Black Prince, Bexley

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Black Prince
Holiday Inn (or Black Prince) at Bexley (geograph 2027654).jpg
North (reception) wing, the first part of the building, with the later, larger wing in the background.
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Black Prince
Location within London
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Black Prince
Black Prince (Greater London)
General information
Type Hotel
Location London Borough of Bexley, England
Coordinates 51°26′47″N0°9′16″E / 51.44639°N 0.15444°E / 51.44639; 0.15444

The Black Prince is a hotel in the London Borough of Bexley, contained in a landscaped part of the intersection of the A2 dual carriageway. The intersection is for Bexley and much of Bexleyheath. At first it was a public house with function rooms. Its name draws on the local history of Edward, the Black Prince of the fourteenth century and his wife Joan of Kent. It has a secondary, larger, hotel-only wing. The hotel is owned and operated by Holiday Inn, has a restaurant, bar, outdoor seating, meeting rooms and a guests' “gym”.

Contents

Hotel exterior Holiday Inn London Bexley.jpg
Hotel exterior

Road junction

The A2 dual carriageway has four spurs to two roundabouts for lesser roads which are linked by a long curved bridge. The lesser roads are: the A223 which runs northeast to Crayford and south to Bexley; and the A220 which runs north to Bexleyheath and Erith. [1] On contemporary traffic reports, the junction is known as the Black Prince Interchange. [2]

Transformation to hotel

The tall, two-storey, north, reception-hosting wing has a grand chimneyed, Tudorbethan main façade. It has two mock-beamed wall dormers to recesses flanking a main link dormer; it has octagonal-theme, gabled, geometric style with octagonal porch and the princely arms above. [3] It was a spacious, modern public house/entertainment facility, built by Charringtons in the 1930s as a modest roadhouse. The site is named after Edward, the Black Prince who married Joan of Kent, seized of Chislehurst and other manors. He was a celebrated battle leader in France in the first phase of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1360). Reputedly his ghost haunts the later building or grounds of Hall Place. [4] [5] Edward Heath stayed at the hotel as part of his campaign to become MP for Bexley in the 1950 general election. [6] The later south wing, of three storeys, linked, enlarges the hotel.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the pub was a popular live music venue, [7] and featured appearances from Little Walter, [8] the Graham Bond Organisation, [9] Cream [10] and Genesis. [11] It is alleged that Eric Clapton played his last gig with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers at the venue in 1966. [12] The hotel has hosted the annual Kent International Piano and Keyboard Fair since 2001. [13]

Local tradition

Oral history maintained, as at 1911, Hall Place, across the main road, was a shooting-box for deer of the Black Prince, [14] whose Kent Yeoman fought among others at the Battle of Poitiers. [14] The Att/Atte Hall or Hall family kept occupation of the manor house until 1367 when after seeing "months" of entertaining Edward and his wife Joan of Kent they were forced to sell it. [15]

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References

  1. ↑ "Black Prince, Bexley". Google Maps. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Monday morning misery on A2 at Black Prince Interchange as road shuts following jackknifed lorry". Kent News. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Crawford, Michael (2000). Parcel Arrived Safely, Tied with String. Random House. p. 15. ISBN   9780099406419.
  4. ↑ Haunted England: A Survey of English Ghost Lore 1941. Kessinger Publishing. 2004. p. 58. ISBN   9781417975907.
  5. ↑ Samuel, Lawrence R (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. p. 59. ISBN   9780313399008.
  6. ↑ Heath, Edward (2011). The Course of My Life: My Autobiography. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 217. ISBN   9781448204663.
  7. ↑ Schwartz, Roberta Freund (2007). How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 134. ISBN   9780754687207.
  8. ↑ Glover, Tony; Dirks, Scott; Gaines, Ward (2013). Blues with a Feeling: The Little Walter Story. Routledge. p. 233. ISBN   9781135353766.
  9. ↑ "Graham Bond gigs". 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  10. ↑ Shapiro, Harry (2009). Jack Bruce: Composing Himself : the Authorised Biography. Jawbone Publishing Corp. p.  89. ISBN   9781906002268.
  11. ↑ Russell, Paul (2004). Genesis: Play Me My Song: A Live Guide, 1969–1974. SAF Publishing Ltd. p. 216. ISBN   9780946719587.
  12. ↑ "EC's last scheduled gig with John Mayall's Blues Breakers". Eric Clapton Fan Club Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Kent International Piano & Keyboard Fair 2013". Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  14. 1 2 The Selborne Magazine and "Nature Notes": The Organ of the Selborne Society . England: H. Sotheran & Company, 1911 at pages 210 to 211
  15. ↑ The Selborne Magazine and "Nature Notes": The Organ of the Selborne Society. England: H. Sotheran & Company, 1911 at page 110
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