Lion Inn, Red Street, Southfleet, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE25961.

<4> Pearson, S., Barnwell, P. S. & Adams, A. T., 1994, A Gazetteer of Medieval Houses in Kent (Monograph). SKE8010.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Map: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
<2>Unpublished document: Canterbury Archaeological Trust. 2013. The Black Lion Inn, Red Street, Southfleet, Kent: Historic building recording of a fire damaged medieval hall house, prior to and during demolition.
<3>Unpublished document: Canterbury Archaeological Trust. 2013. Archaeological Watching Brief at The Black Lion Inn, Red Street, Southfleet, Kent.
<4>Monograph: Pearson, S., Barnwell, P. S. & Adams, A. T.. 1994. A Gazetteer of Medieval Houses in Kent.