Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-12-11
A HISTORICAL LANDMARK.

;E.aouuarrcrs of the BlaclShcath High
weynen In the Eighteenth Century.
Another old London landmark is
about to be swept away. This is the
famous Brockley Jack public house,
which has been one Of the best known
places on the Brockley road any time
during this last 500 years. tits believed
to have been erected about the reign of
the third Edward, and then and for
many wears afterward it was the only
house in the neighborhood At first it
was q private residence, but some time
in the sixteenth century 1t became
house of public entertainment and has
continued SO up to the present time. lt
is now the Oldest licensed house in the
county Of Kent, and there are only one
or two of greater antiquity in London
itself. 1t was at the commencement of
the last century, however, that the
house achieved its greatest notoriety
At that time Blackheath was infested
by desperate gang of highwaymen,
who found convenient headquarters at
this lonely roadside inn. They were
q commercially minded, businesslike
gang, to whom chivalry and romance
were utter strangers.
at that period the adjacent village Of
Ladywell was noted for its medicinal
springs, and many visitors journeyed
thither to drink the healing waters.
These were, of course, principally
wealthy people, and they were in great
request as victims for the bold knights
of the road who sailed forth from their
we'll known headquarters under the
leadership of a notorious outlaw named
Brockley Jack, whose name has since
been adopted as the sign Of the house.
This desperate gang disappeared before
advancing civilization, and a widely
different custom has sprung up at the
old inn. 1t became the objective Of
southeast London's Monday morning
walk, and on high holidays it was al
ways the scene of merrynaking An
extremely old print represents Christ
mas revel outside this house, with rus
tics gambling under the old tree be-
meath which the highwaymen used TO
quaff their wine and play pitch and toss
with the goldpieces among their booty.
1t is even said that they used to toss
golden coins into the tree, and that
when the tree decayed half a tankard
full of gold coins was collected by a
former landlord from the interior of
the trunk. In his latter days the Brock
ley Jack has lived down its evil reputa-
ton. \ few months ago the property
was sold to firm Of brewers with an
important reservation, and they are re-
sponsible for the removal Of the old
place The reservation was the sign
board, which the owners of the house
declined to part with at any price. This
signboard, which is fastened on the old
tree in front of the house, is made out
Of the blade bone of horse believed to
have been ridden by one of the old high
waymen, and this grewsone relic will
soon be all that is left of the old Brock
ley Jack. The house has been shored
up and added to, the original matched
roof removed aud the whole of the
buildings rooted with red tiles, but
even this new covering belongs to an
out Of date age Inside the house, how
ever, evidences of antiquity abound.
The wooden walls, covered on the out
side with modern match wood, are plas-
tered with composition of clay and
hay, and the woodwork is so hard that
"a nail can scarcely be driven into it.
Curious dark and marrow passages run
between the rooms, and until a few
years ago, when 4 modern staircase was
introduced, the upper part of the house
was divided into two parts, connected
by a drawbridse, which could be raised,
thus completely isolating the two parts.
The height of the rooms clearly indi-
Gates that the house was built for a
smaller race of people than now exists.
Most of the ceilings are less than six
feet from the ground, aud in many Of
the rooms an ordinary sized man is I'M
able to stand upright. 1t is at present
curious mixture of ancient and mod
ern. Bicycles with the latest improve
ments, are TO be seen leaning against
the medieval timbers of some Of the
sheds, and the smoke from the railway
engine passes over the decaying trees.
Black and White
Laws That Make Us Laugh.
i'If a man. " saws an intelligent de-