Place Name
Perhaps unsurprisingly it is named after the public house that was first recorded in the mid-18thCentury as the Nags Head and Punch Bowl run by landlord Thomas Richards. Its situation on the old Roman road of Watling Street made it an ideal staging post for coaches running from London to Dover through Rochester. When it was put up for auction in 1891 buyers were informed that it “consisted of a modern liquor shop and private bar, plate glass front, large commercial room, tap room, and a capital bar parlour.” Adding: “The extensive grounds include a large weather-boarded dining saloon, two boarded summer-houses, a bowling green and a skittle ground, also a large kitchen garden, pigeon house, range of piggeries, and a duck pond.” It was bought by a Mrs Talfourd Hughes for £1,120. The present building was rebuilt in 1930.
