One of the 'Sun Pictures', from 1868, the earliest known photos of the village. 
Detail from DK062, it shows the Blackamoors Head pub almost hidden beneath the great elm tree, the Cross Tree. On the porch of the pub can be seen a square name board, and according to popular legend, hanging up high in the tree was a swinging pub sign, put there when the tree was younger. It seems heartless to point out the tree trucks grow out rather that upward....
Before 1844, when the pub was bought by the Lord of the Manor, the Rev Francis Annesley, and renamed after the crest on his family coat of arms, it was called the Plough and had been owned by several different people from outside the village. The building is something of a puzzle, having several high status features, the porch and staircase towers, some fine internal carvings etc., that seem at odds with its small - 3-bay - size.
In the past it may have had some village civic function that justified its high quality details whilst fitting in with its small size. The EHRG Archivist's (Dr Kevin Lodge) current theory - for which there is no proof at all - is that it started life as a Church House (a combined meeting/feasting house with its own kitchen and brew house), and was then converted to a pub at the the Reformation.
For later images of this building see for example KL030, KL032 and KL047, and for a description from the Sale Brochure of 1925, see KL015h.
Photographer: Mr John Harrington
Picture lent by : Mr David Kench
Connected Photos: DK062 | KL030 | KL032 | KL047 | KL015h